Paul Raymond Paton (born 18 April 1987) is a 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 le ...

who plays as a

defensive 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 ...

for

West of Scotland Football League The West of Scotland Football League (WoSFL) is a senior football league based in the west of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–10 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. Founded in 202 ...

club

Glenafton Athletic Glenafton Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club, based in New Cumnock, Ayrshire. Members of the Scottish Junior Football Association, they play in the West of Scotland Football League. The club has won the Scottish Junior Cup twice ...

. He has previously played for Queen's Park,

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

and

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

, and had a spell on loan to

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

. Born in Scotland, Paton has represented

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

at international level.

Club career

Queen's Park

Paton played for Queen's Park from 2005 until 2008. His displays at right back were key in Queen's winning promotion to the Second Division. He scored the goal which gave Queen's the lead in the second leg of the playoff final against East Fife at New Bayview.

Partick Thistle

Paton signed for

in May 2008, on a three-year contract. He played a significant role in Thistle winning promotion in the 2012–13 season, during which he was the club captain.

Dundee United

On 16 April 2013 it was announced that Paton would follow former Thistle manager

Jackie McNamara Jackie McNamara (born 24 October 1973) is a Scottish professional football agent, and former player, manager and executive. He won 33 international caps playing for Scotland, and filled a variety of defensive roles in his career. McNamara beg ...

, along with Thistle teammate

Chris Erskine Chris Erskine (born 8 February 1987) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for West of Scotland League club St Cadoc's. He is most associated for his various spells with Partick Thistle. He has also previo ...

, to join

for the start of the 2013–14 season. Paton scored his first goal for the club in a 4–0 win against

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

. Having established himself as a first team regular, Paton was rewarded with a contract extension at the beginning of the following season to keep him at the club until 2017. In the 2014–15 season Paton was named as SPFL Player of the Month for September 2014. On 18 December 2014, Paton was found guilty by an SFA Disciplinary Tribunal of spitting at

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 ...

player

Jonny Hayes Jonathan Hayes (born 9 July 1987) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a winger for the Scottish Premiership team Aberdeen and Republic of Ireland. He began his career in England with Reading, but did not break through to their f ...

during the match between Dundee United and Aberdeen five days earlier, and was given a two-match suspension, despite Hayes saying that Paton had not spat at him. Dundee United announced they would be appealing the suspension but were told that the SFA's fast-track judicial system did not allow this. In April 2015, Paton suffered a knee injury which kept him out for the rest of the season and the most of the 2015–16 season. He made his return for United in the latter stages of a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

where United won 1–0 in January 2016. He scored his first goal of the season in the final minutes of a 2–1 win over Heart of Midlothian to put United into the lead with a 25-yard strike. United were relegated to the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

at the end of the season. In June 2016, he left United by mutual agreement with the club.

St Johnstone

After leaving Dundee United, Paton signed a two-year contract with

. Paton was released from his contract with St Johnstone on 31 January 2018.

Plymouth Argyle

Paton signed for English

EFL League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

in March 2018.

Return to Scotland

Paton signed a two-year contract with

club

in June 2018. After one season with Falkirk, Paton signed for rivals

on 14 June 2019. Paton, who was appointed captain of the club, was released in May 2020 at the end of his contract. On 8 July 2020, Paton joined

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...

side

. With the Lowland League season suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Paton joined

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club

on loan in March 2021, until the end of the 2020–21 season. After turning down a new deal at

, Paton joined

in June 2021. His first Sons goal was an injury time equaliser against former club

at a time where Dumbarton had just eight men, in a game they eventually lost 3-2. He left the club at the end of the 2021–22 season following the Sons' relegation to

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was ...

. In June 2022, Paton signed for

of the

International career

On 1 March 2014, Paton was called up to the full Northern Ireland squad for their friendly international against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

. He qualifies to play for Northern Ireland through his father, who was born in

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic Ireland, Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight Roll-on/ro ...

Personal life

In October 2014, Paton was arrested in connection with an alleged assault on

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 ...

goalkeeper Lukasz Zaluska along with former

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

goalkeeper Chris McCluskey. Two Dundee United players, Paton and Mark Wilson, had been dropped from the team pending a club investigation. Paton was subsequently charged with assaulting Zaluska. He later pleaded guilty on one charge of assault and was fined £500.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paton, Paul 1987 births Living people Scottish people of Irish descent Footballers from Paisley, Renfrewshire Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Scottish footballers Scottish people of Northern Ireland descent Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Association football midfielders Queen's Park F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players East Kilbride F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Airdrieonians F.C. players English Football League players Lowland Football League players Dumbarton F.C. players Glenafton Athletic F.C. players West of Scotland Football League players