Paul Bodin

Paul Bodin
Personal information
Full name Paul John Bodin[1]
Date of birth (1964-09-13) 13 September 1964 (age 60)[2]
Place of birth Cardiff, Wales[3]
Position(s) Left-back
Youth career
Chelsea
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1982 Chelsea 0 (0)
1982 Newport County 0 (0)
1982–1985 Cardiff City 75 (4)
1985 Merthyr Tydfil
1985–1988 Bath City
1988 Newport County 6 (1)
1988–1991 Swindon Town 93 (9)
1991–1992 Crystal Palace 9 (0)
1991Newcastle United (loan) 6 (0)
1992–1996 Swindon Town 146 (28)
1996–1998 Reading 41 (1)
1997Wycombe Wanderers (loan) 5 (0)
1998–2001 Bath City
2002 Devizes Town
2002 Swindon Supermarine
Total 381 (43)
International career
1983 Wales U21 1 (0)
1990–1994 Wales 23 (3)
Managerial career
1998–2001 Bath City (player-manager)
2011 Swindon Town (caretaker)
2017–2019 Wales U19
2019–2022 Wales U21
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul John Bodin (born 13 September 1964) is a Welsh former professional footballer and coach who is the coach of the Wales under-21 team. His son, Billy Bodin, is also a professional footballer.

A former Chelsea youth team graduate, he moved to Cardiff City via Newport County in 1982. He helped Cardiff to win promotion out of the Third Division in 1982–83. He returned to non-League football with Merthyr Tydfil and Bath City in 1985 before rejoining Newport for a £15,000 fee in January 1988. Two months later he was sold on to Swindon Town for twice this sum and became the club's first-choice left-back, helping them to win the 1990 Second Division play-off final and winning himself a place on the PFA Team of the Year in 1990–91. He was sold to Crystal Palace for £550,000 in March 1991 but was loaned out to Newcastle United before being sold back to Swindon for £225,000 in January 1992. Named as Swindon's Player of the Season in 1992–93, he scored the winning goal in the 1993 First Division play-off final. He featured in the Premier League, though after two successive relegations, he again earned a place on the Second Division's PFA Team of the Year in 1995–96. He then spent two seasons with Reading, as well as a loan spell at Wycombe Wanderers, before entering management with Bath City in 1998. He also won 23 caps for Wales between 1990 and 1994.

He spent three seasons as Bath City's manager before spending 12 years as a youth team coach at Swindon, also spending two games in caretaker charge of the first team in 2011. He then coached at Southampton's Academy before becoming assistant manager at Port Vale in May 2015. In August 2019, he was promoted from Wales under-19 coach to Wales under-21 head coach, remaining in the role until July 2022.

  1. ^ "Paul Bodin". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Paul Bodin was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Paul Bodin". Holmesdale Online. Retrieved 29 October 2022.