John Woodward (born 6 January 1947) 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 ...

. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, he scored 66 goals in 269 league games in a 13-year career 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 ...

. He played and scored in all four divisions of the Football League. He began his career at

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 ...

, before he was sold on to

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 ...

for a £30,000 fee in October 1966. He switched to

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

three years later, before he joined

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

for a fee of £2,250 in February 1973. He finished as the club's top-scorer in 1973–74, but suffered a loss of form and was allowed to join

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

in May 1975. After two years with the "Iron" he had spells with Belgian club Oostende and Southern League side

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 ...

Career

Woodward began his career with

, playing three First Division games in the 1964–65 season. He scored his first senior goal on 27 March 1965, in a 2–1 victory over

at the

Victoria Ground The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League. History ...

. He played six games without scoring in 1965–66, and made just two appearances in 1966–67. Aston Villa had been suitably impressed however to offer £30,000 for the striker's services in October 1966, and "Potters" boss

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football manager at both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at Stoke City. He progress ...

gladly accepted the offer. He was signed to replace

Tony Hateley Anthony Hateley (13 June 1941 – 1 February 2014) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward. He scored 249 goals from 499 appearances in the Football League, and played First Division football for Aston Villa, Chels ...

, who had been sold to

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 ...

. The "Villans" suffered

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

in 1966–67, and could only finish 16th and 18th in the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in 1967–68 and 1968–69. Woodward scored seven goals in 26 league games during a turbulent time at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

, in which

Dick Taylor Richard Clifford Taylor (born 28 January 1943) is an English musician, best known as the guitarist and founding member of the Pretty Things. Taylor was an early bassist for the Rolling Stones, but left the band to resume his studies at Sidcu ...

Tommy Cummings Thomas Smith Cummings (12 September 1928 – 12 July 2009) was an English football player and manager. Cummings was born in Sunderland, County Durham and started his football career at Hylton Colliery Juniors. Such was his quality as a centr ...

, and

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times betwe ...

all had brief spells as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

. He moved on to Bill Moore's

in May 1969. Walsall who posted a 12th-place finish in the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

in 1969–70. The "Saddlers" avoided relegation on

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

in 1970–71, before rising to ninth in 1971–72. John Smith then took over at

Fellows Park Fellows Park was a football stadium in Walsall, England. It was the home ground of Walsall F.C. from 1896 until 1990, when the team moved to the Bescot Stadium. Fellows Park was situated about a quarter of a mile away from the club's present ...

, and led the club to a 17th-place finish in 1972–73. He scored 23 goals in 125 league games during his four-year spell at the club. Woodward joined league rivals

for a fee of £2,250 in February 1973. He hit nine goals in 17

games in 1972–73, as

Gordon Lee Gordon Lee may refer to: *Gordon Lee (comic store owner) (1958–2013), American comic book store owner charged with distributing obscene materials *Gordon Lee (congressman) (1859–1927), U.S. congressman from Georgia *Gordon Lee (footballer) (193 ...

's "Valiants" finished four places and four points shy of

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. Woodward hit 18 goals in 48 appearances in 1973–74 to finish as the club's top-scorer. However Lee resigned in January, and the club finished just one place above the relegation zone under new boss

Roy Sproson Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...

. Under Sproson's management there were numerous

contract A contract is a legally enforceable agreement between two or more parties that creates, defines, and governs mutual rights and obligations between them. A contract typically involves the transfer of goods, services, money, or a promise to tran ...

disputes, and Woodward was the first to get into such a dispute, and was placed on the

transfer Transfer may refer to: Arts and media * ''Transfer'' (2010 film), a German science-fiction movie directed by Damir Lukacevic and starring Zana Marjanović * ''Transfer'' (1966 film), a short film * ''Transfer'' (journal), in management studies ...

-list at his own request in July 1974. Sproson said "he is trying to hold us to ransom and we are not having that". Woodward only hit five goals in 41 games in 1974–75, and was given a free transfer in May 1975. He moved on to

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 ...

side

for the 1975–76 campaign. The "Iron" avoided the re-election places on goal difference, and then finished one place and one point above the re-election zone in 1976–77 under the stewardship of

Ron Ashman Ronald George Ashman (19 May 1926 – 21 June 2004) was an English professional footballer and football manager. Born in Whittlesey, Cambridgeshire, he spent his entire playing career with Norwich City and was later their manager. He went on t ...

. Woodward then departed the

Old Showground The Old Show Ground was a football stadium in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, that was the original home of Scunthorpe United F.C. from 1899 until 1988, when they moved to Glanford Park – the first newly constructed Football League stadium si ...

, and had a spell in Belgium with Oostende, before returning to England to play at

Aggborough Aggborough Stadium is a association football, football stadium in Kidderminster, England. It is the home ground of Kidderminster Harriers F.C., Kidderminster Harriers, and has a capacity of 7,000, of which 3,140 can be Seating capacity, seated. ...

for Southern League side

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woodward, John 1947 births Living people People from Tunstall, Staffordshire Footballers from Stoke-on-Trent English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Stoke City F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players English expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium K.V. Oostende players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players English Football League players Southern Football League players