Paul Terence Ward (born 15 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 ...

. He made more than 300 appearances in the Football League.

Career

Ward began his career with

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 ...

, and played in the Football League for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, Darlington,

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

, Scunthorpe United, and Lincoln City, before playing non-league football for

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

. His first experience as a manager was when he was asked to take over Darlington for the last 13 matches of their Division 3 relegation season. He was the youngest ever manager of a Football League club but reverted to playing duties after the end of the season. In August 2002 he commenced a second spell as manager of Hatfield Main. He steered the club to the verge of promotion to the Premier Division of the

Northern Counties East Football League The Northern Counties East Football League is a semi-professional English football league. It has two divisions – Premier Division and Division One – which stand at the ninth and tenth levels of the football pyramid respectively. History T ...

before a late loss of form saw them finish in fifth place and then resign from the league due to financial problems. Ward departed to become joint manager, with Des Bennett, of Armthorpe Welfare. In August 2013 he was appointed first-team coach at

Retford United Retford United Football Club (also known as the Badgers) are an England, English association football, football club based at Cannon Park in Retford, Nottinghamshire. They currently play in the . History The club was founded in 1987 by Retfor ...

, rising to the role of manager in June 2014. However, following a run of ten league games which saw the club pick up only seven out of a possible thirty points and culminated in a 6–1 defeat at

Garforth Town Garforth Town Association Football Club is a football club based in Garforth, West Yorkshire, England. They are members of the and play at Wheatley Park. History The club was established in 1964 as Miners Arms, a Sunday league team based at ...

on 17 January 2015, he parted company with the club. On 5 May 2015 he joined Staveley Miners Welfare as assistant to the newly appointed manager Brett Marshall. He remained in post for six-and-a-half years until, in November 2021, Marshall and his assistants, Ward and

Ian Bowling Ian Bowling (born 27 July 1965) is an English former professional footballer who played as goalkeeper. He is goalkeeping coach at Staveley MWFC. Playing career Bowling started his professional career with Lincoln City whom he joined from Gain ...

, resigned.

Career outside of football

Ward owns and runs a health and fitness club in

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, which he opened following his retirement from professional football in 1994.

Honours

Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 1988–89 Fourth Division

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Paul 1963 births Living people Footballers from County Durham English footballers Association football midfielders Chelsea F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Staveley Miners Welfare F.C. English Football League players English football managers Darlington F.C. managers Hatfield Main F.C. managers English Football League managers