Jonathan Richard Hunt (born 2 November 1971) is an English

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 plays for

Enfield Town Enfield is a large town in north London, England, north of Charing Cross. It had a population of 156,858 in 2018. It includes the areas of Botany Bay, Brimsdown, Bulls Cross, Bullsmoor, Bush Hill Park, Clay Hill, Crews Hill, Enfield Highway ...

. He made more than 200 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 ...

for a variety of clubs and played in 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 ...

for

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

Football career

Born in Camden, London, Hunt was a striker in youth football before converting to

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

, and developed into a skilful right-sided midfielder. He played under manager

Barry Fry Barry Francis Fry (born 7 April 1945) is an English former football player and manager. A winger, Fry was an apprentice at Manchester United in his youth, and had brief spells with Bolton Wanderers, Luton Town and Leyton Orient, before he reti ...

Barnet Barnet may refer to: People *Barnet (surname) * Barnet (given name) Places United Kingdom *Chipping Barnet or High Barnet, commonly known as Barnet, one of three focal towns of the borough below. *East Barnet, a district of the borough below; an ...

, winning promotion to

Division Two NCL Division Two The NCL or National Conference League Division Two (known as the Kingstone Press NCL Division Two) League winners {, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;" , - , colspan=4 style="text-align:center;" , NCL DIVISION TWO , ...

in his first full season, and

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

before following Fry to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in September 1994 for a fee of £500,000. The most successful time of Hunt's career was spent at Birmingham where he played over a hundred games. His first season was disrupted by injury, but he was still able to contribute to Birmingham becoming Division Two champions, and he played in the final of the

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 Leag ...

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 ...

, the game won by Paul Tait's

golden goal The golden goal or golden point is a rule used in association football, lacrosse, field hockey, and ice hockey to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the end of normal time. It is a type of sud ...

. While at the club he scored 18 league goals, and was leading scorer in the 1995–96 season with 15 goals in all competitions, a performance that earned him the club's Player of the Year award. Hunt then moved on to

, again for £500,000. Although he did play (and score) in the top flight he only made seven first team starts, and his career started to go downhill from there. He made loan moves to

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

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...

, both of

the Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

, before joining Sheffield United on a permanent basis in a swap deal for

Vassilis Borbokis Vasilios Borbokis (Greek: Βασίλειος Μπορμπόκης; born 10 February 1969) is a Greek former professional footballer who played as a defender. He is the younger brother of the former Greek international, Stefanos Borbokis. Caree ...

. He played regularly until

Neil Warnock Neil Warnock (born 1 December 1948) is an English former football manager and player. He is also a television and radio pundit. In a managerial career spanning five decades, Warnock has managed sixteen different clubs from the Premier League to ...

took over as manager, and was then made available for transfer. A trial at

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 ...

proving unsuccessful, Hunt made yet another loan move, this time to

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

of Division Two. At the end of the 1999–2000 season Sheffield United cut their losses, paid up the remaining two years of his contract and released him. He joined

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

of the Championship in September 2000 but appeared only intermittently. The highlight of his Wimbledon career came when he scored the extra-time goal to seal a 3–1 victory over Premier League

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 ...

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 ...

fifth round. With the transfer window about to close, he agreed to link up yet again with former manager Barry Fry, now at

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

, but changed his mind at the last minute. He played no more first team games for Wimbledon and was released at the end of the season. He eventually joined Fry at Second Division Peterborough in September 2002 on non-contract terms. Although Fry reportedly said he would have "no hesitation" about giving him his debut in the weekend's game, Hunt made no first team appearances for Peterborough and was released at the end of the season. Having been out of the game for five years, in February 2008 Hunt signed a short-term contract until the end of the season for St Albans City of the

Conference South The National League South, formerly Conference South, is one of the second divisions of the National League in England, immediately below the top division National League. Along with National League North, it is in the second level of the N ...

, managed by former Birmingham and Peterborough colleague

Steve Castle Steven Castle (born 17 May 1966) is English football manager and former player who is the manager of side Royston Town. As a player, he spent most of his career playing as a midfielder. Playing career Castle played in the Football League betwe ...

. In August 1990, as an 18-year-old, he had made one previous appearance for the club. He remained with the club until the end of the 2008–09 season, scoring 9 goals from 57 appearances in all competitions. After four matches for Harrow Borough without scoring, Hunt joined

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

Premier Division club

A.F.C. Hornchurch Hornchurch Football Club is a football club based in Upminster, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Hornchurch Stadium. History 1881 club The first Hornchurch Football Club was founded in October 1881. Based at Grey To ...

in September 2009. In September 2012 he joined

Honours

Barnet *

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 ...

promotion: 1992–93 Birmingham City *

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 ...

champions: 1994–95 *

winners: 1994–95

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Jonathan 1971 births Living people Footballers from Camden Town English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Barnet F.C. players Southend United F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Hornchurch F.C. players Harrow Borough F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players Enfield Town F.C. players Woking F.C. players