Paul Osam

Paul Osam
Personal information
Date of birth	20 December 1967 (age 56)
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Position(s)	winger
Senior career*
Years	Team
1988–1993	St Patrick's Athletic
1993–1994	Shamrock Rovers
1995–2004	St Patrick's Athletic
Total
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Paul Osam (born 20 December 1967) is an Irish former professional association

TV3

. His father was from Ghana.

Career

Osam was born in

winger

despite his six-foot four frame.

After the league win, St. Pats hit serious financial difficulties, struggled in the league and eventually resigned themselves to losing all their star players. Osam stayed longer than most but in 1993, he signed for Dublin rivals

cruciate knee injury and missed the last eight games. The treatment he received from the board of Shamrock Rovers led to Osam leaving after just one season after two goals in 21 total appearances. (Later Brian Kerr would call this Osam's "year of purgatory".) He was close to signing for Derry City

but due to the injury he missed the entire 1994–95 season.

In 1995

PFAI (Players vote), the SWAI (journalists vote) and the Football Association of Ireland. He is the only player to have won all 3 awards simultaneously. Such was Osam's popularity that he became the first League of Ireland player to star in a nationwide advertising campaign when he became spokesman for Weight Watchers

in Ireland.

After some quiet years for St Pats, Osam captained the side to the League Cup in 2001. Season 2001–02 saw Saints once again finish top of the league. However the club was docked 15 points for fielding an unregistered player, Charles Livingstone Mbabazi. Despite the club's protests that there was no intention to mislead (Mbabazi had already been playing for the Saints for a number of seasons) and a report from the FAI saying that there were numerous other errors in other clubs' players' registrations, the points deduction remained - although league winners' medals were awarded to the players.

The Champions League place was given to

Shelbourne FC but St Pat's maintain that they are the sole and rightful league winners in 2002. In April of that year, Osam was awarded a testimonial by St Pats. Former player Paul McGrath played for the first time in years to show the esteem Paul is held with in Irish football. In June 2002 Osam scored at HNK Rijeka in the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup.^[1]

After Pats progressed on away goals he again netted in the next round in the home tie against K.A.A. Gent.^[2]

Under new manager

FAI League Cup in 2003 and they reached the final of the FAI Cup

final later that season. However St. Pats lost and the FAI Cup eluded Osam again. When he retired from football in 2004, he had won every honour in Irish football bar the FAI Cup.

Throughout his career, Osam was heavily pushed for inclusion in the Republic of Ireland national football team. However, as neither Jack Charlton nor Mick McCarthy capped any player from the League of Ireland during their tenure, Paul had to contend himself with captaining the League of Ireland XI on many occasions.

After his retirement, St. Pats vowed to keep Osam on the staff and he took a position as manager of the club's Under 21 side. He combined this with his media work for

TV3

.

In January 2008, he left St. Pats for a coaching role with Bray Wanderers.^[3] In 2010, Osam left his role with Bray Wanderers.

Personal life

Osam is married and has a son Evan who is a current Republic of Ireland youth international and plays for Bray Wanderers.

Honours

St Patrick's Athletic

League of Ireland Premier Division: 1989–90, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2001–02
League of Ireland Cup: 2001, 2003

Shamrock Rovers

League of Ireland Premier Division: 1993–94

Individual

SWAI Personality of the Year: 1998–99

References

^ "St Pat's lose Intertoto first round tie". BreakingNews.ie. 22 June 2002. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
^ "St Pat's Euro dream ends despite win". BreakingNews.ie. 13 July 2002. Retrieved 8 December 2012.
^ [1] Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine

External links

Paul Osam interview (Extratime.ie)

[1] "St Pat's lose Intertoto first round tie". BreakingNews.ie. 22 June 2002. Retrieved 8 December 2012.

[2] "St Pat's Euro dream ends despite win". BreakingNews.ie. 13 July 2002. Retrieved 8 December 2012.

[3] [1] Archived 21 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine

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