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The 'new George Best' who broke Newcastle record, was forced to retire and became a barrister before beating cancer and heart attack

The Lisburn man took a call from Alan Shearer and joined his Toon management team during rollercoaster career

Paul Ferris scores for Newcastle in 1984, working with Michael Owen and, circled, nowadays as he launches his latest book
Paul Ferris scores for Newcastle in 1984, working with Michael Owen and, circled, nowadays as he launches his latest book

Paul Ferris was once labelled as ‘the new George Best’ when he left his home in Northern Ireland to join Newcastle. Within weeks, Kevin Keegan hailed the teenager “the best young player I’ve ever seen”.

And when Ferris became the Toon’s youngest ever -debutant at 16 years and 294 days, the boy from Lisburn had the world at his feet. Yet today, his professional career is but a footnote in a rollercoaster journey of jarring lows and extraordinary achievements.


Forced to quit with a knee injury within four years of writing his name into the -history books, Ferris spent 13 years as a physio at Newcastle.


He then passed his law exams and became a barrister before packing it in to join Alan Shearer’s short-lived management team at St James’ Park. But Ferris is -perhaps best known as the -ex-pro who suffered a heart -attack at 49, then survived prostate cancer to become an award-winning -author, whose fourth book ‘Once Upon A Toon’ (below) has just been released.

“The fact I’m a footballer with no schoolboy -qualifications who can write is probably my greatest achievement,” says Ferris, now chief executive of the fitness company Speedflex Ltd, which he -co-founded with businessman Graham Wylie after leaving Newcastle for the third and final time.

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Does he now look back and wonder how life would have turned out had he not been forced to retire early, had he stayed on as a barrister or if he had avoided those life--threatening health scares?

“I’m not one for harking back, but I’m 60 this -summer and sometimes I do wonder wistfully what might have been,” he said.

“After that -injury, things were falling apart. I was just -starting to mature as a player when fate intervened. My mum died, I put on weight and I was running around on one leg playing non-league -football at Barrow and Whitley Bay.”


After more than a decade as a physio, Ferris turned to law, studying part-time -before spending 12 months at Bar School. And he would still be -wearing the wig and gown but for a chance phone call from Shearer, who had been - approached by a consortium - looking to take over Southampton, which ultimately never -happened.

He explained: “I’m a decent talker, can present a good argument and am reasonably bright, so was all set for life as a barrister.

“Then, one day, just after Euro 2008, when I was at Leeds railway station, Al rang me and offered me the role of running the sports science and medicine side at Southampton.


Alan Shearer

“I asked for time to think about it but, by the time I arrived home, my mind was made up. I wanted to go on that journey with him which we eventually did at Newcastle.

“People, including Al’s wife Lainya, thought I was daft to throw away a good career but remember, I was a working class lad from Ireland, football hadn’t been kind to me as a player, this was the chance to go back at the highest level and make a difference.


“It didn’t feel like a gamble, though of course when (Toon owner) Mike Ashley decided not to give Al a new contract, we were both out of work.”

And suddenly life took a more drastic turn for the worse when he suffered a heart attack, which led to him penning the award-winning ‘The Boy On The Shed’.

“I wrote it typing with two fingers on the kitchen table,” he added. “I did it for my kids to know who their dad was because I was terrified about my own mortality.

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“I had no expectations about getting it published, but when an agent got back to me with a deal, it just exploded, selling well and winning lots of awards.

“It was at the time I’d finished that book that my cancer struck and that’s when I started writing ‘The Magic In The Jar’.”

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