Paul Edward Hayes (born 20 September 1983) is an English former professional footballer who plays for club Haverhill Rovers. As a player he was a forward who made more than 500 appearances for 11 clubs in all three divisions of the English Football League most notably for Scunthorpe United, Barnsley and Wycombe Wanderers. He also played professionally for Norwich City, Huddersfield Town, Charlton Athletic, Preston North End, Brentford, Crawley Town, Plymouth Argyle and Newport County. He played his latter career in non-League football for Hemel Hempstead Town, AFC Sudbury, Romford, Meridian VP, Faversham Town, Chatham Town and Haverhill Rovers. Hayes has held sporting director roles at non-League clubs Chatham Town and Bowers & Pitsea. Playing career Norwich City Hayes started his footballing career as a schoolboy with Norwich City, whom he joined as a 13-year-old. Hayes' first involvement with the first team came in pre-season prior to Norwich's 2001–02 First Division campaign, in which he scored in friendlies against Wroxham, Colchester United and Premier League club Arsenal. He was an unused substitute during the final two matches of the regular season. He failed to feature during Norwich's unsuccessful playoff campaign. Hayes failed to feature at all during the early part of the 2002–03 season and became frustrated at his lack of first team opportunities, with forwards Iwan Roberts, Paul McVeigh, David Nielsen, Alex Notman, Zema Abbey and Ian Henderson ahead of him in the pecking order. He spent periods on trial at Third Division clubs Torquay United and Scunthorpe United and had his Norwich academy contract cancelled on 3 December 2002. Scunthorpe United Hayes signed a youth contract with Third Division club Scunthorpe United in December 2002. He scored his first goal for the club on his second appearance, with Scunthorpe's fourth goal in a 4–1 win over Southend United on 25 January 2003. On 19 March 2003, Hayes signed a professional contract with Scunthorpe. He scored eight goals in 20 games during the 2002–03 season, though the campaign ended with a heartbreaking playoff semi-final defeat to Lincoln City. Hayes became a regular starter the following season, making 45 appearances and scoring seven goals as Scunthorpe narrowly avoided relegation to the Conference. Hayes scored 19 goals during the 2004–05 season to help Scunthorpe gain automatic promotion to League One. Hayes was in red hot form during October and November 2004, scoring 10 goals in as many games. A highlight of