Jay Lovett (born 2 January 1978) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player who was recently manager of Burgess Hill Town. He spent his career playing in league football as a defender and

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

with

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 ...

and also

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

in both county level, with Saltdean United, and in national level where he has played for the majority of his career with

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

and Eastbourne Borough.

Playing career

Early career

Lovett started his career in

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

for

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of ...

, making his debut for them 11 February 1995 as they lost 4–0 away at

Leighton Town Leighton Town Football Club are an English football club located in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. They were established in 1885. The club plays home games at Bell Close and currently play in the . History Early history Leighton Town F.C. wa ...

in Isthmian League Division Three. Later that year he moved to the west country and

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

but was unable to start a first team game, after which he moved back to Sussex and played for Saltdean United in Division One of the Sussex County League. He also spent time youth coaching at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public research university whose main campus is in unincorporated Orange County, Florida. UCF also has nine smaller regional campuses throughout central Florida. It is part of the State University ...

. A season later he moved to

in 1998 and played for two seasons.

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

team

took interest in Lovett, after watching him in a pre-season friendly and paid Crawley their record sum of £60,000 for the midfielder in July 2000, with a further £15,000 to be paid after 15 appearances.

Brentford

In his first year at Brentford he was back on loan to Crawley Town for nine games before making 28 appearances for the first team. In 2003, Lovett made two more loan signings, firstly at

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

where he played for two months, and a month at Gravesend & Northfleet, before his contract expired at the end of the 2002–03 season.

Non-League football

Farnborough Town Farnborough Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Farnborough, Hampshire, England. Founded in 1967 as Farnborough Town, they are currently members of the , the sixth tier of English football and play at Cherrywood Road. H ...

manager,

Tommy Taylor Thomas Taylor (29 January 1932 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who was known for his aerial ability. He was one of the eight Manchester United players who died in the Munich air disaster. Career Taylor was born in Smithies, ...

signed Lovett in June, although he played nine games, he transferred to Lewes later in the year. In 2004,

Aldershot Town Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...

signed Lovett on a month loan. Lovett joined Sussex rivals Eastbourne Borough in June 2006. He spent the end of their 2006–07 campaign with a broken collarbone, but helped the team win promotion into the

Conference National The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profes ...

league at the end of the 2007–08 season via the

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

play-off final against Hampton & Richmond Borough, the game ending 2–0. He played in Eastbourne's first ever season in the Conference National, scoring two goals and helping to win the Sussex Senior Cup in a 1–0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion reserves, before being released in May 2009 failing to agree to a new deal with the club, scoring seven goals in 149 appearances. At the start of the 2009–10 season, Lovett signed for

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originally ...

despite having offers from clubs in higher divisions, such as

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Parkside in nearby Aveley. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former S ...

in the Conference National,

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the 20 ...

in the Conference South and

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Hov ...

Isthmian League Division One South The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...

. In June 2010, Lovett signed for

Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 teams ...

club

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

. Failing to hold down a regular starting berth at Horsham, Lovett joined fellow Isthmian League club Tooting & Mitcham United in October 2010. During his spell at

Imperial Fields Imperial Fields is a football stadium in Mitcham, south London, which is home to Tooting & Mitcham United. It is also the former ground of Chelsea Ladies. The stadium opened in 2002, and has a total capacity of 3,500 (612 seated). Men's footba ...

, Lovett was made the club captain and was instrumental in ensuring that Tooting & Mitcham avoided relegation. In March 2011, Lovett left Tooting & Mitcham in order to take up a position as

assistant manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

with

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

ese V-League side Đồng Tâm Long An, working as assistant to Simon McMenemy. After a full season with Lewes in 2013–14, he re-signed as a player for Eastbourne Borough ahead of the 2014–15 season, already being a full-time academy manager there. A dual registration deal between The Sports and

Metropolitan Police The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), formerly and still commonly known as the Metropolitan Police (and informally as the Met Police, the Met, Scotland Yard, or the Yard), is the territorial police force responsible for law enforcement and ...

materialised on 14 October 2014. On 23 May 2015, Lovett returned to Lewes to become the club's new assistant manager and academy director, and in June he also registered as player. On 19 October 2015, he signed for a third spell with Metropolitan Police, as an assistant manager/player. He started the 2016–17 as an unused substitute in the two opening league games for Burgess Hill Town, before signing for

Loxwood Loxwood is a small village and civil parish with several outlying settlements, in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, within the Low Weald. The Wey and Arun Canal passes to the East and South of the village. This Civil Parish is at t ...

in September. While being the manager of

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand th ...

, he made comeback as a player in the final game of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

South Central Division 2018–19 season. He was named the manager of Burgess Hill Town of the South East Division in November 2019. On 15 February 2023, Lovett was sacked by Burgess Hill Town.

Personal life

Lovett attended

Dorothy Stringer High School Dorothy Stringer School is a secondary school located in Brighton, East Sussex, England. It has over 1,600 pupils and 115 members of staff. There are 64 forms, each with an average of 26 students. Location and history The school, named after ...

and

Varndean College Varndean College is a sixth form college in Brighton and Hove that serves the needs of sixth form students and adults. Location Varndean College is on Surrenden Road, in the northern part of Brighton. It shares the Surrenden campus with Balfou ...

. While a player with Saltdean United, he worked as an IT recruiter and at the time he joined Brentford in July 2000, was working for

TSB Banking A trustee savings bank is a type of financial institution. * In the United Kingdom: ** Trustee Savings Bank, a bank in the United Kingdom that merged with Lloyds Bank in 1995 to form Lloyds TSB until 2013 ** Lloyds TSB, the name used by ...

. He is a

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

supporter.

Honours

Brentford *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

runner-up:

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 ...

* League One Play Off runner-up 2002 Eastbourne Borough *

play-offs: 2007–08 * Sussex Senior Cup: 2009 Whitehawk * Sussex County League Division 1: 2009–10

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lovett, Jay 1978 births Living people Footballers from Brighton English footballers Association football defenders Aldershot Town F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Burgess Hill Town F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Eastbourne Borough F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Farnborough F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Horsham F.C. players Lewes F.C. players Loxwood F.C. players Metropolitan Police F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Saltdean United F.C. players Tooting & Mitcham United F.C. players Whitehawk F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players British sports agents