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Personal
Fullname: Paul Shields
Born: 15 August 1981
Birthplace: Dunfermline
Signed: 23 Mar 2000
Left: 7 Feb 2003
Position: Striker
Debut: Celtic 2-0 Dundee Utd, League, 21 May 2000
Internationals: none
Biog
Teenage striker Paul Shields made a surprise move to Celtic Park from Raith Rovers in March 2000 in a £100,000 deal, but was to make just a single appearance for the first team.
His single appearance was as a substitute in a 2-0 league victory at Parkhead against Dundee United on 21st May 2000. This game was the final league match at the end of a disastrous league campaign for Celtic which saw Rangers romp to the title and Celtic lose John Barnes as manager half way through with Kenny Dalglish as the interim manager. The match is best remembered for the return of Henrik Larsson after long term injury from a leg break, there were debuts for Brian McColligan, Jim Goodwin, Liam Miller, John Convery and Ryan McCann. In truth, with the arguable exception of Liam Miller, none of them sadly reached any great heights. It was also to be Kenny Dalglish’s last game as interim manager with Martin O’Neill brought in as the new manager for the next season.
Paul Shields had started his professional career as a 17 year old with Raith Rovers. Kenny Dalglish signed him for Celtic in March 2000 for £100k (he was to be Kenny Dalglish’s last Celtic signing) and he went on to spend most of his time at Celtic out on loan. He hardly played for the Celtic’s U21’s or U18’s and was to have extended loan periods to Albion Rovers, Clydebank and Queen of the South. Martin O’Neill had preferred to buy in ready made players to bolster a then demoralised Celtic squad, and it worked as Celtic romped to the treble in his debut season as manager, but Paul Shields was to sadly play no part in any of the matches in Martin O’Neill’s reign as manager.
Whilst at Clydebank he made a verbal attack against Martin O’Neill, the new Celtic manager. Not exactly a smart move, and sealed his fate if it wasn’t already clear to some. It can be put down to frustration, but at a Celtic which had bought heavily in the transfer market for some big names, it was never going to be easy for any aspiring youth player to break through.
He left on a free and went to join Clyde in March 2003 as Celtic were pushing towards the UEFA Cup final. He was released at the end of that season by Clyde and picked up by Forfar on a free as a part-timer (he also worked as a postman). He did well for Forfar and this attracted a bid from Gillingham, to whom he moved in August 2005 for £25k. At Gillingham he got full-time football again getting games mostly as a sub but he gradually forced himself into the starting line-up.
He was released at the end of 2005/06 by mutual consent and moved back to Scotland to play for Livingston. He had a loan period at the end of 2006/07 with Ayr Utd. In July 2007 he was listed as a transfer to Ostersunds FK – 2nd Div Swedish side to July 2008.
Signed for Junior club Bo’ness United in Summer 2009, before wrapping up his career with time at Broxburn Utd & Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic, ending in 2013.
Playing Career
| CLUB | FROM | TO | FEE | LEAGUE | SCOTTISH CUP | LGE CUP | OTHER | ||||
| APPS | GLS | APPS | GLS | APPS | GLS | APPS | GLS | ||||
| Ayr | 27-Mar-07 | 22-Apr-07 | Loan | 5 (0) | 3 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Livingston | 01-Jul-06 | 31-May-08 | Signed | 4 (11) | 2 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Gillingham | 03-Aug-05 | 01-Apr-06 | £25,000 | 6 (11) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (0) | 0 | 0 (1) | 0 |
| Forfar | 23-Jul-03 | 03-Aug-05 | Free | 58 (9) | 29 | 2 (1) | 0 | 5 (0) | 0 | 6 (0) | 8 |
| Clyde | 07-Feb-03 | 23-Jul-03 | Free | No appearance data available | |||||||
| Queen of Sth | 20-Aug-02 | 02-Jan-03 | Loan | 9 (4) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | 1 (1) | 2 |
| Clydebank | 01-Feb-02 | 28-Apr-02 | Loan | 13 (3) | 3 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Albion | 30-Sep-00 | 30-Dec-00 | Loan | 11 (0) | 5 | 2 (0) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Celtic | 23-Mar-00 | 07-Feb-03 | £100,000 | 0 (1) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 | 0 (0) | 0 |
| Raith | 02-Jun-98 | 23-Mar-00 | Signed | 7 (14) | 1 | 0 (0) | 0 | 1 (2) | 1 | 1 (0) | 0 |
Honours with Celtic
none