Paul Peschisolido

Football player infobox
playername = Paul Peschisolido


fullname = Paolo Pasquale Peschisolido
nickname = Pesch
height = height|ft=5|in=7
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1971|05|25
cityofbirth = Scarborough
countryofbirth = Canada
currentclub = Unattached
clubnumber =
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1990–1991
1991–1992
1992–1994
1994–1996
1996
1996–1997
1997–2001
2000
2001
2001
2001–2004
2004–2007
2007–2008
clubs = Kansas City Comets (indoor) Toronto Blizzard Birmingham City
Stoke City
Birmingham City
West Bromwich Albion
Fulham
→ Queens Park Rangers (loan)
→ Sheffield United (loan)
→ Norwich City (loan)
Sheffield United
Derby County
Luton Town
caps(goals) = 0? 0(?)
0? 0(?)
43 (16)
66 (19)
09 0(1)
42 (15)
97 (24)
05 0(1)
05 0(2)
05 0(0)
79 (16)
90 (20)
04 0(0)
nationalyears = 1992–2004
nationalteam = Canada
nationalcaps(goals) = 53 (11)
pcupdate = 21:26, 22 September 2007 (UTC)
ntupdate = 16:45, 31 May 2008 (UTC)

Paolo Pasquale Peschisolido, commonly known as Paul Peschisolido (born May 25, 1971 in Scarborough) is a Canadian professional footballer who plays as a striker. He is currently without a club, having played most recently for Luton Town. He has played for several English Football League sides and 53 times for the Canadian national team, scoring 11 times. Peschisolido has proved to be a popular player with supporters, becoming a crowd favourite at all the clubs he has played at. [cite web
date=2006-01-03
url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/derby/content/articles/2004/11/05/rams_paul_peschisolido_profile_feature.shtml
title=Player profile: Paul Peschisolido
publisher=bbc.co.uk
accessdate=2007-06-01]

Football career

A 5'7, 10 st. 12 lbs. striker, 'Pesch' began his pro playing career when still a high-schooler as a trainee with the Toronto Blizzard of the Canadian Soccer League. He also played the 1990–91 Major Indoor Soccer League season with the Kansas City Comets, being named the league's 'Newcomer of the Year'.

An unsuccessful attempt to join Juventus saw him offered the opportunity from his former national youth team coach Tony Taylor to join Birmingham City for £25,000 in November 1992.cite book | last = Matthews | first = Tony | title = The Who's Who of West Bromwich Albion | publisher = Breedon Books | date = 2005 | pages = pp. 177-178 | isbn = 1-85983-474-4] He played for two seasons at Birmingham, 1992–93 and 1993–94. In August 1994 he moved on to Stoke City in a £400,000 plus player exchange deal involving Dave Regis. He remained at Stoke for the 1994–95 and 1995–96 seasons. Pesch returned to City for a brief spell at the end of 1995–96, scoring once in nine appearances.

Peschisolido signed for West Bromwich Albion in a £600,000 deal in July 1996. He made his first appearance for the club in the 3–1 home League Cup defeat to Colchester United on 3 September, 1996. Four days later, Peschisolido scored just nine minutes into his Albion league début, as the Midlands side ran out 2–0 winners at QPR. After 51 appearances and 21 goals for West Brom, he dropped down a division to join Fulham in October 1997, for a £1.1 million transfer fee. He appeared 37 times for 'the Cottagers' in 1997–98, scoring 13 goals and helping the team win promotion as Division Two champions.In 1998–99 he made 40 appearances, scoring 10 times. In 1999–2000, Pesch scored seven in 36 games.

After appearing in two League Cup matches for Fulham in 2000–01, Peschisolido was loaned out to Queens Park Rangers in November 2000. [cite news
date=2000-11-03
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/q/qpr/1005935.stm
title=Peschisolido makes Hoops move
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-03] He scored on his QPR début, in a 1–1 draw against Portsmouth. [cite news
date=2000-11-06
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_1/1009462.stm
title=Francis unhappy at officials
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-06-01] In January 2001 he went on loan again, this time to Sheffield United, [cite news
date=2001-01-18
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_utd/1120733.stm
title=Peschisolido joins Blades on loan
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-03] before spending a further loan period at Norwich City. He later re-joined Sheffield United in a permanent deal for £250,000, after agreeing to a wage cut. [cite news
date=2001-07-06
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_utd/1425871.stm
title=Blades cut Peschosolido deal
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-03] He appeared for United in 2001–02, 2002–03, and until the spring in 2003–04. He was a key player in 2003 as the Blades reached both domestic cup semi-finals and the Division One playoff final. During a game against Arsenal in the FA Cup, he was denied a headed shot which was kept off the line by David Seaman.

In March 2004, Peschisolido joined Derby County in a swap deal, with Izale McLeod moving to United on loan for the rest of the season. [cite news
date=2004-03-12
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/3504842.stm
title=Peschisolido in swap deal
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-05-03] At Derby he had a knack for scoring vital goals from the substitutes' bench, although he started in the play off final against West Bromwich Albion at Wembley Stadium. Derby won 1–0 to win promotion to the Premier League. On 1 June, 2007 it was announced that he had been released from Derby County. [cite news
date=2007-06-01
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/d/derby_county/6712833.stm
title=Experienced pair to leave Derby
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2007-06-01] On July 16 Peschisolido signed for Luton Town on a one year deal. [cite news
date=2007-07-16
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/6231150.stm
title=Peschisolido completes Luton move
publisher=BBC Sport
accessdate=2008-01-23] He played just four league matches for Luton before an ankle problem kept him out of action from September onwards. After the injury failed to respond to injections it was confirmed in December that he would require an operation, ruling him out for the remainder of the season. [cite news
date=2007-12-29
url=http://www.lutontown.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10372~1201177,00.html
title=Pesch ruled out for season
publisher=Luton Town F.C.
accessdate=2008-01-23] Luton released Peschisolido at the end of 2007–08, following their relegation to League Two. [cite news
title=Relegated Luton start clear-out
url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/7378466.stm
publisher=BBC Sport
date=2008-05-01
accessdate=2008-05-17]

By this time, he had accumulated some 445 league appearances, scoring 115 goals over a 15-year career, predominantly in the second tier of English professional football. He also made 75 cup appearances, scoring 22 goals.

Personal life

In 1995, Peschisolido married Karren Brady, the Managing Director of Birmingham City F.C.. The couple have two children, daughter Sophia and son Paolo.

References

External links

* [http://www.icons.com/peschisolido/ Paul Peschisolido official website] at Icons.com
*soccerbase|id=6287|name=Paul Peschisolido
* [http://www.myspace.com/paulpeschisolido "Official MySpace page"]
* [http://www.lutontown.premiumtv.co.uk/page/ProfilesDetail/0,,10372~15341,00.html Profile] on Luton Town F.C. official site
* [http://paulpeschisolido.tripod.com/ "Fan site"]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/derby/content/articles/2004/11/05/rams_paul_peschisolido_profile_feature.shtml A November 2004 "BBC Derby" profile of Peschisolido]
* [http://www.stokecity.rivals.net/?sid=944&p=2&stid=8346501 "The Oatcake" with a February 2004 profile of Pesch (includes his transfer fees for his career)]
* [http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/nationals/profile.asp?playerid=23 "Canadasoccer.com" profile of Peschisolido]
* [http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/peschisolido.htm Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk]

Persondata
NAME=Peschisolido, Paul
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Peschisolido, Paolo Pasquale
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Footballer
DATE OF BIRTH=May 25, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH=Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=