Paul Walsh was born to Don and June Walsh in
Plumstead on 1 October 1962; his father was an
electrician and his mother worked at
Tate & Lyle. He grew up supporting
Arsenal. However, his father was a season-ticket holder at
West Ham United. He was spotted playing for local youth side Londinium by
Charlton Athletic scout Jim Fibbins and signed schoolboy forms aged 14. In a 1986 interview with
Shoot magazine, Walsh cited Londinium manager John O'Connor as the biggest influence on his career. After leaving school he also began working part-time at a meat factory and later a fruit packing factory before he joined Charlton on a full-time basis.
Charlton Athletic Walsh made his debut for the
Reserves in September 1978, playing right midfield against
Portsmouth at
Fratton Park. He made his first team debut in the
English Football League at 16 years old, coming on as a half-time substitute for
Dick Tydeman in a
Second Division fixture with
Shrewsbury Town on 22 September 1979; he provided the assist for
Martin Robinson's winning goal. Manager
Andy Nelson handed him his first professional contract on his 17th birthday, a two-year contract paying £100 a week. However, Nelson was sacked the following March, and the "Addicks" were relegated into the
Third Division at the end of the
1979–80 season. Following the sale of
Mike Flanagan to
Crystal Palace, new manager
Mike Bailey played Walsh in a strike partnership with
Derek Hales in the
1980–81 campaign. Due to a
League Cup draw, the season opened with three matches against
Brentford, and Walsh scored his first senior goal at
Griffin Park in a 3–1 defeat before scoring a hat-trick in the return fixture at
The Valley, a 5–0 victory; this made him the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the club's history. He ended the campaign with 18 goals in all competitions, whilst Hales was named in the division's
PFA Team of the Year. Charlton were at the top of the table for most of the season, but a loss of form from February cost them the title, though promotion was still secured with a third-place finish. Bailey left Charlton to replace
Alan Mullery as
Brighton & Hove Albion manager, and the Charlton board ironically decided to name Mullery as Bailey's successor. Charlton finished the
1981–82 season in 13th place, and Walsh scored 15 goals in total. He performed well against divisional champions
Luton Town, giving captain
Mal Donaghy a difficult afternoon, which was enough to win him a move to his next club.
Luton Town Walsh was signed by
Luton Town manager
David Pleat for £400,000 plus
Steve White in July 1982. In only his second game for Luton at
Kenilworth Road, he scored a hat-trick in a 5–3 win over
Notts County, the second goal of which was voted Goal of the Season as he beat numerous defenders before chipping the goalkeeper. On the final day of the
1982–83 season Luton needed to beat
Manchester City at
Maine Road to remain in the
First Division, and a late
Radomir Antić volley secured the "Hatters" a 1–0 win and a place in the top-flight. After the game, Pleat celebrated by running down the touchline in a scene that became an iconic moment of 1980s football in England. Luton enjoyed an excellent start to the
1983–84 season and were in third place on Boxing Day. On 10 December, Walsh scored a hat-trick in a 4–2 win over
Stoke City at the
Victoria Ground. However, a run of just three wins in 24 games saw Luton go from title contenders to relegation candidates, as well as exit the
FA Cup in a 4–3 defeat to
rivals Watford at
Vicarage Road.
