Paul James McManus (born 22 April 1990) is an English

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 ...

Career

McManus was a product of Chester City's youth system and a prolific scoring record for the youth and reserve sides persuaded

Bobby Williamson Robert Williamson (born 13 August 1961 in Glasgow) is a Scottish football player and manager. Williamson played as a striker for Clydebank, Rangers, West Bromwich Albion, Rotherham United and Kilmarnock. He then became a manager at Kilma ...

to hand McManus a professional contract on 2 October 2007. Highlights of his early time at the club included scoring the shock winner for Chester's youngsters against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

in the

FA Youth Cup The Football Association Youth Challenge Cup is an English football competition run by The Football Association for under-18 sides. Only those players between the age of 15 and 18 on 31 August of the current season are eligible to take part. It ...

in December 2006 and a hat-trick against

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

in a reserve fixture in September 2007. He made his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

debut as a late substitute in a 3–1 home win over

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

on 7 October 2007, becoming the first player born in the 1990s to make a first-team appearance for Chester. He is one of several homegrown players to appear for the first-team this season. He made his first starting appearance in the first–team in a

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 Leag ...

tie away at Carlisle United two nights later and remained in the first–team squad for most of the season. In the closing weeks of the 2007–2008 season he played regularly in attack, scoring his first league goal in a 2–1 loss to Lincoln City on 12 April 2008. The following season saw McManus scored successive equalisers for Chester against

and

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 September but he was allowed to move to

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

shortly before the transfer window closed on 2 February 2009. He made 14 appearances during the remainder of the 2008–09 season and also won the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most ...

and played in the final of the

Welsh League Cup The Cymru Premier League Cup, currently known as the Nathaniel MG Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a cup competition in Welsh football organised by the Cymru Premier. The competition was established in 1992 and is considered to be the second-mos ...

. At the end of the season, he was released by Bangor at the end of the season, moving to Airbus UK Broughton. In January 2012 he joined

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community (Wales), community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Flintshire (historic), Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at ...

. In 2016 McManus signed for

Runcorn Town Runcorn Town Football Club is an England, English association football club based in Runcorn, Cheshire, England. After spending most of their years in the West Cheshire League, they were elected to the North West Counties League in 2010 and are c ...

. In February 2019 he became player-manager on a caretaker basis, and was appointed as permanent player-manager prior to the final game of the season.

References

*https://web.archive.org/web/20110605113349/http://www.airbusfc.com/index.php/first-team/squad-and-stats/stat-attack

External links

*
Welsh Premier profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McManus, Paul 1990 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Chester City F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players Airbus UK Broughton F.C. players English Football League players Cymru Premier players Rhyl F.C. players Flint Town United F.C. players Cymru Alliance players