Tributes have been paid today to a loving family man with a zest for life and who was one of the young stars in a famous Ipswich Town cup-winning side.
As a teenager Paul Adams was a member of the Ipswich side that won the 1973 FA Youth Cup, playing alongside the likes of George Burley, Eric Gates and Robin Turner.
Mr Adams, 57, played professionally but had a long career in non-league football, including time as a player and then three spells as manager of Felixstowe Town.
His funeral at Ipswich Crematorium was packed with many of the non-league footballers he worked with between 1972 and 2000, plus several former Ipswich Town players, including Allan Hunter, Roger Osborne, Roger Wosahlo, Tommy Parkin and coaching staff, saying farewell.
Mr Adams – the third member of the youth cup-winning team to die, following Dale Roberts sand Steve Vale – leaves four children Gemma, 31, Sarah, 29, Linzi, 28, and Sian, 23, from his first marriage to Anne, who died from cancer in 1994.
He also leaves his partner Kathy Clemence and her two children, Kerry and Craig, who he treated as his own, and a grandson Nurein, five.
Mr Adams, who lived in Ipswich and worked as a benefits and revenue officer for Mid Suffolk council, a job he loved, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of renal cancer last November.
Kathy said he was not bitter or angry, but just sad at contracting the disease and had been determined to live life to the full right up until the end.
She said football had been his passion and always the conversation starter with people.
She said: “What Paul didn’t know about football wasn’t worth knowing.
“But he was a caring family man, too, and loved us all.
“He was very sociable and he loved being in company, chatting to people, loved holidays, and was just fun.
“He was open, genuine and warm, and although he loved to be at the centre of things he was unassuming – people were always drawn to him like a magnet.
“He was a very content man, but he had a zest for life and a passion for living.”
Born in Glasgow and a Rangers supporter, he played for Scottish Schoolboys and had trials with Spurs and Ipswich before signing for Ipswich.
After leaving Ipswich he played for Harwich & Parkeston and Stowmarket Town before joining Felixstowe Town.
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