Paul Edward Hayes (born 20 September 1983) is an English former professional footballer who is manager of Eastern Counties League Division One South club Burnham Ramblers.

As a player, Hayes was a forward who made more than 500 appearances for 11 clubs in all three divisions of the English Football League, most notably for Scunthorpe United, Barnsley and Wycombe Wanderers.

[2] Hayes' first involvement with the first team came in pre-season prior to Norwich's 2001–02 First Division campaign, in which he scored in friendlies against Wroxham, Colchester United and Premier League club Arsenal.

[3] Hayes failed to feature at all during the early months of the 2002–03 season and became frustrated at his lack of first team opportunities,[4] with forwards Iwan Roberts, Paul McVeigh, David Nielsen, Alex Notman, Zema Abbey and Ian Henderson ahead of him in the pecking order.

[5] Hayes became a regular starter the following season,[6] making 45 appearances and scoring seven goals as Scunthorpe narrowly avoided relegation to the Conference.

[11][12] He scored the opener in the 2006 League One play-off final against Swansea City and a 2–2 scoreline at the end of extra time saw the game go to penalties,[12] with Hayes converting his spot kick to help Barnsley to a 4–3 shootout win and promotion to the Championship.

[14] After falling behind Hungarian forward duo István Ferenczi and Péter Rajczi during the second half of the season,[15] Hayes joined League One club Huddersfield Town on a one-month loan on 23 February 2007.

[14] Having joined with a view to a permanent move,[15] he failed to win a contract or a loan extension and returned to Barnsley on 18 March,[16] after scoring one goal in four appearances for Huddersfield Town.

[7] Hayes found his form again during the 2008–09 season,[19] making 57 appearances and scoring 19 goals and helped the Iron to the Football League Trophy final and to promotion to the Championship via the play-offs.

[21] A contract dispute saw Hayes attract attention from former club Norwich City late in the season,[22] but he left Glanford Park on 10 May 2010.

[33] On 24 February 2012, Hayes and Charlton Athletic teammate Gary Doherty joined League One club Wycombe Wanderers on loan until the end of the 2011–12 season.

[55] In just over three seasons with the Chairboys, he scored 27 goals in 120 appearances and helped the club to the 2015 League Two play-off final,[10] which was lost on penalties to Southend United.

[10] On 22 September 2017, Hayes dropped out of the EFL for the first team in his career to join National League South club Hemel Hempstead Town.

[62][63] On 9 August 2018, Hayes dropped back into non-League football to join Isthmian League North Division club AFC Sudbury on a two-year contract.

[69] Hayes made 10 appearances before joining Southern Counties East League Premier Division club Chatham Town in a player-sporting director capacity March 2020.

[73] Concurrent with his director of football role at Isthmian League Premier Division club Bowers & Pitsea,[72] Hayes made three cup appearances during the first half of the 2022–23 season.

[75][76][77] Hayes served Southern Counties East League Premier Division club Chatham Town as sporting director between 2020 and 2022.