Paul Huntington

Football player infobox
playername = Paul Huntington


fullname = Paul David Huntington
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1987|9|17
cityofbirth = Carlisle
countryofbirth = England
height = height|meters=1.91
position = Defender
currentclub = Leeds United
clubnumber = 3
youthyears = 2004–2006
youthclubs = Newcastle United
years = 2006–2007
2007–
clubs = Newcastle United
Leeds United
caps(goals) = 011 (1)
021 (1)
nationalyears = 2004
nationalteam = England U18
nationalcaps(goals) = 002 (0)
pcupdate = 12:57, 21 September 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 12:57, 21 September 2008 (UTC)

Paul David Huntington (born September 17 1987 in Carlisle, Cumbria) is an English footballer, currently playing for Leeds United. He plays primarily in the centre half position.

Club career

Newcastle United

Huntington joined the Newcastle United School of Excellence on July 1 2004 from Trinity School in Cumbria. As a schoolboy he played at Wembley Stadium and also won the England Under 18 National Cup for his school in 2004. After impressing in the youth teams he was promoted to the reserve squad in late 2004 to play tougher opposition and gain experience. He made his reserve debut for the club on December 7 2004 in a 3-0 home win over rivals Middlesbrough and made his official England Under 18 debut against Scotland fifteen days later in a 1-0 win. He signed his first professional contract at the club in July 2005.

His first involvement in the first team at Newcastle was when he appeared on the bench for the club's Intertoto Cup games against ZTS Dubnic and Deportivo La Coruña in July 2005. In the summer of 2005 he was awarded the prestigious 'Wor Jackie Milburn' trophy, given each year to the rising star of north-east football. He was also named in the first team squad at Newcastle for the FA Cup third-round tie against Mansfield Town (remembered by Geordies for being the game in which Alan Shearer scored his 200th goal for the club). He came close to making a first team appearance on 23rd of November 2006 when a defensive crisis left the club with only three fit senior defenders. Huntington and fellow youth defender David Edgar made the substitutes bench for a UEFA Cup match against Celta Vigo.

On 9 December, 2006 he made his first Newcastle United appearance as a late substitute against Blackburn Rovers in the unfamiliar role of right-back. The following match, on 14 December 2006 Huntington started his first ever game for Newcastle, again appearing at right back in the midst of an injury crisis engulfing the club. Huntington marked his first ever goal for Newcastle on January 14 2007 when he scored the first equaliser for them in Newcastle's 3-2 win over Tottenham.

Leeds United

On 31 August, 2007 he transferred to Leeds United for an undiclosed fee [cite web |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/leeds_united/6972246.stm | title=Leeds recruit Martin & Huntington] . Huntington made his home debut for the club as a substitute in the 2-0 victory on 8 September 2007 at Hartlepool United.

On 9 October, 2007 Huntington opened his Leeds account by scoring against Darlington in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy Second Round to help Leeds go to the next stage.

He scored his first league goal against Luton Town on the 26 January, 2008. The defender also scored against Leyton Orient on the 5 April, 2008. There were controversies surrounding whether it was he or Bradley Johnson who scored the goal, but in the end it was officially given to Huntington [cite web |url=http://www.leedsunited.com/page/MatchReport/0,,10273~38464,00.html | title=Leyton Orient 0 - 2 Leeds] .

Paul has established himself as Leeds' first-choice centre-back, standing in for Rui Marques on two sets of occasions - when Marques was at the African Cup Of Nations, and again when he was out for a few weeks with a hamstring injury. He has been on good form during the run-in to the end of the 2007-2008 season and manager Gary McAllister has said Paul has a bright future ahead of him. Recently he was handed the captains armband during the recent tour of Ireland in the game against Shelbourne. His started the season as a first chioce Center Back along with Rui Marques. However after failing to keep a clean sheet in the first four games, they were both dropped in favour of Lubomir Michalik and Paul Telfer. In that game Leeds over came Crystal Palace 4-0 however Huntington retained his place in the following game due to Telfer been out injured. The game finished 2-2.

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=41436|name=Paul Huntington
* [http://soccernet.espn.go.com/players/profile?id=66519&cc=5739 ESPN Soccernet Profile]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/shared/bsp/hi/football/statistics/players/h/huntington_309727.stm BBC Sport Profile]