Paul Tait (footballer, born 1971)


Paul Ronald Tait is an English former professional footballer who made more than 250 appearances in the Football League.

Club career

Born in Sutton Coldfield, which was then part of Warwickshire, as a youth Tait played as a striker but spent most of his playing career as a midfielder. He turned professional with Birmingham City in 1988 and played for the club for eleven years. He received media coverage during the 1995 Football League Trophy Final when, after scoring the winner, he revealed a T-shirt reading "Shit on the Villa", aimed at City's rivals Aston Villa. He was fined two weeks' wages for the incident, which was echoed in the same fixture eleven years later by Swansea City players.
Tait had loan spells with Millwall and, towards the end of his time at Birmingham, with Northampton Town. He moved on to Oxford United in January 1999, where he spent two-and-a-half years. He also played for the Cypriot team Nea Salamis.