Paul Andrew Blades (born 5 January 1965 in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

) is an English former professional

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 ...

. He was a defender who played for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

and

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

. Now Paul works for the health and safety side of Manstal Electrical in Birmingham.

Career

Blades attended Walton School in

.THOSE WERE THE DAYS...Local sporting highlights from this week in years gone by - French On Friday - Peterborough Evening Telegraph
/ref> He began his career as a trainee at

, making his league debut as a 17-year-old on 18 September 1982 in a 2–1 defeat at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. He remained with the club throughout the 1980s, enduring relegation to the Third Division in 1984 but also two successive promotions that took him to the top flight in 1987. He formed a formidable centre back partnership with Mark Wright which supported a midfield containing

Trevor Hebberd Trevor Neal Hebberd (born 19 June 1958) is an English retired footballer who played as a midfielder. Southampton Born in Winchester, Hampshire, he signed for Southampton on leaving school in 1974 and made his first team debut two years later ...

and

Ted McMinn Kevin Clifton "Ted" McMinn (born 28 September 1962) is a Scottish former association footballer who played as a winger. His nickname is ''The Tin Man''. Playing career Early years Born in Castle Douglas and raised in nearby Dumfries, McMinn ...

as well as the high scoring centre forward

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

as the Rams finished fifth in the league in 1988–89 season and only missed out on a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

place because of the ban on English clubs in European competitions that was the sequel to the

Heysel disaster The Heysel Stadium disaster ( it, Strage dell'Heysel ; german: link=no, Katastrophe von Heysel ; french: Drame du Heysel ; nl, Heizeldrama ) was a crowd disaster that occurred on 29 May 1985 when mostly Juventus fans escaping from a breach by L ...

of 198

After three seasons at the highest level, he finally left the Baseball Ground for

in July 1990. He had played for them 166 times in the league and scored once, his only goal coming in the successful 1988–89 campaign. At the time of his transfer to

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

in the summer of 1990, he was the club's record signing at £700,000, and went on to make 62 appearances for the Canaries over two seasons. In his final season he helped Norwich reach the semi-finals of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

, where defeat to second flight Sunderland prevented them from reaching the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

for the first time in their history. He joined

in August 1992 for £325,000. He made 117 appearances for the Midlanders in total during a three-season spell. His final season saw the club qualify for the play-offs, but they lost to

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish weavers settled in the area in the 14th ...

. Blades was sold after this failure to win promotion to third flight

for £110,000, making him their record signing at the time. Whilst at Rotherham he was a part of the team that won the

1996 Football League Trophy Final The 1996 Football League Trophy Final (known as the Auto Windscreens Shields Trophy for sponsorship reasons) was the 13th final of the domestic football cup competition for teams from the Second and Third Division of the Football League. The ...

. However, his second season saw the club relegated and he was released, whereupon he joined Conference side

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of the Red & Whites and Hill Top.

References

External links

*
Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blades, Paul 1965 births Living people Sportspeople from Peterborough English footballers Association football defenders English Football League players Derby County F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players People educated at The Voyager School Hednesford Town F.C. players