Jason Brett Kearton (born 9 July 1969) is an Australian soccer coach and former professional player. He was a goalkeeper from 1987 until 2004. After starting his career with Brisbane Lions, he moved to England to play in the Premier League for Everton. He also played in England with

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, Notts County,

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

and Crewe Alexandra. He finished his career with Brisbane Strikers and now owns his own goalkeeping coaching school.

Playing career

Kearton was born in

Ipswich, Queensland Ipswich () is a city in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated on the Bremer River, it is approximately west of the Brisbane central business district. The city is renowned for its architectural, natural and cultural heritage. Ipswich pre ...

, and began his career in his native land, firstly with Coalstars and then with the Brisbane Lions. In

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, at the age of 19, he made the biggest move of his career when then- Everton manager

Colin Harvey James Colin Harvey (born 16 November 1944 in Liverpool, England) is an English former footballer who is best known for his time as a player, coach and manager with Everton. Playing career Harvey was born in Liverpool and joined Everton as ...

signed him as cover for first-choice Neville Southall. He was never able to dislodge Southall from the number one spot at Goodison Park making eight appearances for the club in eight years. He spent time out on loan at

in 1991–92 where Kearton kept six clean sheets in sixteen appearances for the Potters. He also spent time on loan at

(14 appearances) and Notts County (12 appearances). In

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, Kearton signed for Dario Gradi's Crewe Alexandra, where he spent four years and made close to 200 league appearances helping the side gain promotion in 1996–97 by beating

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

in the

play-off final The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. In August

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, he returned to his homeland and went on to play for Brisbane Strikers and Queensland Lions. In 2014, Kearton was an unused substitute for the Roar in an FFA Cup match against Adelaide United.

Coaching career

Kearton is the owner, founder and head coach of Jason Kearton Goalkeeping, an Australian-based goalkeeping soccer academy. He was appointed goalkeeping coach of

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

club Brisbane Roar in 2012.

Personal life

He has two UK-born children, Jake and Chloe.

Career statistics

Honours

; Everton * FA Cup:

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier Le ...

; Crewe Alexandra * Football League Second Division play-off final winner:

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

References

External links

*
Jason Kearton Goalkeeping WebsiteKearton's profile at Supercamp Australia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kearton, Jason 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Ipswich, Queensland Soccer players from Queensland Association football goalkeepers Australian soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Premier League players English Football League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Queensland Lions FC players Blackpool F.C. players Brisbane Strikers FC players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Everton F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Expatriate footballers in England