John Pickering (7 November 1944 – 30 May 2001) was an English 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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

. He was at

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

from 1965 to 1974 and spent one season with

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. He coached

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

, Lincoln City,

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

and

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, and also had short spells as manager at both Blackburn and Lincoln.

Playing career

Born in

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees, often simply referred to as Stockton, is a market town in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees in County Durham, England. It is on the northern banks of the River Tees, part of the Teesside built-up area. The town had an estimated ...

, John was raised in

Thornaby-on-Tees Thornaby-on-Tees, commonly referred to as Thornaby, is a town and civil parish on the River Tees's southern bank. It is in the Borough of Stockton-on-Tees, North Yorkshire, England. The parish had a population of 24,741 at the 2011 census, in t ...

where he attended Arthur Head School. He served his apprenticeship with

but failed to make the first team and moved on to join

in September 1965 for a fee of £1,250. A tough and uncompromising centre-half, he was a mainstay of the Halifax team during his nine years at the club. He was captain of the promotion winning team of 1969 and went on to make a record breaking total of 413 league and cup appearances for the club, including one run of 190 consecutive games. This achieved a notable family double as his uncle Barry Jackson holds the appearance record for

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

. He left Halifax in 1973–74, having made 367 League appearances, and joined

.Football League Career Stats - Halifax players
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Coaching career

A highly respected and renowned coach his career involved spells with

, Lincoln City,

and

. He also had short spells as manager at both Blackburn and Lincoln. He spent over ten years coaching with Middlesbrough, initially with the first team before moving to Boro's academy in 1998. He was caretaker manager of Middlesbrough for the final game of the 1993–94 season, steering the team to a 5–2 victory at

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

and his service to Middlesbrough was recognised when

Bryan Robson Bryan Robson OBE (born 11 January 1957) is an English football manager and former player. He began his career with West Bromwich Albion in 1972, where he amassed over 200 appearances and was club captain before moving to Manchester United in ...

gave him the honour of leading the team out at

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 ...

for the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

final against

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 ...

. He died in May 2001 after a long illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pickering, John 1944 births 2001 deaths Footballers from Stockton-on-Tees Footballers from County Durham English footballers English Football League players Newcastle United F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players English football managers Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Carlisle United F.C. non-playing staff Lincoln City F.C. non-playing staff Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff Middlesbrough F.C. non-playing staff Blackburn Rovers F.C. managers Lincoln City F.C. managers Men's association football defenders