Paul Marcellus Elliott (born 18 March 1964) 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 ...

who played as a defender.

Playing career

Starting his career with

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

in the early 1980s, Elliott signed for First Division

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

in 1983. He then joined

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in 1985 and spent two years at Italian club

Pisa Pisa ( , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Tuscany, central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower, the cit ...

before joining

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in 1989. In his final season at

Parkhead Parkhead ( sco, Pairkheid) is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necropo ...

, Elliott was awarded the Scottish Footballer of the Year award. In the summer of 1991, he signed for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

for £1,400,000. In September 1992, Elliott sustained a serious knee injury, resulting from a challenge by Liverpool's

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 ...

. He never played again and on 10 May 1994 – just four days before Chelsea lost to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in their first

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 ...

final since 1970 – Elliott announced his retirement after failing to recover from the injury. Player and club had been confident of a return to action in 1993–94 and he had been issued with the number 22 shirt with the introduction of squad numbers in the

FA Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

. Just after his retirement, Elliott filed a lawsuit against Saunders seeking damages for the career-ending injury. However, he lost the case when a civil court found that Saunders was not at fault. Elliott was often a pundit on ''

Football Italia ''Football Italia'' was a television programme in the United Kingdom, showing Italian football, that ran from 1992 to 2002 on Channel 4, and continued until 2008 on other channels. It was known as ''Football Italiano'' in its final season. The ...

''.

Post-playing career

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

, Elliott was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) for his work with young players and his involvement with anti-racism initiatives in football. He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2012 Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours List 2012 was released on 16 June 2012 in the United Kingdom. on 11 June 2012 in Australia on 4 June 2012 in New Zealand,The FA The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world and ...

, as a member of the Association's Judicial Panel and as a nominated member of

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

committees on 23 February 2013. He also left his role at Kick It Out. The FA accepted his resignation following a reported text conversation in which "discriminatory abusive comments" were made to fellow former footballer

Richard Rufus Richard Raymond Rufus (born 12 January 1975) is an English former professional footballer who played as a centre back, spending his entire career with one club, Charlton Athletic. He was also capped six times by England U21. Rufus was part of ...

. On 15 July 2014, Elliott rejoined the Inclusion Advisory Board. Elliott was a victim of Rufus's multi-million pound

investment fraud Investment is the dedication of money to purchase of an asset to attain an increase in value over a period of time. Investment requires a sacrifice of some present asset, such as time, money, or effort. In finance, the purpose of investing i ...

, for which Rufus was jailed for seven-and-a-half years in 2023.

Honours

Individual *

SPFA Players' Player of the Year The PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year (often called the Players' Player of the Year, or simply the Scottish Player of the Year) is an annual award given to the player who is adjudged to have been the best of the season in Football in Scotl ...

: 1990–91 * Chelsea F.C. Player of the Year: 1991–92

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Elliott, Paul 1964 births Living people Footballers from Lewisham Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English footballers England B international footballers England under-21 international footballers English expatriate footballers Premier League players Scottish Football League players Serie A players Aston Villa F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Pisa S.C. players Expatriate footballers in Italy Association football central defenders English victims of crime