Paul Musselwhite

Paul Stephen Musselwhite (born 22 December 1968) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is the goalkeeping coach at club Scunthorpe United.

He made 692 appearances in the league and 815 appearances in all competitions.

Born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, Musselwhite started his career at his hometown club, Portsmouth, as an apprentice in the club's youth system before signing a professional contract on 1 December 1986.

In the 1987–88 season, Scunthorpe finished one point short of Bolton Wanderers in third place, and were then defeated by Torquay United in the play-off semi-final.

Scunthorpe also moved from the Old Show Ground to Glanford Park, becoming the first Football League club to move to a new stadium in 33 years.

Musselwhite began his career with Portsmouth, before joining Scunthorpe United in March 1988.

However, he did not make any appearances for the club in the first team, and on 21 March 1988 moved to Fourth Division club Scunthorpe United on a free transfer.

They suffered the same fate in 1988–89, one point off third place Crewe Alexandra, again with superior goal difference, before losing to Wrexham in the play-off semi-final.

Musselwhite made 52 appearances across the campaign, as named as the club's Player of the Year.

Scunthorpe fell away in 1989–90, finishing in 11th place.

They pushed for promotion in 1990–91, in an unusual season an eighth-place finish was enough to see them into the play-offs.

However, for the third time in four years they lost in the semi-final stage, this time to Blackpool.

In 1991–92, Scunthorpe beat Crewe in the play-off semi-final, but lost on the final to Blackpool on penalties, following a 1–1 draw.

He played 132 league matches for the club, as Scunthorpe suffered numerous play-off defeats, before he was sold to Port Vale in July 1992 for a £17,500 fee.

He spent the next eight years with Vale, and played 312 league matches in what was one of the most successful periods in the club's history.

On 30 July 1992, he did what his club failed to do and made it into the new Second Division (the league was restructured due to the creation of the Premier League), having been bought by John Rudge's Port Vale for an initial £5,000 fee (later increased to £17,500 with appearances clauses).

Signed to replace the veteran Mark Grew, who had left for Cardiff City, Musselwhite started 1992–93 as second-choice behind Trevor Wood.

However, on 5 September 1992, Wood conceded a penalty at Vetch Field in an 'off the ball' incident with a Swansea City player and was subsequently dropped in favour of Musselwhite.

He made his Vale league debut in the next match, a 2–2 draw against Exeter City on 12 September 1992, and despite a nervy performance, he remained an ever-present in the team for the rest of the season.

On 24 October, he gave away a penalty kick in a 2–1 defeat at Potteries derby rivals Stoke City, though claimed that Mark Stein had dived.

Vale finished the season one point behind Bolton in third place, and they lost in the play-off final 3–0 to West Bromwich Albion.

He kept goal in the 1993 Football League Trophy final victory and helped the club to win promotion out of the Second Division in 1993–94.

Vale did have success at Wembley Stadium in the 1993 Football League Trophy final, recording a 2–1 victory over Stockport County.

With Musselwhite in goal, Vale won promotion to the First Division in 1993–94, finishing in second place behind champions Reading.

Both club and goalkeeper adapted well to the second tier, finishing 10 points above the relegation zone in 1994–95.

When they played away against Charlton Athletic on 29 April 1995, he was rested to allow his understudy, Arjan van Heusden, to gain some first-team experience in an end of season fixture.

The club finished in 12th place in 1995–96 and were awarded the 'Giantkillers of the Season' award for knocking Everton out of the FA Cup at the fourth round stage.

Musselwhite played in the 1996 Anglo-Italian Cup final, as Vale lost 5–2 to Genoa.

The club achieved their highest post-war position in 1996–97 – eighth in the second tier.

Musselwhite made 36 appearances that season, after missing out on the first six weeks.

He made 45 appearances in 1997–98, keeping a clean sheet against Arsenal in the FA Cup on 3 January 1998.

He made 40 appearances in 1998–99, missing most of November and all of December.

In 1999–2000, Vale were relegated in 23rd place, with manager Brian Horton unable to halt the decline at Vale Park.

Musselwhite battled with Kevin Pilkington for a first-team place and played 32 matches.

In August 2000, he joined Sheffield Wednesday, before moving on to Hull City the next month.

He helped the club win promotion out of the Third Division in 2003–04, before he returned to Scunthorpe in June 2004.

He helped Scunthorpe to win promotion out of League Two in 2004–05, before he dropped into the Conference South in May 2006 to sign with Eastleigh.

He spent brief spells at Kettering Town, Port Vale, and Harrogate Town, before he kept goal for Gateshead as the club won promotion from the Northern Premier League Premier Division to the Conference Premier after two successive play-off successes.

He then took up coaching with Lincoln City between 2009 and 2011, before switching to York City in June 2011.

He was on the bench for York as they won the 2012 Conference Premier play-off final.