Paul Barron 1986

Paul George Barron was born September 16th, 1953 in Woolwich, London. Paul qualified as a PE instructor before becoming a professional footballer. He played for non-league Welling United, Wycombe Wanderers and Slough Town, before turning professional with Plymouth Argyle in July 1976.
He signed for Arsenal in July 1978 for £70,000, as cover for Pat Jennings. He made his Arsenal debut on August 2nd, 1978 against Manchester City but was unable to oust Jennings from the first team; after only eight appearances in two seasons he moved on to Crystal Palace in 1980. He joined Palace along with Clive Allen, while Kenny Sansom moved to Arsenal as part of the deal.

He then moved to West Bromwich Albion where he made 63 appearances between 1982 to 1985 with a 1 game loan spell at Stoke City. In 1986, he joined Queens Park Rangers, it was whilst with QPR that he was part of the squad that played under the name of the Rowdies in the "Coca-Cola Classic International Soccer Series". Also, during 1986 he had a four game loan spell at Reading. He appeared in the 1986 League Cup Final for QPR, in their defeat by Oxford United at Wembley Stadium.

In 1988, he started playing non-league with Welling United and Cheltenham Town.

After retiring as a player, Paul became a goalkeeping coach, working at Coventry City, Queens Park Rangers and West Bromwich Albion. He then moved to Aston Villa, before joining Middlesbrough in 2001. He was sent to the stands during Middlesbrough's away League Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur on 26th September, 2007, after protesting about Gareth Bale's opening goal. In November 2007 he left Boro to become goalkeeping coach at Newcastle United.