Paul Abrahams (born 31 October 1973) is an English former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

or as a winger in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

, most notably for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

, where he made over 100 league appearances in two spells between 1992 and 1999. He also played for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and for a number of non-league teams after retiring from the professional game through injury. He was most recently manager of Maldon & Tiptree.

Playing career

Born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

, Abrahams began his career at hometown club

. He signed professional terms with the U's in summer 1992, having scored 46 goals in 31 youth-team games in the previous season. He had broken into Colchester's non-league double winning side during the 1991–92 season, making his debut as a substitute in a 4–2 win at

Slough Town Slough Town Football Club is a semi-professional English football club based in Slough, Berkshire. Nicknamed "The Rebels", the team competes in the National League South, at the sixth tier of English football, following promotion from the Sou ...

on 26 August 1991. Abrahams made three

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

appearances, all as substitute, and went on to play 55

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

games for the U's until he joined

for a fee of £30,000 in 1995. He made 35 appearances for Brentford, scoring eight times. He was loaned back to Colchester in late 1995 and re-signed permanently for the U's in 1996 for £20,000. He went on to become a key member of

Steve Wignall Steven Leslie Wignall (born 17 September 1954) is an English former professional football manager and player. During his playing career, Wignall, who played as a central defender, made over 600 appearances in the Football League. Career Playing ...

's team, scoring an important

golden goal The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...

against

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

to put Colchester into the

1997 Football League Trophy Final The 1997 Football League Trophy Final, known as the 1997 Auto Windscreens Shield Final for sponsorship reasons, was the final match of the 1996–97 Football League Trophy. It was the 14th season of the competition for teams from the Second and ...

, a game which Colchester lost in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

. Abrahams was a member of the 1998 Third Division play-off final winning team, although did not play a part in the match itself. Abrahams was forced into an early retirement from the professional game in 1999 following a knee injury. He had made 144 league appearances in total for the U's. After leaving Colchester, Abrahams made appearances for a number of non-league teams, including

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of and play at Latimer Park in Burton Latimer. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in ...

Canvey Island Canvey Island is a town, civil parishes in England, civil parish and reclaimed island in the Thames estuary, near Southend-on-Sea, in the Castle Point district, in the county of Essex, England. It has an area of and a population of 38,170.Office ...

, Chesham United,

Wivenhoe Town Wivenhoe Town F.C. is an English football club based in Wivenhoe, Essex. The club are currently members of the and play at Broad Lane. History The club was established as Wivenhoe Rangers by Frank Slaughter and students from Colchester Gram ...

Heybridge Swifts Heybridge Swifts Football Club is a football club based in Heybridge, near Maldon, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Scraley Road. History The club was established in 1880 as Heybridge Football Club. After joining t ...

and

AFC Sudbury Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury is a football club based in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The club was formed in 1999 by the merger of Sudbury Town and Sudbury Wanderers, the process giving rise to the name Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury. ...

. He scored 14 goals for Sudbury in 56 appearances in total, before having his contract with the club terminated in November 2006 following a series of niggling injuries. He joined Halstead Town for the 2007–08 season, and rejoined the club in November 2009 to help with first team coaching. He made another appearance for Halstead in April 2010. His career ended due to a

cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and the atlanto-axial joint. In a fashion similar to the cords in a toy Jacob's la ...

injury.

Managerial career

In May 2022 Abrahams was appointed manager of Maldon & Tiptree. In September 2022, Abrahams was sacked by the club having lost every league match and exited both the FA Cup and FA Trophy.

Personal life

After leaving professional football, Abrahams worked for a publishing company. As of May 2011, he was working for consultancy company Fundamental Media.

Honours

;Colchester United *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

runner-up *

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

play-off winner (level 4) :''All honours referenced by:''

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Abrahams, Paul 1973 births Living people Footballers from Colchester English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Colchester United F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Canvey Island F.C. players Chesham United F.C. players Heybridge Swifts F.C. players Wivenhoe Town F.C. players A.F.C. Sudbury players Halstead Town F.C. players Maldon & Tiptree F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players Isthmian League players English football managers Maldon & Tiptree F.C. managers Isthmian League managers