Jonathan Howard (born 7 October 1971) is a

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 ...

who played in

The Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

for

Chesterfield Chesterfield may refer to: Places Canada * Rural Municipality of Chesterfield No. 261, Saskatchewan * Chesterfield Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom * Chesterfield, Derbyshire, a market town in England ** Chesterfield (UK Parliament constitue ...

and

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 ...

and was part of the Chesterfield FC side which enjoyed a famous

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 ...

run during the 1996-97 football campaign.

Career

Howard started his career at

scoring 5 goals in 36 league games for the ''Millers''. He joined

in 1994 and went on to amass over 230 appearances for the club in over nine years. During his time with the Spireites, Howard was involved in the famous

run in the 1996–97 season which saw Chesterfield reach the semi-finals of the competition. He scored a brace as they knocked out

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

in the third round, and went on to win the decisive penalty which teammate Tom Curtis tucked away against

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in the fifth round of the competition. He also found himself at the centre of controversy when, in the semi-final which saw the Spireites up against

Middlesbrough F.C Middlesbrough Football Club ( ) is a professional football club in Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England, which competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Formed in 1876, they have played at the Riverside Stadium ...

at Old Trafford, he took a shot which hit the underside of the crossbar and appeared to cross the line and yet the goal was never given. Had it been awarded as a goal it would have put Chesterfield 3-1 up against 10 man Middlesbrough (after the earlier dismissal of

Vladimír Kinder Vladimír Kinder (born 9 March 1969) is a retired Slovak professional footballer who last played as a left-back for FC Petržalka akadémia. Kinder played for Middlesbrough in England between 1997 and 1999. He helped them reach three domest ...

) with just over 20 minutes remaining. As it was, Middlesbrough equalised to make it 2-2 after 90 minutes, it finished 3-3 after extra time and Chesterfield lost the replay 3–0. Ironically, both the Forest and Middlesbrough games were refereed by

David Elleray David Roland Elleray, (born 3 September 1954), is an English former football referee who officiated in the Football League, Premier League and for FIFA. As of September 2021 he held the position of Technical Director at the IFAB. During his ...

. He finished his career with

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home grou ...

. Howard now works at Scout7, having had a brief spell back in the game with non-league outfits, Maltby Main and Dinnington Town.

References

External links

* English men's footballers Chesterfield F.C. players Buxton F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Dinnington Town F.C. players English Football League players 1971 births Living people Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers from Sheffield {{England-footy-goalkeeper-stub