John Matthew Pemberton (born 18 November 1964) is an English football manager and 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 ...

. As a player, Pemberton played as a defender and made more than 300 appearances in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

and the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

playing as a defender for

Rochdale Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building * ...

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. He is also a former manager of

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

's reserve team, and spent a brief period as interim manager of the club's first team. He was most recently the manager of

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 ...

, where he was also the manager of the club's academy during the 2018–19 season, as well as standing in as first-team manager after the dismissal of

Martin Allen Martin James Allen (born 14 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player. He played more than 100 games as a midfielder for both Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United before finishing his playing career with Portsmouth and So ...

. He left

due to mutual consent in November 2020. He has also managed

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

, served as caretaker manager at

and

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, and was Academy Manager at

from 2010 to 2012.

Playing career

Born in

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, Pemberton started his career as a junior at

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 ...

but was released in June 1983. He signed for

Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. Hi ...

, then

before moving to

in 1985. He initially came to prominence when he joined

in 1988, helping them win promotion to the First Division in 1989. He appeared for Palace in the

1990 FA Cup Final The 1990 FA Cup Final was a football match played to determine to winners of the 1989–90 FA Cup. It was contested by Manchester United and Crystal Palace at Wembley Stadium, London, England. The match finished 3–3 after extra time. Bryan R ...

against

. The initial tie was drawn 3–3 after extra time, with United winning the replay 1–0 after extra time. In 1990, Pemberton transferred to

. During his début against Liverpool in the season opener, he was forced to play in goal after an injury to the United keeper. His most memorable moment came in 1993 when he scored the winning penalty in the shootout against Blackburn Rovers in the quarter-final replay in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. The following summer, he was sold to Yorkshire rivals

. Pemberton became something of a cult figure at Leeds owing to his determination and high work-rate. He appeared in a second

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

final when he played for Leeds in the 1996 League Cup Final against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

; again, unfortunately for Pemberton, his side was defeated. He ended his career back at Crewe Alexandra with two appearances in the 1997–98 season.

Managerial career

Pemberton coached

's reserve team to the Central League title in the 2007–08 season. In December 2008, following the dismissal of first-team manager

Colin Calderwood Colin Calderwood (born 20 January 1965) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is the assistant manager at Northampton Town. As a player, he was a centre-back who notably played in the Premier League for Tottenham Hots ...

, Pemberton was appointed as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

for the match against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

, guiding Forest to a 3–2 victory. Billy Davies was appointed to the post, but did not take over with immediate effect. Pemberton took charge of the Forest side which caused an upset in the Third Round of the FA Cup by winning 3–0 at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

against

opponents

Manchester City 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 Salford to the west. The tw ...

. At the end of the 2008–09 season Davies reorganised his coaching staff, and Pemberton's contract was terminated by mutual consent after more than a decade as part of Forest's backroom team. The following season saw him join

's coaching staff for a short spell. The Eagles were in administration, and Pemberton was brought in, along with manager

Paul Hart Paul Anthony Hart (born 4 May 1953) is an English association football, football manager, coach, and former professional player who made 567 appearances in the English Football League, Football League as a Defender (association football), def ...

and assistant

Dougie Freedman Douglas Alan Freedman (born 25 May 1974) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He is the current sporting director of Crystal Palace. Freedman played as a striker, primarily for Crystal Palace and also had spells as ...

(both of whom had worked with Pemberton as a manager and a player respectively at Forest), for two months to keep the Eagles in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. This was achieved on the final day of the season, after which his contract expired. After leaving Palace he was appointed as the manager of Sheffield United's Academy in May 2010 and guided his young team to the Youth FA Cup Final the following season, losing out to Manchester United over two legs. He left Sheffield United in September 2012. On 25 October 2012 he re-joined the coaching staff of Nottingham Forest as a 'Professional Development Coach'. On 28 November 2013, Pemberton was appointed

for the club's next game away to

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 ...

the following Saturday, this was after the sacking of manager

Sean O'Driscoll Sean Michael O'Driscoll (born 1 July 1957) is a former professional footballer and manager. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, Doncaster Rovers, Crawley Town, Nottingham Forest, Bristol City and Walsall. He was known by the nickname "N ...

. He joined

as their new academy manager in September 2018, before becoming caretaker manager of their first-team in the following December after

was sacked. In May 2019 he was announced as new manager of

. He resigned on 27 November 2019 after five wins in 16 games. In January 2020 he was made caretaker manager of

following the sacking of John Sheridan. He was made permanent manager in February. On 18 November 2020, Pemberton left Chesterfield by mutual consent after a poor run of form with the Spireites.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pemberton, John 1964 births Living people English footballers Footballers from Oldham Association football defenders Chadderton F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Rochdale A.F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players English football managers Nottingham Forest F.C. managers Bristol City F.C. managers Chesterfield F.C. managers Sheffield United F.C. non-playing staff Crystal Palace F.C. non-playing staff Northampton Town F.C. non-playing staff FA Cup Final players