Liverpool Liverpool manager
Joe Fagan bought Walsh for a £700,000 fee in May 1984. Walsh turned down an approach from Italian
Serie A side
Como to join Liverpool. He joined Liverpool in time to travel with the players to
Rome to see them win the
1984 European Cup Final. With
Ian Rush injured at the start of the
1984–85 season, Walsh partnered
Kenny Dalglish up front, and he scored just 14 seconds into his
Anfield debut on 27 August in a 3–0 win over
West Ham United. However, he picked up a knee injury in October which caused him to miss six weeks and allowed Rush to re-establish himself as Dalglish's preferred strike partner. He scored 13 goals in 39 appearances in all competitions throughout the 1984–85 campaign, However, Liverpool would lose the replay and also finished as runners-up in the league and
European Cup. Walsh started the
1985 European Cup Final against
Juventus at
Heysel Stadium but had to come off early in the second half after aggravating a stomach injury; Liverpool lost the game 1–0, though the day would be remembered for the
disaster which cost 39 lives. Fagan's retirement in May 1985 and Dalglish's subsequent promotion to player-manager meant that instead of gradually succeeding Dalglish as Liverpool's main striker, Walsh had to contend with a rival for his position as the club's manager. He missed
1985–86 pre-season after undergoing a hernia operation. He returned to fitness against
Oxford United on 14 September. He had a bitter argument with Dalglish at half-time, which initially seemed to spell the end of his Liverpool career as he was placed on the transfer list. He returned to the first team, though, and was taken off the transfer list by his own request and soon entered a scoring streak. However, his form was ended after he ruptured his ankle ligaments in a collision with Manchester United's
Kevin Moran on 9 February. He returned to action six weeks later. Still, he continued to suffer from ankle trouble and was ruled out for the rest of the season, ending the campaign with 18 goals in 32 appearances in all competitions throughout the campaign. His contribution to the club's success was not forgotten as he was named in the First Division's
PFA Team of the Year, alongside teammate
Mark Lawrenson. Writing in his 2015 autobiography, Walsh was highly critical of Liverpool's
Boot Room culture, particularly then-medical staff
Ronnie Moran and
Roy Evans: He again missed pre-season in the summer of 1986, as he underwent an operation to correct his ankle injury. The day after the match, he had to drive himself to the hospital for an
x-ray and to receive treatment. Having recovered from this injury, he went on to score a hat-trick in a 6–2 home win over
Norwich City. Walsh started at
Wembley in the 2–1
League Cup final defeat to
Arsenal, before being taken off for Dalglish after 73 minutes. Liverpool finished second in the league, nine points behind Everton, and Walsh scored only six goals in 32 appearances throughout the campaign. The arrival of new forwards of
Peter Beardsley,
John Aldridge and
John Barnes left Walsh only making occasional appearances in the
1987–88 campaign. He played just nine games without scoring a goal, though maintained fitness by playing games for the
reserves. He began drinking heavily, later admitting "the only thing I was interested in by that point was getting pissed and enjoying myself".
Tottenham Hotspur Walsh was signed by
Tottenham Hotspur for £500,000 in February 1988, just after the appointment of
Terry Venables as manager. He continued to drink heavily and admitted to being a "ring leader" of a drinking culture alongside
Neil Ruddock,
Terry Fenwick and
David Howells which was to the detriment of the club's on-field progress. He ended the
1987–88 season with one goal in 11 games for Spurs. He later said he was "running at 70% capacity". Walsh was partnered with new-signing
Paul Stewart for the
1988–89 season, whilst fellow new arrival
Paul Gascoigne boosted both the club's attacking potential and drinking culture. Walsh felt that manager
Terry Venables was too easy on the players and particularly too easy on Walsh himself who "needed someone on my case a bit more". He later described the season as "just a blur" as Spurs turned their campaign around to finish in sixth place despite Walsh scoring just six goals from 32 starts and five substitute appearances. Venables brought
Gary Lineker back from
Barcelona, and Stewart was selected to be Lineker's striker partner for the
1989–90 season, leaving Walsh on the bench. An injury to Stewart gave Walsh a chance to win back his first-team place, and he marked his return to the first team with the winning goal in a 2–1 victory over
rivals Arsenal, though failed to capitalise on this performance and again was dropped. Later in the season, he had to be taken off at half-time against
Wimbledon as he had a long night of drinking with
George Best the previous night. Spurs finished third in the league that season. He ended the campaign with three goals from 13 starts and 18 substitute appearances. He was on the bench for the first nine games of the
1990–91 campaign, but in his first start scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win over
Sheffield United. However, Venables dropped him to the bench for the following game, and Walsh became "cynical and pissed off" as he felt nothing he could do could displace either Stewart and Lineker, though he ended the season with 20 starts and 19 substitute appearances. He did though make an appearance at
Wembley in the
1991 FA Cup Final, coming on for
Vinny Samways 82 minutes into a 2–1 victory over
Nottingham Forest. Walsh missed two weeks of the
1991–92 pre-season with a groin injury, and on his first game back for the
reserves at
White Hart Lane punched reserve team manager
Ray Clemence in the face after Clemence substituted him off after an hour. Walsh was suspended for two weeks and upon his return was loaned out to
Queens Park Rangers for a month. QPR manager
Gerry Francis wanted to make the signing a permanent one, but the club were unable to afford the £800,000 fee Spurs had asked for. He ended the campaign with three goals in 22 starts and 15 substitute appearances.
