Paul Buckle

Paul Buckle
Personal information
Full name Paul John Buckle[1]
Date of birth (1970-12-16) 16 December 1970 (age 53)
Place of birth Welwyn Garden City, England
Height 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Position(s) Midfielder
Team information
Current team
San Diego Wave (interim head coach)
Youth career
0000–1989 Brentford
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1994 Brentford 56 (1)
1993Wycombe Wanderers (loan) 3 (0)
1994–1995 Torquay United 69 (9)
1995–1996 Exeter City 25 (2)
1996 Northampton Town 0 (0)
1996 Wycombe Wanderers 0 (0)
1996–1999 Colchester United 105 (7)
1999–2002 Exeter City 98 (6)
2002–2003 Aldershot Town 30 (5)
2003–2004 Weymouth 40 (9)
2004–2005 Exeter City 4 (0)
2005 Tiverton Town 12 (1)
2005–2007 Exeter City 64 (7)
Total 506 (47)
International career
1989 England Youth
Managerial career
2004 Weymouth (caretaker)
2007–2011 Torquay United
2011–2012 Bristol Rovers
2012–2013 Luton Town
2014–2015 Cheltenham Town
2015–2017 Sacramento Republic
2024– San Diego Wave (interim)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul John Buckle (born 16 December 1970) is an English football manager and former player who is the interim head coach of San Diego Wave FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). He has previously been the manager of Torquay United, Bristol Rovers, Luton Town, Cheltenham Town and Sacramento Republic.

An apprentice at Brentford, Buckle turned professional in 1989, was loaned to Wycombe Wanderers and then joined Torquay United, before moving to Exeter City. Due to Exeter's financial problems, Buckle left and joined Northampton Town, but failed to make their first team. In 1996 Buckle returned to Wycombe on non-contract terms, then moved to Colchester United. He returned to Exeter on a free transfer in 1999, signing a two-year contract. He then moved into non-League football with Aldershot Town and Weymouth, before returning to Exeter as player-coach in 2005, first under manager Alex Inglethorpe then his successor Paul Tisdale. He continued to play and later became the club's assistant manager.

In 2007 Buckle was appointed manager of Conference Premier side Torquay United, helping return them to the Football League at the second attempt. Following a defeat in the League Two play-off final in 2011, he left the club to become the manager of newly relegated Bristol Rovers. In 2012 Buckle became the new manager of Luton Town and led the club to the play-off final later ensured his team became the first from non-League to defeat a top flight side in the FA Cup for 24 years when Luton beat Norwich City.

Buckle married sports broadcaster Rebecca Lowe in 2013 and later moved to the US where he was appointed as technical director at the Met Oval in New York. He returned to the Football League to take the manager's job at Cheltenham Town in League Two from 2014 to 2015. He then signed as head coach of the USL soccer club Sacramento Republic, where he remained until 2018.[3] In 2019 he was named as technical advisor at Hartford Athletic of the USL.[4]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hugman was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Rollin, Jack, ed. (1995). Rothmans Football Yearbook: 1995–96. London: Headline. p. 419. ISBN 0-7472-7823-7. OCLC 60284604.
  3. ^ The Sacramento Bee [dead link]
  4. ^ "Paul Buckle Named as Technical Advisor". Hartford Athletic. 17 May 2019. Retrieved 22 September 2019.