Position : Forward
Played : 1996-97
Appearances : 16
Goals : 1
Paul was signed after a trial period having been released by Huddersfield in the summer. He is of course famous for his record haul of goals (340) in a season as a schoolboy with Bolton Lads Club in the early 80s. That got him on Manchester City's books and in the England Youth team. He made his first team debut in 1986. In 1986-7 he was drafted into the side in he latter part of the season in the hope that he would score them out of trouble. It didn't quite work; Paul got 5 but City were relegated. What's more Chelsea's Paul Elliott had exposed his lack of pace in a game, getting back to tackle when he should have been left for dead. It was a handicap that stayed with him for the rest of his career. Paul sat out most of the following season with a broken leg but was a regular with 13 goals in 1988-89 as City went back up amid a sea of plastic bananas. However manager Mel Machin felt he wouldn't hack it in the top division and offloaded him to Bournemouth as part of the fee for Ian Bishop. Paul got 13 in 32 games in 1989-90 but returned to the north west with Oldham for £225,000 in March 1990. Paul's time there was marked by no less than three broken legs but he managed a Premier League goal in 1991-92. At the start of the following season he went on loan to Brighton and scored 5 in 11 games there. That earned him a recall but after failing to score in 4 games he went to Birmingham for £150,000 in March 1993 repaying his fee almost immediately with a last minute winner that saved them from relegation in the final game. That was his last goal for the club as Barry Fry arrived and started signing strikers like they were going out of fashion. Finding himself something like sixth choice, Paul let his fitness go and he was allowed to join Huddersfield on a free in March 1995. He failed to impress in two substitute appearances and arrived at Spotland as a free agent.
Paul was restricted to brief substitute appearances at first while Docherty tried to gauge whether he still had an appetite for the game but a hat trick in an Auto-Windscreen game at home to Darlington in November appeared to answer the question and he was signed to the end of the season. He got his first League start in the following game at home to Cambridge and scored after only 4 minutes. He didn't score in the midweek mauling at home by Chester (where the only pleasure to be had was ogling a girl in the Sandy with a very nice rack) then scored two in the rout of Rotherham in the FA Cup. Then there was nothing. He was dropped to the bench for the next game at Scunthorpe and Shaw of all people was brought on ahead of him. He was in and out of the team for the next dozen or so games without scoring then dropped to the reserves. Something had gone on behind the scenes. Paul was very approachable to fans and said the training was a joke and later claimed that Docherty wanted him to play a more physical game (at 5'8 he was hardly equipped for that). Docherty was terse when asked about him at a fan's forum just barking "he's not good enough". In the reserves he still looked quite useful receiving the ball and playing others in but it was a lost cause. Paul made his last League appearance as a sub on Easter Monday 1996 in the 0-4 debacle at home to Barnet.
He joined Accrington Stanley for a year while opening up a chip shop near Burnden Park. As his business expanded Paul dropped down to Bacup Borough then packed up playing altogether in 1999. He now owns a string of chip shops and also coaches at City's Academy.
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