PAUL WOTTON

Full Name: Paul Anthony Wotton

Born: 17 August 1977

1. Came from: Trainee   Went to: Released

1. First game: 07 February 1995   Last game: 19 April 2008

2. Came from: Yeovil Town   Went to:

2. First game: 14 January 2012   Last game: 27 April 2013

Appearances: 476 (437/39)   Goals: 66

A Plymouth lad who is especially proud of his city and club, Paul Wotton rose through the Argyle youth ranks to captain the side to two championship titles. He joined the club aged 17 in 1995 and became a regular in the first-team at the start of the 1997-98 season. In 1999 however, he looked to be leaving to join Northampton Town, a move that fortunately fell through. Wottsy was named as club captain for the 2001-02 season, played every second of the campaign that led to the Third Division title and was named in the PFA Division Three team of the year.

An inspirational leader and a versatile player, he started his career at centre-back but later moved into central midfield. He has a ferocious shot and scored many important goals, often from free-kicks or the penalty spot. He was twice voted Player of the Year, first in 2002-03 and again in 2004-05, when he was also the leading scorer.

Despite twice losing his place to Hasney Aljofree, he played a huge role in the Division Two championship winning side of 2003-04 and lifted his second trophy as Argyle's captain. In his 2005-06 testimonial season, he was virtually ever-present, again finishing as top scorer, and was rewarded with a new three-and-a-half-year contract and a testimonial match against Anderlecht.

After an excellent start to the 2006-07 season, he suffered a cruciate and medial knee ligament injury in December and did not return to the first-team for 14 months. Wotton made just eight more appearances for Argyle and was released after 14 seasons with the club, but not before scoring a trademark penalty in his final game. He then joined Southampton and spent over two years with the club, making more than 50 appearances.

In November 2010 he had a short loan spell with Oxford United and the following month joined Yeovil Town in a similar deal. An agreement to cancel his contract was made with Southampton and Wotton joined Yeovil on a permanent basis in January 2011. After playing 43 games in just over a year at Huish Park, his contract was cancelled by mutual agreement, enabling him to return to Argyle. Wotton was virtually ever-present for the remainder of the campaign and made a predictably large contribution to the successful fight for league survival, showing that he had lost none of the passion and desire to play for his hometown club that had been the hallmark of his first spell at Home Park.