Born: Berekum, Brong-Ahafo, Ghana, 15 June 1981
Position: Right back
International caps: 89
International goals: 0
Signed: 15 July 2008 from West Ham United (£2.8m)
Fulham debut: Hull City 2-1 Fulham, 16 August 2008
Fulham appearances: 91
Fulham goals: 0
Sold: 20 July 2011 to Leicester City (free)
With his praying ritual before kick off and his laps of honour after full time, John Painstil was destined to become a Fulham legend. It certainly helped that he surpassed expectations by becoming a fixture at right back after Roy Hodgson’s double swoop to take the Ghanaian international and Bobby Zamora from West Ham United. Many thought that Panstil would merely be back up to Frederik Stoor, another summer signing, but his spirited early season display left the Swede trailing in his wake.
Painstil only missed one league fixture in his first season at Craven Cottage with his energetic raids up the right flank earning appreciation from the home fans. He was defensively disciplined, too, recovering from an opening day mistake at Hull City to help the Whites finish seventh. Paintsil was a regular in the side that reached the Europa League final, although he was replaced by Chris Baird in the starting line-up against Atletico Madrid. He made just sixteen league appearances under Mark Hughes the following season but left for Leicester City on a free transfer. Pantsil played just seven games for the Foxes before also representing Hapoel Tel Aviv, Santos and Maritzburg United before ending his playing career in June 2016.
Pantsil has completed his coaching badges and is currently number two to Ghana national team head coach Otto Addo. You can listen to John discuss his Fulham career on this episode of the Green Pole podcast.
