Paul Mason (footballer)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul David Mason | ||
| Date of birth | 3 September 1963 | ||
| Place of birth | Kensington, Liverpool, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1975–1980 | Liverpool | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1984–1988 | FC Groningen | 103 | (7) |
| 1988–1993 | Aberdeen | 193 | (37) |
| 1993–1998 | Ipswich Town | 112 | (36) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Paul David Mason (born 3 September 1963) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder from 1984 until 2000.
He played in the Premier League for Ipswich Town, the Scottish Premier League for Aberdeen and in the Netherlands for Groningen.
Paul played for Liverpool Schoolboys from the under 12s through to the under 16s. During his early years, many major English Clubs approached Paul to express an interest in him, but at the age of 16, he joined his lifelong heroes, Everton FC, as a youth player. Paul played for Everton for approximately 12 months before the club let him go, citing Paul’s small physique at the time, as the reason for their decision.
After leaving Everton, Paul played for another Merseyside club, Tranmere Rovers, for 12 months, where he played in both the youth and reserve teams. Tranmere didn’t offer him a contract, which forced Paul to leave the Club in order to find full-time, paid employment away from football.
Paul continued to play football though, and after securing a full-time job as a labourer, he began to play for another local amateur team, Port Sunlight. Aged 18, he broke his leg in a cup semi-final while playing for Cheshire in Tiverton.
After 6 weeks in a plaster cast and 6 months out of football, convinced that a career as a Professional footballer was now over, Paul made the decision to follow his eldest brother to the Netherlands where labouring jobs seemed plentiful at the time.
Based in Delfzijl, in Groningen, Paul soon found work and began to play for local amateur football teams again. It wasn’t long before scouts from the one of the biggest football clubs in the area spotted Paul. That club was FC Groningen. Paul’s progress was watched closely by the scouts for several months. He was finally invited for trials at the club and was offered a 12-month reserve contract as a result. A year later, FC Groningen, impressed with his performance, offered Paul, a 3-year full-time, professional contract.
Paul went on to become an established first team member at FC Groningen. During his time in the Netherlands, Paul was voted in Marco van Basten's dream team for up and coming stars and he attracted the attention of much bigger teams such as Ajax and Feyenoord. Though happy in the Netherlands, coming from a large close knit family, Paul always wanted to get back to the UK and closer to home. When Alex Smith offered him the chance to move to Aberdeen in 1988 for £400,000, Paul and his young family returned to the UK and he joined Aberdeen FC at the same time as Theo Snelders who had arrived at the club from FC Twente as a replacement for Jim Leighton. Paul and Theo remain good friends to this day.
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