Jermaine Ashley Clifton Palmer (born 28 August 1986) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

. He played professionally for

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 ...

, Grimsby Town and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

ic side Vikingur, with loan stints at York City,

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

and Alfreton Town. Between 2006 and 2018, Palmer was a non-league journeyman who played for Grantham Town, Hinckley United, Halesowen Town,

Corby Town Corby Town Football Club is a football club based in Corby, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Steel Park. History The club was established in 1948, taking over from Stewarts & Lloyds as the main team i ...

, Holbeach United, Quorn, Weymouth,

Boston Town Boston Town Football Club is a football club based in Boston, Lincolnshire, England. It is currently a member of the and plays at Tattershall Road. History The club was established as Boston Football Club in 1963 by former officials of Bosto ...

, Ilkeston Town, Long Eaton United, Holbrook Sports and Kimberley Miners Welfare.

Career

Palmer was born in

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

and progressed through the academy at

, signing a professional contract in the summer of 2003. He made three substitute appearances for Stoke in 2003–04 and was loaned out to

ic club Víkingur where he scored three goals in eight matches in the summer of 2004. On his return to England, Palmer found himself loaned out again, this time spending time with Hinckley United. He made one appearance for Stoke in 2004–05 coming on as a sub in a 1–0 defeat at home to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. He then joined Grimsby Town on trial and Mariners manager Russell Slade took a closer look at him as he participated in the club's reserve cup quarter final tie with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Palmer returned to Stoke, but was the first new signing at Grimsby Town for the new 2005–06 season. Despite being the first signing of the season, and initially presented as a first team player, Palmer found his path to winning a place in the team permanently blocked, and he found himself playing second fiddle to the likes of fellow forwards

Michael Reddy Michael Reddy (born 24 March 1980, in Kilkenny) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1997 to 2007. He notably played for Sunderland and Grimsby Town. He also appeared as a professional for Kilkenny City ...

, Gary Jones and

Martin Gritton Martin Francis Gritton (born 1 June 1978) is a Scottish former professional footballer and sports co-commentator primarily for BBC Radio Devon. As a player he was a striker from 1998 to 2012. He was a journeyman player and has previously playe ...

. Grimsby even opted to loan in another striker, Calvin Andrew from Luton Town as attacking cover. With this in mind, almost straight into the new season Palmer was placed up for loan, and subsequently joined

for an initial one-month period to gain experience and maintain fitness. Following the conclusion of his month with The Seadogs, Palmer returned to Grimsby only to be loaned straight back out to York City and then later in the season he spent a month with Alfreton Town His only senior appearance for Grimsby came in the

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 ...

clash with

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district in Lancashire, England. It is in Morecambe Bay on the Irish Sea. Name The first use of the name was by John Whitaker in his ''History of Manchester'' (1771), w ...

in which Palmer replaced Simon Francis in the 87th minute of play. The game went on to extra time, with Morecambe winning on a penalty shootout. This would be the only time Jermaine would appear on the Grimsby team sheet and after seeing the rest of the season out in the reserves he was released from his contract at the end of the 2005–06 season. Since leaving the club, Palmer went on to move into the English non-league game, featuring for Worksop Town, Grantham Town, Hinckley United and Halesowen Town initially before joining

in December 2008. In March 2009 he moved to cash strapped Weymouth, where he played out the remaining Conference season with the club. In April 2009 due to the club being relegated to 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 ...

he left the club. He eventually signed for

at the start of the 2009–10 season.

Personal life

Since leaving professional football in 2006, Palmer has held down many jobs, most notably a

postman A mail carrier, mailman, mailwoman, postal carrier, postman, postwoman, or letter carrier (in American English), sometimes colloquially known as a postie (in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom), is an employee of a post ...

for

Royal Mail , kw, Postya Riel, ga, An Post Ríoga , logo = Royal Mail.svg , logo_size = 250px , type = Public limited company , traded_as = , foundation = , founder = Henry VIII , location = London, England, UK , key_people = * Keith Williams ...

, a delivery driver, youth worker and for companies

Alstom Alstom SA is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer operating worldwide in rail transport markets, active in the fields of passenger transportation, signalling, and locomotives, with products including the AGV, TGV, Eurostar, Avelia ...

and Bombardier. He also spent a spell as a youth team coach at Derby County.

Career statistics

Source: :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Jermaine 1986 births Living people Footballers from Derby English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Stoke City F.C. players Knattspyrnufélagið Víkingur players Halesowen Town F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Scarborough F.C. players York City F.C. players Alfreton Town F.C. players Grantham Town F.C. players Hinckley United F.C. players Ilkeston Town F.C. (1945) players Worksop Town F.C. players Corby Town F.C. players Holbeach United F.C. players Quorn F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Boston Town F.C. players Long Eaton United F.C. players English Football League players English expatriates in Iceland National League (English football) players Expatriate men's footballers in Iceland Kimberley Miners Welfare F.C. players Derby County F.C. non-playing staff