Gary John Poole is an English former professional footballer who played as a right-back

Defender (association football)

Within the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to prevent the opposition from attacking....

. He made more than 250 appearances in the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

.

Biography

Poole was born in Stratford, London

Stratford, London

Stratford is a place in the London Borough of Newham, England. It is located east northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically an agrarian settlement in the ancient parish of West Ham, which transformed into an industrial suburb...

. He came through the juniors at Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club , commonly referred to as Spurs, is an English Premier League football club based in Tottenham, north London. The club's home stadium is White Hart Lane....

 and was given a professional contract, but made no appearances for the first team and was released after two years. He signed for Fourth Division

Football League Fourth Division

The Fourth Division of The Football League was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season...

 club Cambridge United

Cambridge United F.C.

Cambridge United Football Club is a professional football club from Cambridge, England. They are currently playing the 2011-2012 season in the Conference National, the fifth tier of the English league system, where they have competed since 2005 following their relegation from the Football League...

, and after 18 months was sold for £3,000 to Conference

Conference National

Conference National is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...

 side Barnet

Barnet F.C.

Barnet Football Club is an English football team from High Barnet, London, England, currently playing in Football League Two. The ground is in the town of Barnet within the London Borough of Barnet....

, managed by Barry Fry

Barry Fry

Barry Francis Fry is an English football manager. A former Manchester United apprentice as a winger, his playing career involved brief spells with Bolton Wanderers, Luton Town and Leyton Orient, before he retired prematurely due to injury.He has managed Dunstable Town, Bedford Town, Maidstone...

. In his first full season Barnet were promoted as champions to Division Four, and reached the play-offs

Football League Two play-offs

The Football League Two play-offs are a series of play-off matches, contested by the teams finishing from 4th to 7th in the Football League Two table to determine the fourth promotion place to the third tier of English football, League One. The semi-finals are played over two legs, with 7th playing...

 in 1991–92.

He was then allowed to leave on a free transfer to Plymouth Argyle

Plymouth Argyle F.C.

Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Plymouth, Devon, that plays in Football League Two.Since becoming professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles, five Southern League titles and one Western League title. The 2009–10 season was the...

 in the newly-designated Second Division

Football League Second Division

From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

 (third tier), where he captained the side. While at Plymouth he was involved in an incident which ended Rotherham United

Rotherham United F.C.

Rotherham United Football Club are an English professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, who compete in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club's colours have traditionally been red and white, although these have evolved through history...

 winger John Buckley

John Buckley (footballer)

John William Buckley is a Scottish former professional footballer and current manager of Doncaster Rovers Belles.-Celtic:Buckley began his professional career in the youth ranks of Celtic, and won the Glasgow Cup against Rangers in 1982...

's Football League career.
Buckley was knocked unconscious in a clash of heads with Poole, requiring emergency surgery to remove a blood clot from the brain,
and remained in a coma on life support

Life support

Life support, in medicine is a broad term that applies to any therapy used to sustain a patient's life while they are critically ill or injured. There are many therapies and techniques that may be used by clinicians to achieve the goal of sustaining life...

 for four days.

Poole spent just one season at Plymouth before Fry brought him to Southend United

Southend United F.C.

Southend United Football Club is an English football club based at Roots Hall Stadium, Prittlewell, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, who play in Football League Two. Their home ground is Roots Hall, and the club plan to move into a new 22,000-seater stadium located at Fossetts Farm.-Stadium:The club has had...

 of Division One

Football League First Division

The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

 for a club record
fee of £350,000. Another year later he joined up with Fry again, this time at Birmingham City

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

, newly relegated to the third tier of English football, for a fee of £50,000. Success followed in 1994–95 with the Second Division championship and victory in the Football League Trophy

Football League Trophy

The Football League Trophy, currently known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football knock-out competition open to the 48 clubs in Football League One and Football League Two, the bottom two divisions in the four fully professional top...

 at Wembley. The next season Poole took over the captaincy after Liam Daish

Liam Daish

Liam Sean Daish is a former football player who played as a centre-half. Since 2005 he has been head coach of Conference National team Ebbsfleet United . Despite being born in England, Daish played internationally for the Republic of Ireland due to his Irish ancestry...

 was sold to Coventry City

Coventry City F.C.

Coventry City Football Club, otherwise known as the Sky Blues owing to the traditional colour of their strip, are a professional English Football league club based in Coventry...

, captaining the side in the League Cup

Football League Cup

The Football League Cup, commonly known as the League Cup or, from current sponsorship, the Carling Cup, is an English association football competition. Like the FA Cup, it is played on a knockout basis...

 semi-final against Leeds United

Leeds United A.F.C.

Leeds United Association Football Club are an English professional association football club based in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, who play in the Football League Championship, the second tier of the English football league system...

.

In the match against Manchester City

Manchester City F.C.

Manchester City Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Manchester. Founded in 1880 as St. Mark's , they became Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894...

 at Maine Road

Maine Road

Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England that was home to Manchester City F.C. from its construction in 1923 until 2003...

 in September 1996, referee Richard Poulain awarded a penalty late on; Poole, who had conceded the free kick which led to the penalty, lost control and pushed the referee from behind such that he needed treatment for whiplash

Whiplash (medicine)

Whiplash is a non-medical term describing a range of injuries to the neck caused by or related to a sudden distortion of the neck associated with extension. The term "whiplash" is a colloquialism...

 after the game.
The Football Association

The Football Association

The Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...

 imposed an instant suspension on the player; after a hearing, the length of the ban was set at four matches.
A month later manager Trevor Francis

Trevor Francis

Trevor John Francis , is a former footballer who won the European Cup with Nottingham Forest and played for England 52 times. He was England's first £1 million player...

 sold him to fellow First Division club Charlton Athletic

Charlton Athletic F.C.

Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...

 for a fee of £250,000.

He played 16 games for Charlton that season, but a knee injury sustained in a reserve team

Reserve team

Large professional sports clubs often have far more players under contract than could possibly play in a match. As a result, many of these clubs create second teams composed of players who need playing time, but have little hope of playing on the first team. The players on this second team are...

 match put an end to his first-team career. Still contracted to the club when they gained promotion to the Premier League the following season, he attempted a comeback in the reserves after more than a year out,
but never appeared in the top flight and retired in August 1999.

A qualified coach, he became a director of a company providing investment opportunities for sportspeople.

Honours

• with Barnet
  • Conference
    Conference National
    Conference National is the top division of the Football Conference in England. It is the highest level of the National League System and fifth highest of the overall English football league system...
    
     champions: 1991
• with Birmingham City
  • Second Division
    Football League Second Division
    From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...
    
     champions: 1995
  • Football League Trophy
    Football League Trophy
    The Football League Trophy, currently known as the Johnstone's Paint Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English association football knock-out competition open to the 48 clubs in Football League One and Football League Two, the bottom two divisions in the four fully professional top...
    
     winners: 1995

External links

• Gary Poole at Neil Brown's statistics site