Biography
Centre back Cox spent December 1994 and January 1995 on loan at Terry Dolan’s Tigers, scoring in his fourth appearance at home to Shrewsbury Town.
Paul Richard Cox was born and raised in the Bulwell area of north Nottingham and joined Notts County on apprentice terms in the summer of 1987, while still a 15 year old schoolboy. Alongside his contemporaries Tommy Johnson and Mark Draper, central defender Cox was considered one of the Magpies’ most promising homegrown products of his age and was captaining the youth team and the Reserves during the 1988/89 season while still just 16. He was selected for the first team squad by manager Neil Warnock as early as April 1989, though didn’t make his first team debut, and signed his first professional contract for the club in May 1989. After a string of niggling injuries Cox sought to restore his confidence when he joined West Midlands League side Ilkeston Town on a month’s loan in February 1991 – a month later his contemporaries Draper and Johnson were chosen to play for England’s Under-21 side. As Warnock piloted County into the top flight via two successive promotions the opportunities for Paul to break into the first eleven were limited and it wasn’t until April 1992 that he finally made his senior debut in a Division One match against Manchester City, shortly after returning from a month on loan at Conference National side Kettering Town.
Notts were relegated to League Division 1 for the 1992/93 season but it wasn’t until January 1993 that Cox finally broke into the first team, starting at centre back for the last five months of the season and scoring his first senior goal in March 1993 against Southend United. At the start of the 1993/94 season he scored a goal against Hull City in the League Cup but was a fringe first team player for the much of the season. He fell further out of favour at the start of the 1994/95 season ahead of his loan move to Hull City.
When Cox returned to Notts County in January 1995 he was promptly transfer listed by manager Howard Kendall and was released by the Magpies four months later – in six years at the club he scored two goals in 52 appearances. After trials at Birmingham City and Grimsby Town, and a few weeks without a club, Cox returned to the fold in October 1995 when he signed for Conference National side Kettering Town but his spell with the Poppies was short and in March 1996 he joined Southern League side Gresley Rovers, scoring one goal in 11 appearances during the remainder of the season. In September 1996 Paul joined Ilkeston Town again but two months later in November 1996 he joined Conference National side Halifax Town, though his time at The Shay came to an unhappy end in April 1997 when he was handed a nine match ban for notching three red cards in a season.
In October 1997 he resumed his career by rejoining Kettering Town and served the Poppies for four seasons before ending his playing days with short spells at Hucknall Town, Leek Town, Curzon Ashton and Eastwood Town, hanging up his boots in 2002 at the age of 30.
Cox’s first coaching role came at Eastwood Town in 2003, two years later in August 2005 he became first team manager at the Badgers. He retained the manager’s job for six years until May 2011, having lifted the side from the Northern Premier League to the brink of the Conference National league only for promotion via the play-offs to be denied as their ground was deemed inadequate. In August 2011 he was appointed manager of Conference National side Mansfield Town, guiding them to a play-off final (which the Stags lost) and a promotion in his first two seasons. Returned to the Football League, Cox consolidated the Stags in his first season in League Two but was relieved of his duties in November 2014. Cox took the helm at Conference National side Torquay United in June 2015 but quickly left after three months of work was left unpaid. He took over as manager at Conference National side Barrow in November 2015 and stayed on the Cumbrian Coast for two years before leaving in September 2017 and spending nine months in charge at Conference National rivals Guiseley.
In October 2019, Cox returned to manage Kettering Town, now a National League North side. He resigned his post at Kettering in January 2022 to take up the same role at National League North side Boston United and piloted the Pilgrims to the play-offs final in May 2022 where they lost to York City. After a winless start to the 2022/23 season Cox was dismissed by Boston United in September 2022. He then focused on EduSportsGlobal, his company that provided routes for young coaches to gain employment in professional sports.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 6 January 1972, Nottingham
Hull City First Game: 17 December 1994, Oxford United H (League Division Two), 22 years, 345 days old
Hull City Final Game: 14 January 1995, Stockport County A (League Division Two), 23 years, 8 days old
Clubs
Notts County (1989-1995), Ilkeston Town (1991, loan), Kettering Town (1992, loan), Hull City (1994-1995, loan), Kettering Town (1995-1996), Gresley Rovers (1996), Ilkeston Town (1996), Halifax Town (1996-1997), Kettering Town (1997-2001), Hucknall Town (2001-2002), Leek Town (2002), Curzon Ashton (2002), Eastwood Town (2002)
Hull City Record
Career: 5 apps, 1 goals
Paul Cox| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994/95 | 5 (0) | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |