Geoff Palmer (born 11 July 1954) is a 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 spent almost his entire career with

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

Career

Palmer was born in Cannock, Staffordshire. He spent 16 years with

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

, playing 495 times for the club in total. A Wolves fan throughout his childhood, he joined as an apprentice in July 1970 and turned professional on his seventeenth birthday the following year. After remaining in the reserves over the next two seasons, he made his senior debut on in the FA Cup 3rd/4th Place Play Off against Arsenal. The

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

retained his place through the rest of the 1973–74 season at the expense of

Gerry Taylor Gerald William Taylor (born 15 August 1947) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League as a defender for Wolverhampton Wanderers, where he spent the majority of his playing career, and Swindon Town, and in the United Soc ...

, which culminated in winning the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

after a 2–1 victory over

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

. After two seasons where his appearances were hampered by injuries, he was an ever-present in the side that won the Second Division championship in 1976–77, and missed just three league games over the next two seasons. He won a second

winners' medal in 1980 after a 1–0 triumph over

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, making him one of four Wolves players to feature in both of their League Cup triumphs. He stuck with the club after relegation in 1982, winning promotion back at the first attempt. However, after another relegation, Palmer left Molineux for

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

in November 1984. His stay at

was short-lived though, as he stayed for just over a year, during which time Burnley were relegated to the Fourth Division for the first time in their history, before rejoining

, under his old manager

Bill McGarry William Harry McGarry (10 June 1927 – 15 March 2005) was an England international association footballer and manager who spent 40 years in the professional game. He had a reputation for toughness, both as a player and as a manager. A right- ...

, in December 1985 in a campaign that saw the club relegated to the fourth tier for the first time in their history. After a solitary final appearance in the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

in September 1986, Palmer retired to join the police force, where he was employed for 23 years until retirement in 2009. Palmer now lives in

Codsall Codsall is a large village in the South Staffordshire district of Staffordshire, England. It is situated 4.5 miles northwest of the city of Wolverhampton and 13 miles east-southeast of Telford. It forms part of the boundary of the Staffordshire ...

, near

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunian ...

.Instone, David
"Palmer's Perfect Timing — Wembley in one for Geoff"
''WolvesHeroes.com'', 3 March 2009 (Retrieved: 26 July 2009)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Geoff 1954 births Living people Sportspeople from Cannock English men's footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Men's association football defenders English Football League players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Footballers from Staffordshire