John Deakin (born 29 September 1966) is an English former 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 made 33 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 ...

playing for

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

Career

Deakin was born in

Stocksbridge Stocksbridge is a town and civil parish, in the City of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies just to the east of the Peak District. The town is located in the steep-sided valley of th ...

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

. He began his football career as an apprentice 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 ...

, but first played in

as a non-contracted player with

. Two years in

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

with

Frickley Athletic Frickley Athletic Football Club is a football club based in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Westfield Lane. History Although the club itself claims it was formed in 1910, the team was activ ...

and

Shepshed Charterhouse Shepshed Dynamo Football Club is an English association football, football club based in the small town of Shepshed in the north west of Leicestershire, England. Founded as Shepshed Albion towards the end of the 19th century, the team played for ...

preceded a return to the Football League with

in 1989. Deakin, a hard-working

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 ...

, went straight into the starting eleven, but his Birmingham career was disrupted by injury, and he had a brief spell at

before returning to non-league with

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

. Released at the end of the 1991–92 season, having made 23 appearances for the club, he joined

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 ...

. Deakin helped Kidderminster to the

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 ...

title in 1994, though they were not promoted to the Football League because their ground was below standard. He played in their

1993–94 FA Cup The 1993–94 FA Cup was the 113th staging of the world and England's oldest cup competition, the Football Association Cup or FA Cup. The competition overall was won by Manchester United F.C., Manchester United for the first time since 1990 FA Cu ...

run which took them past former club Birmingham City and

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

to become only the fourth

non-league Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

team to reach the fifth round, in which they lost narrowly to

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 ...

club

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. Deakin, a substitute in this game, failed to take a chance in

stoppage time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

which would have taken the tie to a replay. The following season Kidderminster and Deakin lost in the final of the

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

, and two years later they finished as Conference runners-up. Deakin played 42 games in all competitions in the 1998–99 season, his last for the club. He moved on to

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

of the Southern League Premier Division in August 1999. Though he scored "a handful of vital goals to help City avoid relegation from the Premier Division", he failed to establish himself in the first team, and following two months on loan at Evesham United, he made the move permanent in December 2000. Only three months later, unhappy with his form and feeling he was no longer doing himself justice, Deakin announced his retirement. In July 2001 he was appointed manager of Oldbury United's youth team. At the end of the 2001–02 season, he took up the equivalent post with former club Kidderminster Harriers, which he left in October 2003, after the departure of manager Ian Britton, citing work commitments as a teacher. He moved on to coaching the under-16s at

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 ...

. At the age of 37, Deakin attempted a playing comeback with

Bedworth United Bedworth United Football Club is a football club based in Bedworth, Warwickshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at the Oval. History The first club from which the modern Bedworth United traces its lineage was Bedworth ...

, but broke down in pre-season training.

References

;Infobox stats * Football League clubs: * Wycombe Wanderers: * Kidderminster Harriers: Harman ed., ''Alliance to Conference''. pp. 391, 399. * Worcester City (goals only): ;General {{DEFAULTSORT:Deakin, John 1966 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Barnsley F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Frickley Athletic F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Evesham United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Southern Football League players Shepshed Dynamo F.C. players People from Stocksbridge Footballers from South Yorkshire