Jonathan Alan Spencer Worthington (born 16 April 1983) is an English professional football coach and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who ...

who currently coaches

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 ...

club

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

's under-19 and B Teams. Worthington previously played in the Football League for Huddersfield Town,

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. ...

and in the Conference for

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

and

FC 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. ...

. After retiring, Worthington worked as a

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is one of the allied health professions. It is provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through physical examination, diagnosis, management, prognosis, patien ...

at Halifax Town, before rejoining Huddersfield. Initially a physio in the club's academy, he subsequently became a youth team coach for the club.

Playing career

Huddersfield Town

Born in nearby Dewsbury, Worthington began playing for

at the age of nine, eventually moving through the club's youth academy and into the first team. He primarily plays as a hard tackling central

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Many Terriers fans regarded Worthington as being the main lynchpin of the Town midfield. Other midfielders have attempted to fill that role such as

Michael Collins Michael Collins or Mike Collins most commonly refers to: * Michael Collins (Irish leader) (1890–1922), Irish revolutionary leader, soldier, and politician * Michael Collins (astronaut) (1930–2021), American astronaut, member of Apollo 11 and Ge ...

, Andy Holdsworth, Adnan Ahmed, Mark Hudson and loan signing Ronnie Wallwork, but fans felt that the Town midfield four was incomplete without Worthington in the middle. He was made captain in 2004 after previous captain Efe Sodje was stripped of the captaincy after being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

in a

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

match against Blackpool which Town lost 6–3 in extra time. He was given the captaincy over Nathan Clarke who was named vice-captain. Worthington picked up 16 yellow cards in the 2005–06 season. Another other low point was that through injury he missed Huddersfield Town's high-profile

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 ...

tie 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 ...

at Stamford Bridge in 2008. Following Andy Ritchie's departure as manager of the Terriers in 2008, Worthington was relieved of his captaincy duties by caretaker manager Gerry Murphy, so he could focus on his playing duties. The captaincy was taken up by

Rob Page Robert John Page (born 3 September 1974) is a Welsh football manager and former player, who is currently the manager of the Wales national team. In an 18-year career in the Premier League and the English Football League, he made 550 competitiv ...

Yeovil Town

After being out of new manager Lee Clark's plans, Worthington moved on loan to

on 30 January 2009. He made his debut the following day in the 1–0 win over

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

at Brisbane Road. His loan was extended by another month on 3 March, following impressive displays under new player-manager

Terry Skiverton Terence John Skiverton (born 26 June 1975) is an English former footballer who enjoyed a long playing career at Yeovil Town for 11 years, appearing 382 times in all competitions, before becoming their manager and subsequently, assistant manage ...

. He was recalled on 26 March. However, it was revealed on 17 April, that manager Lee Clark did not see Worthington in his future plans and said he was not going to offer him a new contract.

Oldham Athletic

On 26 May 2009, he joined

, becoming

Dave Penney David Mark Penney (born 17 August 1964) is an English football manager and former player. Born in Wakefield, West Riding of Yorkshire, Penney entered professional football at the relatively late age of 21. He had been working as a bricklayer and ...

's second new signing after

Rob Purdie Robert James Purdie (born 28 September 1982) is an English retired footballer who last played for Hereford as a midfielder. Purdie was a versatile Utility player who played primarily as an attacking midfielder, but he could also play in the fu ...

. In July 2010 he was transfer-listed by the club, along with five other first team players. He joined

on loan on 18 November 2010 returning on 2 January 2011. On 25 January 2011, he joined

on a one-month emergency loan deal. He was recalled by Oldham after one match and released by the club on 27 January 2011 allowing him to seek another club before the closure of the winter transfer window. . He then signed for Bradford on a permanent basis, signing a four-month contract.

Mansfield Town

In June 2011, it was announced that Worthington had joined

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-professi ...

side

on a one-year deal

FC Halifax Town

In July 2012, he joined

on a one-year deal. Worthington was played in a more attacking role at Halifax than he had been used to previously in his career, but he had great success including two goals against

Abbey Hey Abbey Hey is an area of Gorton, in the city of Manchester, England. It is known mainly for Debdale Park, Wright Robinson College, Parkstone Park also known as Cat Valley field, the donkey sanctuary & Delamere Park Sports Although located jus ...

in the FA Cup in a 6–0 victory. Worthington also bagged a goal from the edge of the box on Boxing Day 2012 against

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

. In January 2013, Worthington suffered an injury against Solihull Moors after going in for a challenge which won The Shaymen a penalty. He made his return against Droylsden in February and scored a goal in the 6–0 victory over The Bloods.

Coaching career

In the summer of 2014, Worthington was appointed as player-

. After retiring from playing at the end of the 2014–15 season, Worthington returned to

as academy physio. Having spent four years as a physio in the Huddersfield academy, in June 2019 Worthington was appointed the club's new under-17 coach. The following year, Worthington was promoted to under-19 coach. In January 2021, he took on the additional role of B Team coach.

Career statistics

Personal life

Worthington studied at the

University of Salford , caption = Coat of ArmsUniversity of Salford , mottoeng = "Let us seek higher things" , established = 1850 - Pendleton Mechanics Institute 1896 – Royal Technical Institute, Salford 1967 – gained ...

for a degree in Physiotherapy, graduating in 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Worthington, Jon 1983 births Living people Alumni of the University of Salford Association football coaches Men's association football midfielders Association football physiotherapists Bradford City A.F.C. players English Football League players English men's footballers FC Halifax Town non-playing staff FC Halifax Town players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Footballers from Dewsbury Huddersfield Town A.F.C. non-playing staff Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players National League (English football) players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players