[3] Born in Worcester, he started his career with Aston Villa.
He never played a league game for Aston Villa, and following a short loan spell with Shrewsbury Town, he moved to Nottingham Forest, where he also failed to reach the first team.
After a short stint in Hong Kong where he played for South China A.A., scoring 9 goals in 16 appearances, he moved to Bradford City, where his career took off and in three season with the "Bantams" Palin played 94 matches, scoring thirteen goals and also played in the Second Division play-off against Middlesbrough in the 1987–88 season.
He then joined Mick Mills at Stoke City in 1989–90 but Stoke were having a terrible season and were well on their way to relegation and Mills was sacked in November 1989 and in came Alan Ball.
[1] Ball made a large number of changes to the squad in an attempt to avoid the drop and in March Palin was allowed to leave for Hull City.