Paul Randall
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul Randall[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 16 February 1958[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Liverpool, England[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1971 | Charlton Mackrell | ||
| 1972 |
Glastonbury Town | ||
| 1973 | Bristol Rovers | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1974–1977 |
Glastonbury Town | ||
| 1977 | Frome Town | ||
| 1977–1978 | Bristol Rovers | 52 | (33) |
| 1978–1980 | Stoke City | 46 | (7) |
| 1980–1986 | Bristol Rovers | 184 | (62) |
| 1986–1989 | Yeovil Town | 121 | (50) |
| 1989–1993 | Bath City | 143 | (80) |
| 1993 | Weymouth | ||
| 1993 | Clevedon Town | ||
| 1993 | Welton Rovers | ||
| 1994–1995 |
Glastonbury Town | ||
| 1995 | Street | ||
| 1995–2000 | Wells City | ||
| Total | 546 | (232) | |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Paul Randall (born 16 February 1958) is an English footballer who played in the English Football League for Bristol Rovers and Stoke City.[1]
Career
Early career
Randall was born in
Randall was then offered a trial by
Randall was now attracting attention of higher placed non-league clubs as he began to become one of the best players in the Western League. His manager spoke to one of his friends the Manchester City scout Ken Barnes who invited to Maine Road for a trial. He played and scored in a trial match against Stockport County.[2] This rekindled the interest of Bristol Rovers whose manager Don Megson invited Randall to play some reserve games for the club. He then left Glastonbury Town to join Frome Town and his second match for Frome was a friendly against Bristol Rovers.[2] He scored and impressed the watching Rovers management who informed him the next day that they wanted to sign him. Rovers paid £1,000 to both Glastonbury and Frome and Randall left his job at the supermarket to become a professional footballer.[2]
Bristol Rovers
Upon arriving at
Bobby Campbell was appointed manager with Gould as player/coach which was met with approval from Randall and the rest of the Rovers first team.[2] Randall soon returned to the starting line-up and scored twice in a 2–0 win over Southampton in the FA Cup.[2] They drew First Division Ipswich Town in the fifth round and after drawing 2–2 they lost the replay 3–0 at Portman Road. This left Rovers concentrating on survival in the Second Division and the relegation battle went to the final day of the season with the team needing to go to Hull City and not lose.[2] They won the match 1–0, with Randall scoring his 22nd goal of the 1977–78 season to remain in the second tier. Just before the start of the 1978–79 Bristol Rovers competed in the Anglo-Scottish Cup which was a disaster as after beating Cardiff 1–0 they crashed to a humiliating 6–1 defeat to bitter rivals Bristol City and ended the tournament by losing 2–1 to Fulham.[2] The team regrouped with the intentions of putting things right in the opening league game of the season against Fulham and they made good on their promise winning 3–1. Two away defeats followed and the popular Bobby Gould decided to leave for Hereford and Randall made an effort to fill the void and did so by scoring his first career hat-trick on 7 October 1978 beating Blackburn Rovers 4–1.[2] Randall continued his fine form scoring another hat-trick in a 5–5 draw against Charlton Athletic and also had a good game against Stoke City in a 0–0 draw.[2] He impressed the Stoke manager Alan Durban who decided to make a £180,000 bid for Randall which was accepted by Rovers.[2]
Stoke City
Upon his arrival at the Victoria Ground Randall was informed by manager Alan Durban that his role in the team would be to link the play between midfield and centre forward Brendan O'Callaghan.[2] He made his Potters debut on 30 December 1978 in a 2–0 win over Notts County. Three draws followed before Randall scored his first goal for Stoke in a 3–0 win against Burnley at Turf Moor. He got his second goal against West Ham United and third against Cardiff as Stoke's promotion challenge gathered momentum.[2] Back to back home defeats threatened their chances but they recovered well beating Fulham and Leicester with Randall scoring in both.[2] He then come up against Bristol Rovers and all his family came up from Glastonbury to see Viv Busby score twice in a 2–0 win. A 1–0 win over Wrexham and a 0–0 set Stoke up for the season finale against Notts County. Stoke needed to win as a win for Sunderland would see them promoted instead. Backed by over 14,000 at Meadow Lane Stoke won 1–0 thanks to a late Paul Richardson header. The squad then celebrated promotion to the First Division by flying out to Magaluf.[2]
As the 1979–80 season Randall started, Randall found himself in the reserves as Durban changed his team around. He made his first start of the season away at Ipswich Town and kept his place in a League Cup match against Swansea City with Randall scoring in a 3–1 victory.[2] He remained in and out of the side in 1979–80 and ended the season with 19 appearances and just one goal, scored as the team successfully avoided relegation. As the 1980–81 season came around Randall was still out of favour with Alan Durban who informed Randall that he will be sold back to Bristol Rovers once they have generated enough funds.[2] He then came off the bench on 1 November 1980 to score a late equaliser against Liverpool and also scored against Manchester United on 13 December. Stoke accepted Bristol Rovers's offer of £55,000 and Randall left the Victoria Ground after scoring eight goals in 51 appearances.[2]
Return to Bristol Rovers
Randall made his return to Bristol Rovers in January 1981 with the side struggling under the management of
Gould quit in May 1983 to join Coventry and the board appointed
Later career
He joined
He left Bath on a free transfer in August 1993 where he joined
Personal life
Randall wrote an autobiography entitled 'Punky' The Paul Randall Story which was published in 2013.[2]
Career statistics
Source:[4]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other[A] | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Bristol Rovers | 1977–78 | Second Division | 31 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 22 |
| 1978–79 | Second Division | 21 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 14 | |
| Total | 52 | 33 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 61 | 36 | ||
| Stoke City | 1978–79 | Second Division | 20 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 5 |
| 1979–80 | First Division | 16 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 1 | |
| 1980–81 | First Division | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2 | |
| Total | 46 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 8 | ||
| Bristol Rovers | 1980–81 | Second Division | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 |
| 1981–82 | Third Division | 37 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 12 | |
| 1982–83 | Third Division | 40 | 20 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 22 | |
| 1983–84 | Third Division | 32 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 40 | 7 | |
| 1984–85 | Third Division | 43 | 18 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 51 | 22 | |
| 1985–86 | Third Division | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 5 | |
| Total | 184 | 61 | 9 | 2 | 19 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 216 | 71 | ||
| Career total | 282 | 101 | 14 | 4 | 25 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 328 | 115 | ||
- A. Football League Trophy.
References
- ^ ISBN 0-9524151-0-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78091-027-7.
- ^ "It was always a pleasure to team up with famous names". Bristol Evening Post. 28 September 2008. Retrieved 24 June 2010.[permanent dead link]
- ^ Paul Randall at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
External links
- Paul Randall at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database