Early life and club career Devlin was born and raised in the
Erdington district of
Birmingham After leaving school he trained as a chef in a hotel and on day release at college. He played youth football for
Boldmere St. Michaels, St John's Celtic and
Tamworth before making 12 appearances for Tamworth's first team as a teenager. Released by Tamworth in 1990, Devlin joined
Armitage 90 of the
Staffordshire Senior League, but was not there long; in November,
Conference club
Stafford Rangers paid £2000 for his services, and a 40% sell-on clause was included in the deal. He made 24 appearances (19 starts) in the
1990–91 Conference, and attracted attention from teams at a rather higher level. A lengthy trial with
League runners-up Liverpool brought an offer in excess of £100,000 from manager
Graeme Souness in September 1991, but Stafford Rangers turned it down. Amid interest from other top-flight clubs, Devlin had a trial with
Leeds United before, in February 1992, a £60,000 bid from
Notts County was accepted. He had scored 7 goals from 50 Conference matches over his 15-month spell. County struggled under a succession of managers in 1994–95. preceded relegation to the third tier. Devlin was left out of the starting eleven towards the end of the season, which as the team's top scorer he found particularly frustrating, and submitted an unsuccessful transfer request; a second request was accepted. Following this second relegation, with the management under pressure to cut wages and generate income from transfers, there were several departures. Devlin stayed, under orders from manager
Steve Thompson to learn patience"Devlin wants the ball and thinks he should have it all the time ... He's got to become less impatient when we don't get the ball out to him"and three months into the season, he had five league goals and Notts were third in the table. He remained in the team, and the team remained in contention for promotion, although his goalscoring tailed off. both the "crowd favourites" were out of contract at the end of the season.
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 (footballer, born 1979)|[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==