Paul Bastock

Paul Bastock
Paul Bastock on his Wisbech Town debut.
Personal information
Full name Paul Anthony Bastock
Date of birth (1970-05-19) 19 May 1970
Place of birth Leamington Spa, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position Goalkeeper
Youth career
1986–1988 Coventry City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1989 Cambridge United 12 (0)
1988 → Bath City (loan)[1] 1 (0)
1989 Sabah FA (0)
1989 Cheltenham Town 0 (0)
1989–1990 Fisher Athletic 28 (0)
1990–1992 Kettering Town 27 (0)
1991 → Aylesbury United (loan) 5 (0)
1992–2004 Boston United 501 (0)
2004 Scarborough 0 (0)
2004 Dagenham & Redbridge 1 (0)
2004–2007 St Albans City 110 (0)
2007–2008 Rushden & Diamonds 19 (0)
2008–2011 St Albans City 121 (0)
2011–2012 Boston United 48 (0)
2012–2013 Worksop Town 41 (0)
2013–2014 St Albans City 43 (0)
2014 Royston Town[2] 11 (0)
2014–2015 St Neots Town 33 (0)
2015–2016 Dunstable Town 25 (0)
2016–2017 Stamford 20 (0)
2017 Corby Town 7 (0)
2017 → Wisbech Town (dual registration) 1 (0)
2017–2018 Wisbech Town 29 (0)
2018 → Kettering Town (dual registration) 0 (0)
Total 1,083 (0)
National team
England National Game XI
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Paul Anthony Bastock (born 19 May 1970) is an English retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

He holds the all-time record for the most competitive appearances in world football, having played 1,277 times in league and cup competitions, primarily across the English lower leagues.[3]

During his career, which began in 1988, Bastock has represented nine different clubs including Cambridge United, Boston United, Rushden & Diamonds and St Albans City. He was voted as Boston's 'all-time cult hero' by viewers of the BBC show Football Focus in April 2005.[4]

In addition to the all-time appearances record, Bastock holds the same record at Boston United, having played 625 games in all competitions for the club. He has also played several times for the England National Game XI.

Career

He started his career in the youth team at Coventry City in the eighties and was a member of their 1987 FA Youth Cup winning side that beat a Southampton youth side including Alan Shearer and Matt Le Tissier.[5] He was released by Coventry and signed his first professional contract in 1988 with Cambridge United where he stayed for one season during which he also played once on loan for Bath City in October 1988, a 1–1 draw against VS Rugby.[1] He then moved to Malaysia to play in the Malaysian Super League where he had a short spell with Sabah FA. He then moved back to England, playing a single match for Cheltenham Town in the Gloucestershire Senior Cup in return for a pair of gloves,[6] before signing for Fisher Athletic. After a season with Fisher, he transferred to Kettering Town in 1990 where he spent two years.

At Kettering, after a brief period on loan at Aylesbury United,[7] he impressed and was snapped up by Boston United in 1992. His next twelve years with the Lincolnshire club were to prove the best of his footballing career. His first season with Boston was a disaster, with the club finishing bottom and being relegated from the Football Conference to the Northern Premier League. However, despite conceding 69 goals in 42 games, Bastock was still voted Player of the Season by supporters. He started to concede less goals the season after and Boston had a string of respectable league positions from 1993–1998 when the Pilgrims were moved to the Southern Premier League and their fortunes took an upturn. Bastock helped them to a second-place finish in the 1998–99 season and the team won the league and were promoted back to the Conference in 2000. He spent two seasons in the Conference before Boston were promoted to the Football League Third Division, Bastock missing just one game all season as Boston won the Conference.[5] He won the Player of the Season award again in the 2002–03 season, ten years after last winning it. He remained first choice throughout the whole 2003–04 season; the highlight of which was saving a penalty from Yeovil's Gavin Williams to help his side to a 3–2 win.[8] In the summer of 2004 Boston signed Nathan Abbey and Bastock was unable to regain his first team place. Whilst playing for Boston, he also worked as a care assistant in a nursing home.

He was awarded a testimonial match for his great service to the club before leaving to join Scarborough in October 2004.[9] However, he stayed with Scarborough for just one week, before leaving due to family and travelling issues.[10]

He signed for Dagenham & Redbridge later the same month.[11] He stayed there for two months, making just one appearance, before he was signed by then Conference South side St Albans City in November 2004.[5] He played in 84 consecutive league games for St Albans between his debut match on 23 November 2004 against Hornchurch and 10 November 2006 before he received a suspension after being sent off in an FA Cup tie against Yeading.[5] During the 2005–06 season he was named Supporters Player of the Year, having kept a club record seven consecutive home clean sheets and also equalled the record of six consecutive clean sheets home or away as St Albans win promotion to the Conference.[5]

In 2006 took a part-time position as part-time goalkeeping coach with Boston United, continuing to play for St Albans until May 2007 when he joined Rushden & Diamonds after St Albans relegation from the Conference.[12] However, he was released by Rushden in February 2008[13] and rejoined St Albans City the following month. Within six games of returning was named Conference South Player of the Month[5] He played a crucial role in helping St Albans escape a further relegation and was named as the Supporters Club Player of the Year at the end of the season, only the second player to with the honour twice.[5]

Bastock rejoined former club Boston United, in March 2011.[14] He left the club at the end of the season.[15]

After spending the 2012–13 season at Worksop Town it was announced he would be rejoining St Albans City for a third time for the 2013–14 season.

After one season with St Albans City, Bastock joined Royston Town in the summer of 2014, linking up with ex St Albans manager Steve Castle.

