Thomas Pinault (born 4 December 1981) is a French former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in ...

and

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, and his native country for

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

and

RC Grasse Racing Club Pays de Grasse is a French association football club founded in 1959. Until 2022 they were known as Racing Club de Grasse. They are based in the town of Grasse and their home stadium is the Stade Jean Girard. Since the 2017–18 season ...

Career

Colchester United

A product of the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if ...

, Pinault moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

to join

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club

on a free transfer in June 1999. After making just 10 appearances during his first two full seasons at

Layer Road Layer Road was a Football League stadium in Colchester, England. It was only used for football matches and was the home ground of Colchester United before being replaced by the Colchester Community Stadium. The stadium held spectators and was ...

, he broke into the first team squad during the 2001–02 season and signed a new two-and-a-half year contract in October 2001. Pinault remained with Colchester United until his contract expired at the end of the 2003–04 season, by which time he had made 157 appearances and scored seven goals for the club.

Grimsby Town

After an unsuccessful trial with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

and turning down a contract from

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

, Pinault signed a one-year contract with

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

on a free transfer in July 2004. Pinault was a regular in the team during the 2004–05 season, making 47 appearances and scoring seven goals, but his relationship with manager

Russell Slade Russell Mark Slade (born 10 October 1960) is an English professional association football, football manager, who was most recently managerial consultant of League Two club Stevenage F.C., Stevenage. Having had an extended career at reserve t ...

deteriorated after he was "singled-out for criticism" by Slade for his defensive performance during a 2–2 draw with

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

late in the season. He was released at the end of the 2004–05 season. In 2006, Pinault's remarks about his time at

Blundell Park Blundell Park is a football ground in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England and home to Grimsby Town Football Club. The stadium was built in 1899, but only one of the original stands remains. The current capacity of the ground is 9, ...

were chosen as one of

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

's ''Quotes of the Year'':

Brentford

After a year out of football with an

ankle ligament injury A sprained ankle, also known as a twisted ankle or rolled ankle, is an injury where sprain occurs on one or more ligaments of the ankle. It is the most common injury to occur in ball sports, such as basketball, volleyball, football, and racquet s ...

, Pinault returned to England sign a one-year contract with

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

on a free transfer in July 2006. Despite being transfer-listed by incoming manager

Scott Fitzgerald Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...

in December 2006, Pinault remained at

Griffin Park Griffin Park was a football ground in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow, England. It was the home ground of Brentford F.C. from its opening in September 1904 to August 2020. The ground is in a predominantly residential area and was ...

for the duration of the 2006–07 season and made 37 appearances, scoring one goal. He was released in June 2007, after Brentford's relegation to League Two was confirmed.

Crawley Town

Pinault joined

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

club

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

on a one-year contract in July 2007. Through successive one-year extensions of his contract, he remained at the

Broadfield Stadium The Broadfield Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Crawley, England. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of Crawley Town F.C. The stadium has a capacity of 6,134 people, and is owned by Crawley Borough Counc ...

for three seasons and made over 110 appearances for the club. Pinault rejected a new contract and left Crawley at the end of the 2009–10 season.

RC Grasse

Early in the

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season, Pinault returned to France to join hometown

Championnat de France Amateur 2 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

club

. He remained at the Stade Jean Girard until his retirement at the end of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season.

Personal life

Thomas is the brother of footballer

Clément Pinault Clément Pinault (4 February 1985 – 22 January 2009) was a French professional footballer who played as a defender. Career Born in Grasse, Alpes-Maritimes, Pinault began his career with Le Mans UC72. He on loan to Angers SCO in the summ ...

. After retiring from football, he became an

estate agent An estate agent is a person or business that arranges the selling, renting, or management of properties and other buildings. An agent that specialises in renting is often called a letting or management agent. Estate agents are mainly engaged i ...

Career statistics

Honours

Colchester United * Harwich Charity Cup Centenary Shield: 1999

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pinault, Thomas 1981 births Living people People from Grasse Sportspeople from Alpes-Maritimes French footballers Association football midfielders National League (English football) players Championnat National 3 players AS Cannes players Brentford F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players RC Grasse players French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Footballers from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur