Paul Ian Dyson (born 27 December 1959) 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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

, Stoke City,

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

, Darlington and

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

Career

Dyson was born in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

and began his career with

progressing through the youth team at

Highfield Road Highfield Road was a football stadium in the city of Coventry, England. It was the home ground for Coventry City F.C. for 106 years. History It was built in 1899 in the Hillfields district, close to the city centre, and staged its final game ...

he made his debut on 23 December 1978 at home to Everton in place of the injured

Gary Gillespie Gary Thompson Gillespie (born 5 July 1960) is a Scottish former professional football defender who played for Coventry City and later Liverpool, through much of the 1980s. Liverpool His three goals in that double winning season all came in th ...

. He played once more match in the 1978–79 season and was prevented from remaining in the side due to the arrival of

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

's Gary Collier and Sunderland's

Jim Holton James Allan Holton (11 April 1951 – 4 October 1993) was a Scottish footballer who played as a centre-back. Holton played for Shrewsbury Town, Manchester United, Miami Toros, Sunderland, Coventry City and Detroit Express. He played in 15 in ...

. However the new signings failed to impress and Dyson played against Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup on 5 January 1980 and went on to miss just three matches in the next four years for Coventry and his performances earned him a call up to the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

s where he won four caps. After a poor summer of 1983 for Coventry which saw a number of players refuse new contracts in protest at the sacking of

Dave Sexton David James Sexton (6 April 1930 – 25 November 2012) was an English football manager and player. He was notable for managing Chelsea to their first ever major European trophy. Playing career Son of former professional boxer Archie Sex ...

Dyson joined First Division rivals Stoke City. In 1983–84 he played in 44 matches as Stoke avoided relegation by two points but Stoke then suffered an embarrassing relegation in 1984–85, going down with a record low points tally of 17. He made 38 appearances in 1985–86 before he joined

in March 1986. He could help the Baggies avoid relegation Second Division and he spent the next two seasons at

the Hawthorns The Hawthorns is an all-seater football stadium in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England, with a capacity of 26,688. It has been the home of Championship club West Bromwich Albion since 1900, when it became the sixth ground to be used by the cl ...

and had sport spells with Darlington and

before deciding to retire at the age of 30. He then went on to play non-league football with Telford United and Solihull Borough was manager of Solihull for a time in the late 1990s. He then worked as a prison officer and later ran his own sports shop in the

Kings Heath Kings Heath (historically, and still occasionally King's Heath) is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, four miles south of the city centre. Historically in Worcestershire, it is the next suburb south from Moseley on the A435, Alcester road. ...

area of

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dyson, Paul 1959 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands Association football defenders English footballers England under-21 international footballers Coventry City F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Telford United F.C. players Solihull Borough F.C. players English Football League players