Bastock then moved up a division to sign for St Neots Town in October 2014 where he would go on to play his 1000th game in senior football.[16] However, despite being a regular for St Neots Town, Bastock was released by the club along with Matt Spring in 2015.[17]

Bastock then moved to league counterparts Dunstable Town in the summer of 2015.[7]

In January 2016, Bastock moved to Stamford; injury sidelined him for parts of his time at the Lincolnshire-based club, restricting him to 20 league appearances before he departed in the summer of 2017.[18]

He joined Corby Town prior to the 2017–18 season,[19] making his début in a 5–1 win at home to Romulus on 12 August.[20] He signed for Wisbech Town on dual registration terms on 21 September 2017.[21][22] On 2 October 2017 he announced that his stay at Corby Town had ended.[23] In March 2018 he returned to Kettering Town on dual registration.[24]

Bastock announced his retirement from playing at the end of the 2017-2018 season, aged 48.[25]

Career statistics

As of 11 May 2018.[26][7][27][28]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Cambridge United 1988–89 120000000 120
→ Bath City (loan) 1988–89 10000000 10
Fisher Athletic 1989–90 280000000 280
Kettering Town 1990–91 30000000 30
Kettering Town 1991–92 240000000 240
→ Aylesbury United (loan) 1991–92 50000000 50
Boston United 1992–93 420200090 530
1993–94 410300070 510
1994–95 410300070 510
1995–96 4101000160 580
1996–97 3906000120 570
1997–98 410200090 520
1998–99 3901000170 570
1999–2000 420400040 500
2000–01 420200040 480
2001–02 410200020 450
2002–03 460102020 510
2003–04 460101030 510
Dagenham & Redbridge 2004–05 10000000 10
St Albans City 2004–05 240000050 290
St Albans City 2005–06 420400040 500
St Albans City 2006–07 440000020 460
Rushden & Diamonds 2007–08 190000000 190
St Albans City 2007–08 110000000 110
St Albans City 2008–09 360200050 430
St Albans City 2009–10 400000010 410
St Albans City 2010–11 340300030 400
Boston United 2010–11 90000000 90
Boston United 2011–12 390000060 450
Worksop Town 2012–13 410000000 410
St Albans City 2013–14 430400080 550
Royston Town 2014–15 110000020 130
St Neots Town 2014–15 330000060 390
Dunstable Town 2015–16 250000050 300
Stamford 2015–16 180000010 190
Stamford 2016–17 20000040 60
Corby Town 2017–18 70000020 90
Wisbech Town 2017–18 300000050 350
Career total 1,08204103015101,2770

Personal life

Bastock's son Callum is also a footballer and a fellow goalkeeper. He has played several first team games at semi-professional level for Boston Town before moving on 22 February 2013 to Grimsby Town on a two-year scholarship deal.[29]

Honours

Coventry City
Boston United
St Albans City

References

  1. 1 2 "Past players". Bath City F.C. Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  2. ↑ "- Appearances/Scorers". Roystontownfc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  3. ↑ "Paul Bastock breaks Peter Shilton record in Wisbech's FA Vase victory". Bbc.co.uk. 11 November 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  4. ↑ "Boston's cult heroes". BBC Sport. 22 April 2005. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Paul Bastock profile". St Albans City F.C. Retrieved 21 June 2012.
  6. ↑ Former Cheltenham Town goalkeeper set to break world record Gloucestershire Live, 7 November 2017
  7. 1 2 3 "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 6 February 2016.
  8. ↑ "Boston 3–2 Yeovil". BBC. 12 April 2004. Retrieved 30 June 2016.
  9. ↑ "Scarborough to release goalkeeper". BBC Sport. 25 October 2004. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  10. ↑ "Bastock ends time at Scarborough". BBC Sport. 27 October 2004. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  11. ↑ "Bastock makes switch to Dagenham". BBC News. 28 October 2004. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  12. ↑ "Diamonds swoop for veteran keeper". BBC News. 18 May 2007. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  13. ↑ "Veteran Bastock departs Diamonds". BBC Sport. 28 February 2008. Retrieved 8 January 2009.
  14. ↑ "Paul Bastock returns to Boston United". BBC Sport. 23 March 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  15. ↑ "Pilgrims announce retained list". NonLeagueDaily.com. 30 April 2012. Archived from the original on 22 February 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2012.
  16. ↑ Edwards, Michael. "Bastock joins St Neots movement". Hertsad.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  17. ↑ "Quartet Released By Saints - Pitchero Non-League". Nonleague.pitchero.com. 17 May 2015. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  18. ↑ "Meet the former Malaysian Semi-Pro Football League goalkeeper who is still actively playing today". Stadium Astro. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  19. ↑ "Bastock so sure he can finish on a high with Corby". Northamptonshire Telegraph. 10 August 2017. Retrieved 25 August 2017.
  20. ↑
  21. ↑ "Experienced keeper signs as cover". Wisbech Town FC. 21 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  22. ↑ "Experienced goalkeeper Paul Bastock signs for Wisbech Town". Wisbech Standard. 22 September 2017. Retrieved 24 September 2017.
  23. ↑ "One In – Two Out At Corby". Pitchero Non League. 5 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
  24. ↑ "Veteran goalkeeper Bastock joins the Poppies". Northamptonshire Telegraph. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  25. ↑ Promotion number five! World record-breaking keeper Paul Bastock bows out on a high - Boston Standard
  26. ↑ "Boston United Roll Call". Bufc.drfox.org.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  27. ↑ "St Albans City F.C. Statistics". Saintsstatistics.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  28. ↑ "First-Team Player Statistics First Team - Wisbech, Cambridgeshire". Wisbechtownfc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
  29. ↑ "Bazza is a Mariner! Callum Bastock switches Boston Town for Grimsby". Bostonstandard.co.uk. Retrieved 12 November 2017.
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