Roy Paul (18 April 1920 – 21 May 2002) was a Welsh professional footballer who played as a half-back for Swansea Town and Manchester City.
After the war, Paul made his League debut, and spent four years playing first team football for Swansea, winning the Third Division South championship in 1948–49.
Transfer listed after an abortive move to Colombian club Millonarios, Paul joined Manchester City for £19,500 in June 1950.
At Manchester City Paul spent seven years as captain, leading the club to successive FA Cup finals in 1955 and 1956, losing the first and winning the second.
[4] While playing football for Ton Boys Club he was spotted by Swansea Town, for whom he signed first as an amateur, and then a month later as a professional.
Paul named Imrie as a strong influence in his early career, particularly for instructing him in the fundamentals of good wing-half play.
[6] Paul played for Swansea's junior sides, but just as he was approaching the fringes of the first team, the league was suspended due to the outbreak of the Second World War.
The Swansea coach in the immediate post-war period was Frank Barson, a notoriously aggressive character who was known as "the centre-forward's graveyard" in his playing days.
[10] Barson instructed Paul in the art of tackling during lengthy practise sessions, and made him aware of the tricks that a wily opponent could use to gain the upper hand in a physical battle.
[12] An impressive appearance against top-flight club Arsenal in a 1950 FA Cup match resulted in the Londoners making an offer for the player, but Swansea turned it down.
Colombian clubs, who were not required to pay transfer fees as their governing body was not affiliated with FIFA, made similar offers to several British players.
He remarked in his autobiography that seeing football pitches surrounded by barbed wire put him in mind of "a concentration camp, or maybe the monkey-house in the zoo".
Paul made his debut for the club on the opening day of the 1950–51 season, a 4–2 victory against a Preston North End side featuring Tom Finney.
Writer HD Davies, under his pen name Old International, attributed much of City's cohesive play over the season to the addition of Paul to the side.
Inspired by the Hungary team which had beaten England 6–3 the previous year, the club's reserves had used a tactical system in which Johnny Williamson was used as a deep-lying centre-forward, resulting in a lengthy unbeaten run.
[23] Manchester City manager Les McDowall decided to try the system at first team level, using Don Revie in the centre-forward role.
[26] City could not sustain their title challenge, finishing seventh, but Paul's team enjoyed a successful run in the FA Cup, reaching the final, where they faced Newcastle United.
An early goal by Jackie Milburn and an unfortunate injury to Jimmy Meadows on 18 minutes left City playing with 10 men and gave them an uphill task.
[37] He died on 21 May 2002 in Treorchy aged 82,[1] following a long illness with Alzheimer's disease,[35] leaving a wife, Beryl, and two children, Robert and Christine.
At Swansea he was primarily used as a right-half, but when he joined Manchester City manager Les McDowall switched him to the left, a position which Paul preferred despite being right-footed.