Jerome Okide O. N. Okimo (born 8 June 1988) is a semi-professional footballer who is currently a player/coach for

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 ...

Club career

Non-league football

Okimo began his career at

Chalfont St. Peter Chalfont St Peter is a large village and civil parish in southeastern Buckinghamshire, England. It is in a group of villages called The Chalfonts which also includes Chalfont St Giles and Little Chalfont. The villages lie between High Wycombe ...

where he made 308 appearances. During his time there, Okimo went on trial at

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 ...

side Gillingham in 2009 but missed out on a contract after injuring his

Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...

. After seven years at Chalfont St. Peter, Okimo moved to

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 side Wealdstone in the summer of 2013, going on to play an instrumental role in their promotion to 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 ...

in 2014, making 38 league appearances.

Stevenage

In August 2014, Okimo followed former Wealdstone teammate

Tom Pett Thomas George Pett (born 3 December 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder; he is without a club after leaving Port Vale on 30 June 2023. Pett began his senior career at hometown club Potters Bar Town after progr ...

(who signed for them in June 2014) 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 ...

, making his debut as an 83rd-minute substitute in a 1–0 win over

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

on 9 August 2014. Okimo was released after two seasons at the club in May 2016.

Braintree Town

In July 2016, he signed for

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

side

Braintree Town Braintree Town Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Braintree, Essex, England. They are currently members of and play at Cressing Road. History The club was formed on 24 September 1898 as Manor Works, the works team o ...

on a free transfer following his release from Stevenage.

Wealdstone

After leaving Braintree, Okimo re-signed for Wealdstone in July 2017. He captained the club to their 2019–20 National League South title win, playing 32 of the 33 league games and scoring 3 goals before the season was curtailed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, with Wealdstone promoted on

points per game Points per game, often abbreviated PPG, is the average number of points scored by a player per game played in a sport, over the course of a series of games, a whole season, or a career. It is calculated by dividing the total number of points by nu ...

. He was named in the National League South Team of the Year as a result of his performances. Okimo started and captained every game of the 2020-21 season, scoring a solitary goal against rivals

as Wealdstone ended the season in 19th place. On 14 June 2022 Jerome Okimo left the club to seek regular first team football.

Barnet

On 17 June 2022, Okimo agreed to join

in the role of player/coach.

Career statistics

References

1988 births Living people English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Footballers from the London Borough of Ealing Chalfont St Peter A.F.C. players Wealdstone F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Braintree Town F.C. players Barnet F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Isthmian League players Southern Football League players Barnet F.C. non-playing staff Association football coaches Black British sportsmen {{England-footy-defender-1980s-stub