Gino Padula

Gino Padula

200px
Personal information
Full name	Gino Mauro Padula
Date of birth	(1976-07-11) 11 July 1976
Place of birth	Lanús, Argentina
Height
Position(s)	Left back
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1996–1997	River Plate	3	(0)
1997–1998	Huracán	31	(1)
1998–1999	Xerez	7	(0)
1999	Bristol Rovers	0	(0)
1999–2000	Walsall	25	(0)
2000–2001	Wigan Athletic	4	(0)
2002–2005	Queens Park Rangers	90	(4)
2005–2006	Nottingham Forest	3	(0)
2007–2008	Montpellier	7	(0)
2008–2010	Columbus Crew	56	(1)
Total		195	(6)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Gino Mauro Padula (born 11 July 1976) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a left back.

Career

Born in Lanús, Padula played in Argentina, Spain, England, France and the United States for River Plate, Huracán, Xerez, Bristol Rovers, Walsall, Wigan Athletic, Queens Park Rangers, Nottingham Forest, Montpellier and Columbus Crew.

QPR

Arguably his most successful spell came at QPR, where he became somewhat of a cult hero. Padula was signed in 2002 by then QPR manager Ian Holloway but initially found it hard to break into the first team. He eventually got his chance due to injuries away at Plymouth, where he finally displayed his tough slide tackling and steely determination. Padula became an overnight fan-favourite and one of the first names on the team sheet. As his confidence grew, he became more and more attacking and his prowess from dead balls became legendary with the QPR faithful.

Padula helped QPR to the 2003 Division Two playoff final which he started and performed solidly against Cardiff City at the Millennium Stadium. He was withdrawn in the 79th minute, being replaced by Tommy Williams. QPR lost the game one nil after extra time. The following season, Gino started 36 league games for QPR and scored 3 goals. QPR finished second only to Plymouth and won promotion back to the second tier of English football, the newly renamed Championship. Upon winning promotion on the final day of the season, beating Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 at Hillsbrough, Padula danced in front of the 8000 travelling QPR fans, holding an Argentina flag.

He remains one of the most popular modern-era QPR characters.