Portsmouth Walsh was signed by
Portsmouth for a £400,000 fee in June 1992, as manager Jim Smith prepared for a promotion challenge from the new Division One in the 1992–93 season. To tempt him out of the top-flight, "Pompey" manager
Jim Smith offered him a four-year contract on a higher wage than he had been on at Spurs, whilst the club also bought his
London home off him to facilitate his move to the south coast. In his autobiography, he admitted that he was not keen on joining Portsmouth but stated that he decided to take a much more professional approach to his career in terms of training and eating healthier food to start the
1992–93 pre-season in good physical condition; he credited his new approach to the birth of his first child. Ironically though, a
virus picked up on a family holiday to
Saint Lucia caused him to miss a month early in the season and drained him of fitness. He recovered to build a strike partnership with
Guy Whittingham, whilst midfielders
Alan McLoughlin and
Mark Chamberlain made an effective four-pronged attack, and with two games to go Portsmouth were top of the table and needed only to beat relegation-threatened
Sunderland to secure an automatic promotion place. However, they lost the match 4–1, and Walsh was sent off; he wrecked the
Roker Park dressing rooms in a fit of temper. Portsmouth missed out on automatic promotion on goal difference, Walsh was suspended for the play-off games, and Portsmouth lost at the semi-final stage to
Leicester City. Despite Whittingham scoring 47 league goals in all competitions, it was Walsh who the fans voted as their Player of the Year. With Whittingham sold, Walsh failed to build an effective partnership with new signing
Gerry Creaney, and Portsmouth failed to put together a promotion push for the
1993–94 season. However, Walsh scored both goals in a 2–2 draw with
Manchester United at
Old Trafford in the
League Cup, putting himself back on the radar for top-flight clubs in need of strikers.
Manchester City Manchester City manager
Brian Horton, his former captain at Luton, paid Portsmouth £750,000 for Walsh's services in March 1994. With star striker
Niall Quinn out injured, City were fourth from bottom with eleven
Premier League games left to play and had also signed another new striker,
Uwe Rosler – a
German player who had yet to learn
English. The pair soon built an understanding, however, and the arrival of wingers
Peter Beagrie and
Nicky Summerbee gave City the attacking firepower to steer clear of the relegation zone as Walsh and Rösler scored nine goals between them in the final ten games. Horton tried to accommodate
Niall Quinn, returning from a long-term injury, alongside Rösler and Walsh in the first team for the
1994–95 season, and as a result, had a very strong attacking team. City were in sixth place and pushing for European qualification for the first time since the 1970s by December, but then ten games without a win and three months without a goal for Walsh saw City fall down the table. They ended the campaign in 17th place and Horton was sacked. New manager
Alan Ball tried to build a team around new signing
Georgi Kinkladze for the
1995–96 campaign, and Walsh felt that the time had come to leave
Maine Road.
Return to Portsmouth Former Spurs teammate
Terry Fenwick, now manager at Portsmouth, took Walsh back to
Fratton Park in exchange for
Gerry Creaney (valued at £600,000) in September 1995; Walsh signed a three-year contract with the club. He played against
Leicester City on 10 February, but his knee collapsed. The resulting
cruciate ligament damage meant that he never played professional football again, although he did not announce his retirement until the following year. He became assistant first-team coach at the club upon his retirement. He had a testimonial game at Fratton Park in May 1998. He was a popular figure at the club, and in February 2005 he came second in the
Football Focus poll to find the club's "cult hero", behind teammate
Alan Knight. ==International career==