John Okechukwu Chiedozie (born 18 April 1960) is a former professional football player who played for

Orient The Orient is a term for the East in relation to Europe, traditionally comprising anything belonging to the Eastern world. It is the antonym of ''Occident'', the Western World. In English, it is largely a metonym for, and coterminous with, the c ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

and

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

and represented

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

at international level on nine occasions.

Football career

Chiedozie joined Orient as an apprentice in April 1977 where he went on to make 145 appearances scoring 20 goals. In August 1981 he joined Notts County for the first time in a £600,000 transfer deal. Chiedozie featured in 111 matches scoring on 15 occasions. Tottenham paid £375,000 for his services in August 1984. Chiedozie scored on his debut in a 4–1 away win at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpool ...

versus Everton. In his career at the club, much of it disrupted through injury, he played in 75 matches, including 11 as substitute, scoring 14 goals in all competitions. Derby County was his next club, which he joined on a free transfer in August 1988, where he completed only two games in his time at the

Baseball Ground The Baseball Ground (sometimes referred to as the BBG) was a stadium in Derby, England. It was first used for baseball as the home of Derby Baseball Club from 1890 until 1898 and then for football as the home of Derby County from 1895 until 19 ...

. A second spell at Notts County began in January 1990, which resulted in just one substitute appearance, before joining Chesterfield in March 1990 where he featured in seven matches, including five as sub. Chiedozie ended his career at the

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

non-league side Bashley, and retired from competitive football in 1992.

Honours

In 2002, he was honoured with the title of Officer of the Order of Niger by

President of Nigeria The president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the head of state and head of government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the Niger ...

Olusegun Obasanjo Chief Olusegun Matthew Okikiola Ogunboye Aremu Obasanjo, , ( ; yo, Olúṣẹ́gun Ọbásanjọ́ ; born 5 March 1937) is a Nigerian political and military leader who served as Nigeria's head of state from 1976 to 1979 and later as its pres ...

for his contribution to Nigerian football.John Chiedozie
Retrieved 14 October 2008

After football

Today, Chiedozie runs a children's soft play equipment business in the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

area of Hampshire. He currently plays golf at Highcliffe Castle Golf Club and has an active handicap of 7 (bandit). His son

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, also a winger, was with the

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

academy. As of 2021, he plays for

Ramsgate F.C. Ramsgate Football Club are a football team based in Ramsgate, Kent, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Southwood Stadium. The main local rivals of the club are Margate who are situated just 4 miles away. When the two te ...

References

External links

Photo of John and career details at Spurs, Orient and Notts County
*

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The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiedozie, John 1960 births Living people Footballers from Owerri Nigerian men's footballers Nigeria men's international footballers English Football League players Leyton Orient F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Bashley F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Officers of the Order of the Niger Black British sportsmen People educated at St Bonaventure's Catholic School