PAUL Moulden's football career has gone full circle as he is back at Bolton Lads Club coaching kids.

The former Manchester City striker put the Lads Club on the map when his 340 goals for their under-15s team in the 1981-82 season earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records.

Tonge Fold-born Moulden who now has a chip shop, Paul's Chippy, 20 yards from where he grew up started playing for the Lads Club when he was nine years old.

Now, with the eldest of his three sons nine years old and playing for the Lads Club, Moulden is coaching the same team that he started playing for.

He runs the team with Anthony Burnett, who also played in the record-breaking Lads Club under-15s team of 25 years ago, and has been coaching the youngsters twice a week for the last three years.

He also coaches Manchester City's under-7s at the Blues' outstanding Academy and has ambitions to add to the two coaching badges he already has.

He has had to cut down the number of coaching sessions he does while he tries to get his new chippy, on Bury Road, off the ground.

Moulden, aged 38, moved from his previous chippy in Great Lever six months ago, and is working hard to build up business.

His spare time is dominated by coaching which he says gives him as much pleasure as playing.

"Playing was great," he says. "It's every kid's dream and I loved it, despite all the injuries I had.

"But I love coaching just as much. I find it more interesting than playing because you're the teacher and if the kids don't progress, the buck stops with you."

Last Friday night's FA Youth Cup Final second leg between Manchester City and Liverpool was significant for Moulden.

It was exactly 20 years since City last won the competition.

And Moulden was the star with two goals, including a thumping 25-yard strike into the top corner, in a 3-1 victory over Manchester United.

He was tipped as a future England striker but injuries prevented him from realising his potential.

He broke the same right leg on four separate occasions, spent a long time recovering from broken bones in his back and suffered a hernia and other lesser injuries.

He fought against early career injuries to score 26 goals in 58 games for City.

But that period, which should just have been a precursor to a glittering career, turned out to be the highlight as three moves, totalling £535,000 in transfer fees, took him down the divisions to Bournemouth, Oldham and Birmingham.

His league career lasted just eight years and, after slipping into non-league for a brief period, he quit the game to follow in his parents' footsteps and run a chippy.

Despite his frustrations as a player, he still loves the game and, in particular, helping youngsters become better players.

He has been bitten by the coaching bug and is a big advocate of how the Bolton and Bury Mini Soccer League is helping kids from five years old to develop their skills.

"The league's fantastic and the kids love it," he said. "It gives them a chance to be coached so they learn from a very young age and get experience of playing matches.

"They start so young that those who come into it at eight and nine years old are considered old and have a lot of catching up to do.

"It's just unbelievable how many kids and parents are involved in kids football in Bolton, and once you get involved, especially in coaching them, you're hooked. I've never realised the fact that I started at the Lads Club when I was nine and now I'm coaching kids of nine at the Lads Club. I've come full circle.

"We had an unbelievable team at the Lads Club back then.

"It was the best team in the area and we had Julian Darby, who scored a hundred and odd goals the season I scored the 340, and Ian Scott who went on to play for City (in their 1986 FA Youth Cup-winning team and then the first team).

"In fact, some of them went on to play for England schoolboys and six or seven of them went to league clubs, including Julian who went to Bolton.

"It was good to see City back in the FA Youth Cup Final this season after so long. The season we won it, the players had no doubt from the first round that we were going to win it.

"We had an incredible team with Andy Hinchcliffe, David White, Ian Brightwell, Paul Lake and Steve Redmond who all went on to play for the first team and our only disappointment was that we didn't beat United by more because we had beaten the hard team, Arsenal, in the semis.

"My only regret about my career was that I couldn't stay fit enough.

"I had too many major injuries, every one takes its toll and I just couldn't keep up with them.

"The problem was, you make a name for yourself as a goalscorer and people single you out for special treatment.

"But if somebody said I could change anything, I wouldn't do it. You give it your best shot and take what happens, and that's what I did.

"I went into running a chip shop which, in one way, is similar to playing football. If you play badly on a Saturday, fans won't pay to watch you next week. If you don't serve them up a good fish and chips, they won't come back again either."