Paul Telfer (footballer)

Infobox Football biography
playername = Paul Telfer


fullname = Paul Norman Telfer
height = height|ft=5|in=9
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1971|10|21|df=y
cityofbirth = Edinburgh
countryofbirth = Scotland
currentclub = Leeds United
clubnumber = 26
position = Right-back
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1988–1995
1995–2001
2001–2005
2005–2007
2007
2008–
clubs = Luton Town
Coventry City
Southampton
Celtic
Bournemouth
Leeds United
caps(goals) = 144 (19)
191 0(6)
127 0(1)
057 0(1)
018 0(0)
005 0(0)
nationalyears = 1992–1993
2000
nationalteam = Scotland U21
Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) = 003 0(0)
001 0(0)
pcupdate = 11:38, 4 October 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 16:08, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

Paul Norman Telfer (born 21 October 1971) is a Scottish footballer, who currently plays for Leeds United. He is the nephew of former Scotland, Hearts, Chelsea and Dundee United midfielder Eamonn Bannon.

Football career

Telfer was born in Edinburgh, but began his career at Luton Town as a right-sided midfielder. In the summer of 1995, he was signed by Coventry City, where he began his long association with Gordon Strachan, who at the time was player-coach at the club, and later became manager. While at Coventry, Telfer won his only senior Scotland cap, playing in Scotland's 2-0 friendly defeat against France on 29 March 2000 at Hampden Park.

In October 2001, Telfer joined Southampton, who had appointed Strachan as manager just over a month earlier. At Southampton, Telfer was converted from midfielder to right-back, and was a member of the side that reached the 2003 FA Cup Final.

In 2005, Strachan became manager at Celtic, and again made Telfer one of his first signings. Telfer played just under two years at Parkhead, where he won two Scottish League championships. However, his family had difficulty settling in Glasgow, and on 3 December] 2006, Telfer announced he would not renew his contract with Celtic because he wished to spend more time with his family in Winchester. [cite web | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/6204334.stm | title=Telfer to quit Celtic in summer| accessdate = 2006-12-03| date = 3 December 2006 | publisher=BBC | quote="My contract is up and, even if there was an offer of another year, I won't be staying...I feel fit enough to play on, but my family couldn't settle and are already back down south. So, if a club came in, I'd look at that."] On 2 April 2007, Telfer brought forward his retirement and officially left Celtic to be with his family in England.cite news
title = Telfer brings forward Celtic exit
url = http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/6519347.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2007-04-02
accessdate = 2007-04-02]

On 13 July 2007, Telfer came out of retirement, signing a one-year contract with League One side Bournemouth. [cite web | title=Telfer agrees deal with Cherries|work=www.bbc.co.uk| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/b/bournemouth/6897283.stm| date= 13 June 2007 | accessdate = 2007-06-13] [cite web | title=Telfer Joins Bond Revolution|work=www.afcb.premiumtv.co.uk| url=http://www.afcb.premiumtv.co.uk/page/News/NewsDetail/0,,10324~1072450,00.html| date=13 June 2007| accessdate = 2007-06-13] . On 12 December 2007, Telfer cancelled his contract with Bournemouth to help their financial problems. A few days earlier, he had been ruled out for the season with a foot injury that required surgery and retired again.

On 8 August 2008, Telfer came out of retirement for a second time and joined Leeds United on a non-contract basis. He signed a 1 year deal with the club at the end of August.

In 1992, Telfer and then Luton teammate Darren Salton were involved in a horrific car crash. Telfer suffered only minor injuries and went on to make a full recovery, while Salton almost died and was forced to quit football following the accident. [cite web | title=Salton rescued by Robertson|work=The Scotsman| url=http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/sport.cfm?id=173112005| date=12 February 2005 | accessdate = 2006-09-29]

Honours

Southampton

* FA Cup: finalist 2003

Celtic

* Scottish Premier League: 2006, 2007
* Scottish League Cup: 2006

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=7846|name=Paul Telfer
* [http://sport.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1792882006 Feature in The Scotsman]