Paul Lambert (born 7 August 1969) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Ipswich Town. Lambert played as a midfielder and won the Scottish Cup in 1987 with St Mirren as a 17-year-old, the UEFA Champions League with Borussia Dortmund and all the Scottish domestic honours with Celtic. In his international career, Lambert earned 40 caps for Scotland and played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals. Lambert achieved success managing in England's lower divisions and guided Norwich City into English football's Premier League with successive promotions in 2009–10 and 2010–11. After keeping Norwich in the Premier League in 2011–12, he managed Aston Villa for three seasons. Lambert was appointed Blackburn Rovers manager in November 2015, before leaving the club in May 2016. Lambert became head coach of Wolverhampton Wanderers in November 2016 but was dismissed at the end of the season. Lambert was appointed manager of Stoke City in January 2018, but he was unable to prevent relegation to the Championship and left the club soon afterwards. Lambert became manager of Ipswich Town in October 2018, but he was unable to prevent relegation to League One, and later left the club in February 2021 after failing to mount a promotion challenge. Club career St Mirren Lambert was born in Glasgow, but moved to Linwood, Renfrewshire when he was a child. He played for Linwood Rangers Boys' Club before entering the professional game with St Mirren in 1985. With St Mirren, the 17-year-old Lambert won his first senior winner's medal courtesy of the 1987 Scottish Cup Final; Saints beat favourites and that season's UEFA Cup Finalists Dundee United, in what turned out to be the last time the Scottish Cup was won by a team composed entirely of Scottish players. Due to his age, manager Alex Smith had to send the youngster home early from the alcohol-fuelled celebrations. Lambert played with St Mirren for eight years, experiencing relegation from the top tier in 1992. Motherwell In September 1993, Lambert was signed by Tommy McLean for Motherwell for a fee of £250,000 in a transfer move that saw Jimmy Gardner move to St Mirren. The club finished in 3rd place at the end of the 1993–94 season in the Scottish Premier League. With Alex McLeish replacing McLean for the 1994–95 season, Lambert and Motherwell went one place better finishing league runners-up, the