Paul Devlin

Birmingham City Devlin scored twice against Wolverhampton Wanderers on 4 March to give his new team their first league win of the year, and by the end of the season had taken his tally to seven from sixteen matches. Nevertheless, Devlin played regularly, finished as top scorer with 16 league goals, 19 in total,

He scored in each of the first three league matches the following season, Devlin was used increasingly as a substitute, and made his last league appearance on 13 December. Out of contract at the end of the season, his valuation dropped systematically as the season wore on, and he was finally sold to divisional rivals Sheffield United in March 1998 for an initial £200,000, an additional £50,000 contingent on promotion, and a 15% sell-on clause. Devlin said he was sad to leave, and felt that had the manager rated him, he "wouldn't have been forced out and made to train with the reserves and kids for the last few months. Money wasn't the issue"; Francis suggested that Sheffield United were "one of the few clubs who have the capacity to pay out the sort of salary that attracts Paul."

Sheffield United Devlin began his Sheffield United career working under Steve Thompson, his last manager at Notts County. but started both legs of the play-offs, in which they lost to Sunderland on aggregate after Lionel Perez made a "truly world-class save to thwart Paul Devlin's piledriver from " before recovering to save a follow-up header.

Devlin showed himself to be a hard-working player, but with a habit of getting booked, picking up 11 yellow cards in his first season with the club. He notched 24 goals in his 145 games for the club. November 1998 briefly saw him loaned back to Notts County where he played a further five times.

He was chosen as Sheffield United's Player of the Year for 1999–2000.

Despite having signed a four-year contract during the 2000–01 season, Devlin asked for a pay rise in September 2001, and submitted a transfer request when he was turned down. He was dropped to the reserves, and suggested that he was being made a scapegoat. After Birmingham City's approach to take him on loan was rejected, Devlin told the media how he "would walk over broken glass to come back." Although he believed that Steve Bruce, who had tried to sign him for Crystal Palace, would do so again once his appointment as Birmingham manager was made official, and a deal was reportedly in place with a £400,000 fee agreed, this did not initially happen, and there was speculation that the club were reluctant to sanction signing another ageing player.

Birmingham City (second spell) In early February 2002, Devlin signed for Birmingham City on a month's loan, while Paul Furlong made a similar move in the other direction. Devlin's loan was extended to three months, during which he made 11 appearances, scored once, an equaliser as Birmingham came back from two goals down to draw with top-of-the-table Wolverhampton Wanderers, and helped the team finish in the play-off positions; he signed a three-year permanent contract in May. Devlin converted his kick in the penalty shoot-out in the play-off final against Norwich City by which Birmingham gained promotion to the Premier League.

Devlin was sent off for violent conduct during a pre-season friendly in Scotland; because the referee reported the incident to the Football Association, he was suspended for the first three matches of the new season. He was selected to start the next, against Leeds United, and after 31 minutes, scored Birmingham's first Premier League goal at their St Andrew's ground with "a sweet right-foot shot that flew beyond [Paul] Robinson from ". The 2–1 win was their first in the Premier League. Devlin made 32 league appearances that season, of which 20 were in the starting eleven, and scored three goals.

New arrivals including Argentina international Luciano Figueroa, top scorer in the 2002–03 Clausura, and club-record signing David Dunn pushed Devlin down the pecking order. He made only two substitute appearances in the first month of the season, and was omitted from a matchday squad for the first time since his return to the club. Although he felt he could still contribute at Premier League level, and Bruce did not want him to go, Devlin believed he needed regular football to stand a chance of representing Scotland at Euro 2004.

Watford In September 2003, Devlin turned down an initial loan move to West Ham United in favour of a three-year contract with First Division Watford, managed by Ray Lewington, who were in need of a winger after the death of Jimmy Davis. Devlin's wages and the £150,000 fee were funded on behalf of the financially struggling club by a "mystery benefactor", who was later confirmed to be former chairman Sir Elton John. He was sent off before half-time for two mistimed tackles in his second match, which Watford lost to a late Derby County goal, but by the end of the campaign, in which the team finished 16th, no outfield player had made more appearances. Writing on Watford fansite Blind Stupid and Desperate, Matt Rowson highlighted how Devlin's "experience, aggression, and tricksiness was employed to the irritation of opponents who regularly paid the compliment of double-marking him", but also thought him "Not the player to misplace or mistime a pass to, one suspects, nor a player that many referees look forward to officiating."

Away to Preston North End on the opening day of the 2004–05 season, Devlin scored an equaliser early in the second half and created chances for others, but gave away the penalty with which Preston won the match. He continued in the starting eleven until suffering a hamstring strain during a match in mid-September that was expected to keep him out for a month, but he aggravated the injury and only resumed a place on the bench at the end of November. He took his appearance tally to 23 before a toe injury that required surgery kept him out for the rest of the season. Devlin signed for League One club Walsall in mid-January 2006 for the rest of the season. He strained a calf on his debut, and was then sent off for elbowing an opponent when he returned to the team against Scunthorpe United in mid-February. In his next match after serving a three-match ban, he scored in a 1–1 draw with Swansea City. With five matches left of Walsall's ultimately unsuccessful struggle against relegation, after being left on the bench by manager Kevan Broadhurst, Devlin requested and was granted release from his contract.

Bohemians Devlin had considered retirement after leaving Walsall but was persuaded by Gareth Farrelly to join Bohemians, of which he was player-manager, until the end of the League of Ireland season. He made his debut as a second-half substitute against Derry City on 7 July, started the next seven matches, scored once, from the penalty spot in a 3–0 win away to Bray Wanderers, and left Bohemians in late August after Farrelly was dismissed. After a wait for international clearance that manager Mark Cooper claimed would not have happened were Tamworth a bigger club, Devlin played in four Conference matches and then left by mutual consent, as he was unable to commit the necessary time to training and particularly to travelling.

After a brief stint with Sutton Coldfield Town of the Southern League Division One Midlands, Devlin moved up a level with Halesowen Town in February 2007. He scored 11 goals from 31 appearances in all competitions. He was released in January 2008 to join another Southern League Premier club, Rugby Town, as player-assistant manager, a role he left for personal reasons after little more than a week.

Devlin was playing veterans' football before rejoining Sutton Coldfield Town at the end of March. It was the fourth time he had returned to a former club, the previous three being Notts County, Birmingham City and Tamworth. He scored a last-minute equaliser in his first game, but that proved to be his final appearance. Although he signed on for the 2008–09 season, he left before it started.

He signed for Stratford Town in October 2008, marking his debut with the equalising goal in a 2–2 draw with Rocester. By the end of January 2009, he had made nine appearances in all competitions, of which six were in the Midland Alliance (scoring twice), and remained on their books until at least February 2009. After a lengthy break during which he played veterans' football, he joined Romulus of the Northern Premier League Division One South in June 2012 . In 2018, Devlin was playing Sunday league for Monica Star; among his team-mates were fellow former Premier League and international players, Darren Byfield, Lee Carsley and Lee Hendrie.

International career 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.

Career statistics