Paul John Buckle (born 16 December 1970) is an English football manager. He is currently a technical advisor at Hartford Athletic of the USL and technical advisor to Landon Donovan at San Diego Loyal. Prior to this, he coached the U23s for Southampton FC of the Premier League. 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 in 1993 then joined Torquay United in February 1994, before moving to Exeter City in October 1995. Due to Exeter's financial problems, Buckle left and joined Northampton Town, but failed to make their first team. In October 1996 Buckle returned to Wycombe on non-contract terms, then moved to Colchester United in late November. He returned to Exeter on a free transfer in July 1999, signing a two-year contract. Buckle sustained a serious ankle injury in the opening game of the new season, though he made a full recovery and regained a first team place. He then moved into non-League football with Aldershot Town (2002–03) and Weymouth (2003–04), before returning to Exeter as player-coach in March 2005, first under manager Alex Inglethorpe then his successor Paul Tisdale. He continued to play and later became the club's assistant manager.
In June 2007, Buckle was appointed manager of Conference Premier side Torquay United, helping return them to the Football League at the second attempt. Following a 1–0 defeat by Stevenage in the League Two play-off final in May 2011, he left the club to become the manager of newly relegated Bristol Rovers. He replaced many of the playing staff, but the team won only six of their first 23 league games and, in January 2012, Buckle was dismissed from the club. In April 2012 Buckle was confirmed as the new manager of Luton Town following the departure of Gary Brabin. He led the club to the play-off final at Wembley Stadium, losing 2–1 to York City, and 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 1–0. Buckle left Luton in February 2013 for personal reasons. Buckle married sports broadcaster Rebecca Lowe in June 2013 and later moved to the US where he was appointed as technical director at the Met Oval in New York in November of that year. He returned to the Football League in November 2014 to take the manager's job at Cheltenham Town in League Two but left in February 2015. On 8 July 2015 it was announced he had signed as head coach of the USL soccer club Sacramento Republic, where he remained until 1 February 2018. In May 2019, he was named as technical advisor at Hartford Athletic of the USL.
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