Paul Devlin

Early life and club career

Devlin was born and raised in the Erdington district of Birmingham and attended Perry Common Comprehensive School. After leaving school he trained as a chef in a hotel and on day release at college. He played youth football for Boldmere St. Michaels, St John's Celtic and Tamworth before making 12 appearances for Tamworth's first team as a teenager. Released by Tamworth in 1990, Devlin joined Armitage 90 of the Staffordshire Senior League, but was not there long; in November, Conference club Stafford Rangers paid £2000 for his services, and a 40% sell-on clause was included in the deal. He made 24 appearances (19 starts) in the 1990–91 Conference, and attracted attention from teams at a rather higher level. A lengthy trial with League runners-up Liverpool brought an offer in excess of £100,000 from manager Graeme Souness in September 1991, but Stafford Rangers turned it down. Amid interest from other top-flight clubs, Devlin had a trial with Leeds United before, in February 1992, a £60,000 bid from Notts County was accepted. He had scored 7 goals from 50 Conference matches over his 15-month spell.

Notts County

The 19-year-old Devlin signed for the First Division club on 18 February 1992. By the time he made his Football League debut, starting in a 1–0 win at home to Coventry City on 11 April, County were well on the way to relegation. By his second and last appearance of the season, second-tier football for 1992–93 was confirmed.…

Although born in Birmingham, England, Devlin qualified to play for the Scotland team because his father was born in Coatbridge. At the age of 30, he made his debut in a friendly against Canada on 15 October 2002. After his home debut, against the Republic of Ireland at Hampden Park, Devlin said: "Playing at Hampden has always been a dream of mine and to finally achieve that made the match the proudest night of my career. I had 30-odd people in the stand watching me and it cost me an absolute fortune to make sure they could all be here. There were 23 of the clan from up here and a further seven flew up from down south."

His tenth and last cap was on 6 September 2003 against the Faroe Islands in a Euro 2004 qualifier. All ten senior appearances were made while Devlin was a Premier League player for Birmingham. He also played once for Scotland B, in a 2–1 win against Northern Ireland B in May 2003 in which the first Scottish goal came following Devlin's free kick.

Birmingham City Football League First Division play-offs: 2002