Paul Anthony Walsh (born 1 October 1962) is a former England international footballer who now works as a television pundit.
Walsh was signed by Tottenham Hotspur for £500,000 in February 1988. 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. Spurs had a poor start to the season and were in a relegation battle by December, and only Gascoigne and Chris Waddle were creating and scoring goals. 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 the 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. 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. After returning to Spurs he again punched someone in the face, this time a supporter who had shouted abuse to Walsh on the pitch after a game against Norwich City. He ended the campaign with three goals in 22 starts and 15 substitute appearances.
Honours[]
1990-91 - FA Cup (8)
1991 - FA Charity Shield (7, shared)
