Paul David Mason (born 3 September 1963) 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 ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

from 1984 until 2000. He played in the

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 Fo ...

and Football League for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

, the Scottish Premier League for

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

and in the Netherlands for Groningen.

Playing career

Mason played for Liverpool Schoolboys from the under 12s through to the under 16s. At the age of 16, he joined his lifelong heroes, Everton FC, as a youth player. Mason played for Everton for approximately 12 months before the club let him go, citing Mason's small physique at the time, as the reason for their decision. After leaving Everton, Mason played for another Merseyside club, Tranmere Rovers, for 12 months, where he played in both the youth and reserve teams. Tranmere didn't offer him a contract, which forced Mason to leave the Club in order to find full-time, paid employment away from football. Mason continued to play football though, and after securing a full-time job as a labourer, he began to play for another local amateur team, Port Sunlight. Aged 18, he broke his leg in a cup semi-final while playing for Cheshire in Tiverton. After 6 weeks in a plaster cast and 6 months out of football, convinced that a career as a Professional footballer was now over, Mason made the decision to follow his eldest brother to the Netherlands where labouring jobs seemed plentiful at the time. Based in Delfzijl, in Groningen, Mason soon found work and began to play for local amateur football teams again. It wasn't long before scouts from the one of the biggest football clubs in the area spotted Mason. That club was FC Groningen. Mason's progress was watched closely by the scouts for several months. He was finally invited for trials at the club and was offered a 12-month reserve contract as a result. A year later, FC Groningen, impressed with his performance, offered Mason, a 3-year full-time, professional contract. Mason went on to become an established first team member at FC Groningen. During his time in the Netherlands, Mason was voted in Marco van Basten's dream team for up and coming stars and he attracted the attention of much bigger teams such as Ajax and Feyenoord. Though happy in the Netherlands, coming from a large close knit family, Mason always wanted to get back to the UK and closer to home. When

Alex Smith Alexander Douglas Smith (born May 7, 1984) is an American former quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons. He played college football at Utah, where he received first-team All-American honors and won the 2 ...

offered him the chance to move to Aberdeen in 1988 for £400,000, Mason and his young family returned to the UK and he joined Aberdeen FC at the same time as

Theo Snelders Theodorus Antonius Gerardus Snelders (born 7 December 1963) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Snelders was born in Westervoort, Gelderland. He started his career with FC Twente but is mostly rem ...

who had arrived at the club from

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese ...

as a replacement for

Jim Leighton James Leighton (born 24 July 1958) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Leighton started his career with Aberdeen, where he won seven domestic trophies and the 1982–83 European Cup Winners' Cup under the m ...

. Mason and Snelders remain good friends to this day. Mason was held in very high regard in Scottish football and was asked to play for the Scotland national team during his time at the Club but felt he had to decline the offer as he was born in England and any Scottish family connection would have been extremely tenuous. Whilst at Aberdeen FC, Mason attracted the attention of Rangers. He chose to remain at Aberdeen and went on to score the 2 goals that won Aberdeen the

1989 Scottish League Cup Final The 1989 Scottish League Cup Final was played on 22 October 1989 at Hampden Park in Glasgow and was the final of the 44th Scottish League Cup competition (Skol Cup). The final was contested by Aberdeen and Rangers for the third season in succe ...

against Rangers in the 1989–1990 season. He also played for them in the victorious

1990 Scottish Cup Final The 1990 Scottish Cup Final was the 105th final of the Scottish Cup, Scottish football's most prestigious knock-out association football competition. The match took place at Hampden Park on 12 May 1990 and was contested by Scottish Premier Di ...

. After a very successful 5 years at Aberdeen, Mason moved to

in 1993. Again, he became a popular member of the team and was very popular with the fans. He made 112 appearances for Ipswich Town, scoring 36 goals. Mason retired from football in 1999, aged 35.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Personal life

Mason now lives in the seaside resort of

Southport Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England. Southport lies on the Iris ...

where he owns a guest house. Mason continues to take an interest in football and other sports and his Guest House has proved popular with golfers taking part in local tournaments and celebrities appearing at the local Theatres.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mason, Paul Living people 1963 births Men's association football midfielders English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers Premier League players FC Groningen players Aberdeen F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Woodbridge Town F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Footballers from Liverpool