Kelly John Pollard (born 17 November 1971), better known as John Pollard, is an English former

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 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 ...

as a defender for Colchester United.

Career

Born in

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It is located north-east of London a ...

, Pollard began his career with Witham Town before signing to Colchester United's youth team. He broke into the first-team picture at

Layer Road Layer Road was a Football League stadium in Colchester, England. It was only used for football matches and was the home ground of Colchester United before being replaced by the Colchester Community Stadium. The stadium held spectators and was ...

early while still playing at youth level in the penultimate game of the 1988–89 season, coming on as a replacement for Mark Radford in a must-win game against Exeter City on 5 May 1989 to ensure league safety. He scored the third goal in the 83rd minute in a thumping 4–0 win, proving to be his only professional goal. Pollard made 9

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 ...

appearances for the U's between his debut and the club's relegation from the

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, failing to play any

Conference A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

games for the club. He made his final appearance in a Conference League Cup 2–0 defeat to Sutton United on 26 February 1991 at

Gander Green Lane Gander Green Lane, officially known as the VBS Community Stadium, is a football stadium in Sutton, south London, and the home ground of Sutton United. The record attendance for Gander Green Lane is 14,000 when Sutton United lost 6–0 to Leeds ...

. Following this, he was sent out on loan alongside teammate Steve Restarick to

Fisher Athletic Fisher Athletic F.C. were a semi-professional football club from South East London, which last played in the Conference South, which is one of the two leagues that form the sixth tier of the English football league system. The Bermondsey-based ...

in March 1991. Colchester released Pollard in the summer of 1991, as he went on to play for a number of non-league clubs including

Bury Town Bury Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club, based in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England. The club are currently members of the and play at Ram Meadow. History Early history The club was established by William Lake at a meetin ...

and

Heybridge Swifts Heybridge Swifts Football Club is a football club based in Heybridge, near Maldon, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Scraley Road. History The club was established in 1880 as Heybridge Football Club. After joining t ...

, where in two spells he became the club's record appearance holder with over 550 starts. He separated his spells at Heybridge with a two-year stint at St Albans City, making 93 appearances and scoring nine times, later playing for

AFC Sudbury Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury is a football club based in Sudbury, Suffolk, England. The club was formed in 1999 by the merger of Sudbury Town and Sudbury Wanderers, the process giving rise to the name Amalgamated Football Club Sudbury. ...

between 2005 and 2007 and briefly Tiptree United before a move to Halstead Town in the summer of 2007. While with Halstead, he became player-assistant manager. Pollard then returned to management in the summer 2015, joining Coggeshall Town being appointed as assistant manager, achieving back to back promotions from the Essex Border League into the

Eastern Counties League The Eastern Counties Football League, currently known as the Thurlow Nunn League for sponsorship purposes, is an English football league at levels 9 and 10 of the English football league system. It currently contains clubs from Norfolk, Suff ...

Premier Division. Pollards first season in the Thurlow Premier division was followed with being crowned champions to the bostik north.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollard, John 1971 births Living people Footballers from Chelmsford English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Colchester United F.C. players Fisher Athletic F.C. players Bury Town F.C. players Heybridge Swifts F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players A.F.C. Sudbury players Tiptree United F.C. players Halstead Town F.C. players English Football League players