Mark Janney (born 2 December 1977) is an English former football

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 ...

. He began his career in the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

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 Fo ...

club

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The team has playe ...

and is best remembered for his eight-year spell with Dagenham & Redbridge. He made two Football League appearances during a loan spell at Brentford. He won a cap for

England C The England national football C team (previously known as the England National Game XI and the England Semi-Pro national team) is the football team that represents England at non-league level. Formed in 1979 as the England Non-League team, it f ...

at international level.

Playing career

Tottenham Hotspur

Growing up in

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romfo ...

, Janney was signed by

club

as a schoolboy and worked his way through the club's

to the reserve team. Though he signed a professional contract in 1996, he failed to make an appearance for the first team and joined

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 ...

club Brentford in March 1997. His first involvement with the first team came when he was named as a substitute for a match away to Gillingham on 31 March. With the Bees 1–0 down, captain Jamie Bates suffered an injury after 36 minutes and Janney replaced him to make the first professional appearance of his career. He scored an equaliser with his first touch of the ball in League football and Brentford won the match through a 50th-minute winner from

Carl Asaba Carl Edward Asaba (born 28 January 1973) is an English former footballer who played as a forward in the Football League. He began his career with non-league Dulwich Hamlet, his goalscoring prowess earning him a move to Brentford in 1994. He p ...

. Janney started the following game against

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

, but was replaced after 49 minutes by

Brian Statham John Brian Statham, (17 June 1930 – 10 June 2000) was an English professional cricketer from Gorton, in Manchester, who played for Lancashire County Cricket Club from 1950 to 1968 and for England from 1951 to 1965. It proved to be his final appearance for the club. Janney departed

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

at the end of the 1996–97 season. In 2001, he remarked that he was devastated after his release from Tottenham Hotspur, saying "when you've got your heart set on something and you're told you're not good enough then obviously it hits you. If I'm honest, I knew I was never going to make it at Tottenham. I was in the youth team with Stephen Carr, Luke Young and Stephen Clemence, but it was very hard to get a game with all the pros there".

Dagenham & Redbridge

After unsuccessful trials at Football League clubs

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

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 ...

, Janney signed for Isthmian League Premier Division club Dagenham & Redbridge in September 1997. A

hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...

injury wiped out most of his 1998–99 season. Janney won the first silverware of his career during the 1999–00 season, when the Daggers were promoted to the Conference as Isthmian League Premier Division champions. He made 39 appearances and scored three goals during the 2000–01 season, as the Daggers finished third in their first season in the Conference. Janney was a virtual ever-present during the 2001–02 season, making 41 appearances and scoring two goals. A fifth-place finish saw the Dagenham qualify for the Conference playoffs in the 2002–03 season, but the club's season ended with a 3–2 extra time

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 ...

defeat to

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 ...

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. Janney made 35 appearances during the 2002–03 season and scored four goals. Dagenham stumbled to a mid-table finish during the 2003–04 season and Janney still made 42 appearances and scored two goals. The 2004–05 season proved to be the last of Janney's Dagenham career, in which he made 28 appearances and scored three goals. He departed the club at the end of the season, having failed to agree a new contract. Janney made nearly 300 appearances during his eight-year Daggers career.

Maldon Town

Janney had a brief spell at Isthmian League Premier Division club Maldon Town during the 2005 off-season and made no competitive appearances.

Heybridge Swifts

Janney signed for Isthmian League Premier Division club Heybridge Swifts in August 2005. He eight league appearances for the club without scoring before departing in October 2005.

Thurrock

Janney joined Conference South club

Thurrock Thurrock () is a unitary authority area with borough status and unparished area in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is part of the London commuter belt and an area of regeneration within the Thames Gateway redevelopment zone. The ...

in October 2005. He departed the club in July 2006, having made 25 league appearances and scored two goals.

AFC Hornchurch

Janney signed for Isthmian League First Division North club A.F.C. Hornchurch in July 2006, linking up with former Thurrock manager Colin McBride. He won the second and third pieces of silverware of his career during his debut season, as Hornchurch won the 2006–07 Isthmian League First Division North title and the

Essex Senior Cup The Essex Senior Cup is a knock-out system football competition that has been running since 1884, and is the most prestigious cup competition in the county of Essex. The competition is run mainly for non-League clubs in the region, although lea ...

. He also won the 2006–07

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 ...

Golden Boot Award, for scoring eight goals during Hornchurch's run to the third qualifying round. He made 40 appearances and scored 10 goals during the 2006–07 season. In his first season back in the Isthmian League Premier Division, Janney made 36 appearances and scored six goals. He had a consistent 2008–09 season, making 37 league appearances and scoring 9 goals. A ruptured hamstring suffered in February 2010 ended Janney's career. He had made 29 appearances and scored two goals during the 2009–10 season, before suffering the injury. Janney was awarded a testimonial by Hornchurch in September 2012, in which a Hornchurch Legends XI took on a Daggers Legends XI to celebrate Janney's career and long associations with A.F.C. Hornchurch and Dagenham & Redbridge.

International career

Janney won an

cap in a match against Netherlands Amateurs in March 2001.

Personal life

Janney is a

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 ...

supporter.

Career statistics

Honours

; Dagenham & Redbridge * Isthmian League Premier Division: 1999–00 ; A.F.C. Hornchurch * Isthmian League First Division North: 2006–07 *

: 2006–07 Individual *

Golden Boot Award: 2006–07

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Janney, Mark 1977 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Brentford F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Maldon & Tiptree F.C. players Heybridge Swifts F.C. players Thurrock F.C. players Hornchurch F.C. players Dagenham & Redbridge F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players England men's semi-pro international footballers National League (English football) players English Football League players Isthmian League players Footballers from Romford