Jon Harley (born 26 September 1979) 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 ...

. A

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, he played for

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 ...

and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

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 ...

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 * ...

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 ...

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 ...

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

Rotherham United and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

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 ...

, and in the

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 ...

for

Maidstone United Maidstone United Football Club is a professional football club based in Maidstone, Kent, England. The team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league system. The current club filled the void left by the ol ...

Early life

Born in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies 32 miles (51 km) east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the c ...

, Kent, Harley grew up in the Maidstone suburb of Allington, attending

Oakwood Park Grammar School Oakwood Park Grammar School is a boys grammar school with academy status located in Maidstone, United Kingdom. The school is co-educational in the sixth form (years 12 and 13). The school takes boys at the age of 11 and over by examination (11 ...

and playing for the local junior team Castle Colts.

Career

Chelsea

Harley started his career with

, making his debut against

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 ...

in April 1998. Despite some impressive performances, especially in the 1999–2000 season, during which he was a member of Chelsea's FA Cup winning squad, albeit as an unused substitute in the final, he was unable to establish himself in the London side. He ultimately made 42 appearances for Chelsea and scored two goals, both of which were winners in the

1999–2000 FA Premier League The 1999–2000 FA Premier League (known as the FA Carling Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eighth season of the FA Premier League, and Manchester United secured their sixth Premiership title. Like the previous season, they lost ...

against future club

and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. He also had a loan spell with

, where he scored twice, both goals coming in a 4–0 win over

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

on his debut. In his final season at Chelsea, Harley was third choice behind

Celestine Babayaro Celestine Boyd Jonto Hycieth Babayaro (born 29 August 1978) is a Nigerian former professional footballer who played as a left-back or a midfielder. Babayaro spent the majority of his career playing in the Premier League, mainly for Chelsea from ...

and

Graeme Le Saux Graeme Pierre Le Saux ( ; born 17 October 1968) is an English former professional footballer and television pundit. As a versatile left sided player he played most of his career at left back with two spells at Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers, Southamp ...

Fulham

He signed for newly promoted

in August 2001 for £3.5million. Harley was equally unable to establish himself in the Fulham side, despite a somewhat outstanding goal against Aston Villa, in which he beat

Peter Enckelman Peter Mikael Enckelman (born 10 March 1977) is a Finnish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Enckelman represented Finland and previously played for TPS Turku, Aston Villa, Blackburn Rovers, Cardiff City, St Johnstone an ...

with a 40-yard strike. This was the only goal he achieved in 19 league starts over three seasons. He joined

and later

on loan where he scored once, in a 3–3 draw against Sheffield United on his debut.

Sheffield United

He joined

permanently in June 2004 on a free transfer, playing regularly and scoring two goals.

Burnley

A year later he moved to

in a deal for just £75,000 initially, with further payments linked to first-team appearances. Harley managed to establish himself as the club's first choice left-back, starting with a series of impressive performances. He is known for his attacking intent and often gets forward to offer support down the left-wing. Harley is also an excellent set-piece taker and was vital to many of Burnley's free-kick 'routines'. Despite his ability his form dipped mid-season, but later recovered to end the campaign with a number of solid performances, culminating in his winning the "Player of the Season" award. He remained almost ever-present during his second season with Burnley. At the start of the 2007–08 season, Harley found himself playing in the unaccustomed position of left-sided midfielder or on the bench, replaced by new signing Stephen Jordan. An injury to Jordan allowed him to regain his place and this coincided with a run of much-improved results for Burnley. On 9 March 2008, however, Harley failed to agree a new deal with Burnley, signalling his intent to leave the club during the following summer.

Watford

On 17 July 2008 Harley signed a two-year-deal with

. On 4 October 2008 he scored his first Watford league goal, scoring in the 12th minute in a home game against

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 ...

. Watford went on to win the game 2–1.

Notts County

On 14 July 2010, Harley signed for the

Football League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

Champions

on a two-year deal and established himself as a regular member of the team in the 2010–11 season. In September 2011 he turned out for Australian

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

side

Melbourne Victory Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victory e ...

in a bid to win a full-time contract, the move, however, fell through. In October 2011, he joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

side

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

on a one-month emergency loan, which was then extended in November to last until January 2012. In May 2012 he was released by the club, along with 12 other players.

Portsmouth

On 16 August 2012, Harley signed for

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

club Portsmouth on a short-term contract. Harley made his debut in a

match against

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football club based in Kings Park, Boscombe, a suburb of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest division of English club football. Formed in 1899 as B ...

, the match ended 1–1. He scored his only goal for Portsmouth in a 2–1 defeat away to

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

on 24 October 2012. He was released alongside five other players on 15 January 2013.

Maidstone United

On 13 March 2013, Harley signed for his hometown club

on a non-contract basis, combining his time with the semi-professional club with working as a youth coach for the Chelsea Academy.

Career statistics

Honours

Chelsea *

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 ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

References

External links

*
'Harley Exits Clarets'
Sky Sports.com, 10/05/08 {{DEFAULTSORT:Harley, Jon 1979 births Living people English footballers Premier League players Chelsea F.C. players Wimbledon F.C. players Fulham F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Watford F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Maidstone United F.C. players English Football League players Sportspeople from Maidstone Association football defenders Association football midfielders England youth international footballers England under-21 international footballers People from Allington, Kent