Leicester City Kitson began his career as a trainee at
Leicester City in 1988. In one season at Leicester, Kitson and
Ian Baraclough, his striking partner, scored 60 or so goals between them for the youth and reserve sides. Baraclough was sold to
Grimsby Town, and joined
Derby County for a club record of £1.3 million transfer fee in March 1992, made up of £800,000 with
Phil Gee and
Ian Ormondroyd moving to Leicester in part exchange. Derby manager
Arthur Cox described him as having "...all the qualities to develop into an outstanding player". However, Pickering was outvoted 4–1 by the club's directors and reluctantly agreed to the transfer, which went ahead on 24 September. and a bid was made by
Everton, but the deal went through less than 24 hours after Pickering said that
"God must be a Derby fan" and Freddie Fletcher, chief executive of Newcastle, had said the deal was
"dead and buried", with Kitson signing a three-year contract at £3,500 a week. He scored his first goal for Newcastle in the 2–0 win over
Manchester United in the third round of the
League Cup in October 1994, though he was still very much the club's "backup" striker behind Andy Cole and
Peter Beardsley. However, when Cole was sold to Manchester United in January 1995, found himself at centre-forward for the second half of the 1994–95 season. He had a decent campaign, scoring eight goals in 26 games, though
1994–95 is generally remembered as a disappointing season for Newcastle, who began it as many people's title favourites with six successive wins but ended up finishing sixth – not even enough for a
UEFA Cup place. However, the arrival of
Les Ferdinand during the 1995 close season meant that Kitson was once again a squad player as the
1995–96 season got underway, and the arrival of
Faustino Asprilla in mid season further reduced his first team chances. Newcastle finished second that season after being overhauled in the second half campaign by a
Manchester United side who sealed the title by a five-point margin barely four months after Newcastle had led by 10 points, but Kitson's part in Newcastle's exciting though ultimately disappointing campaign had been minimal as he had played just seven league games and scored twice. But he remained loyal to the Magpies even after another blow at the end of July 1996: the arrival of £15 million world record signing
Alan Shearer. He managed three Premier League appearances as Newcastle were once again under the title challengers, before finally leaving on 10 February 1997 in a £2.3 million switch to Premier League strugglers West Ham United. His departure from Tyneside was relatively quiet, coming just weeks after one of the most momentous events in the club's history: the resignation of manager
Kevin Keegan.
West Ham United West Ham were fighting against relegation from the Premier League when Kitson joined them. West Ham's assistant manager
Frank Lampard said, ''"The last man we signed from Newcastle was Bryan 'Pop' Robson in the 1970s and Paul has the same qualities. He is quick, sharp and has good physical attributes."'' This marked the beginning of what is still arguably West Ham's finest strikeforce since the
Tony Cottee/
Frank McAvennie partnership of the 1980s, and a contrast following the disappointing spells of strikers like
Florin Raducioiu and
Paulo Futre. Kitson bagged two against
Chelsea in a 3–2 win, two against
Everton in a 2–2 draw, and bagged a hat-trick against
Sheffield Wednesday in a 5–1 win. West Ham survived relegation despite a tough season and finished 14th, with Kitson's eight goals in 14 league games being priceless to their survival. Subsequent seasons at
Upton Park were not quite so successful, with the
1997–98 seeing Kitson restricted to 13 games and 4 goals in the Premier League (though the Hammers improved to eighth in the league and just missed out on a
UEFA Cup place in their best season for over a decade), and a year later he contributed 17 games and 3 goals to a side which finished fifth to secure UEFA Cup football and their first European campaign in almost 20 years.
Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace During his final three seasons at West Ham, Kitson was loaned out to Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace, but neither of these spells was particularly productive. He scored once for Charlton, with his goal coincidentally coming against the club he would soon join on loan: Crystal Palace.{{cite news ==Personal life==