Jason Lee Matthews (born 13 March 1975) 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 lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

and is currently goalkeeper coach at Weymouth.

Career

Born in

Paulton Paulton () is a large village and civil parish, with a population of 5,302, located to the north of the Mendip Hills, very close to Norton Radstock in the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset (BANES), England. Paulton is a form ...

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

, Matthews started playing in goal at an early age and soon won a place at Millfield's Centre of Excellence.

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

signed him up on schoolboy terms but he was released just before he left school. Matthews then spent six years playing for a number of clubs in the Screwfix League including Welton Rovers, Paulton Rovers and Mangotsfield United, before signing for Geoff Butler's Salisbury City. The following season Matthews signed for Nuneaton Borough, though it was only a couple of months before he was invited to join

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

, where he spent the 1999–2000 season, giving him his only taste of

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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

action. He followed this by moving over the Welsh border to Aberystwyth Town for a year before joining Clevedon Town. It was from Clevedon that Geoff Butler signed him for Weymouth in 2002, where he has stayed (and stayed almost unrivalled #1 keeper) for nearly five whole seasons. On 17 March 2007, he scored his first ever career goal for Weymouth in a

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

match against

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

. It was all the more remarkable as it was from his own penalty area, in the last minutes of the game, and was the winning goal. It was the first ever goal a Weymouth goalkeeper has scored from open play in the entire history of the club. Matthews made his

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the United Kingdom 2011 census, 2011 census. The town ...

debut in the 5–0 away win over Maidenhead United on 8 March 2008 before making his home debut a week later in the 4–1 home defeat at the hands of Hayes & Yeading United a week later. Adie Britton brought Matthews to Bath City on 22 June 2011. It has been stated that Matthews will start off as second choice keeper but both player and manager are hoping he puts pressure on current first team keeper

Glyn Garner Glyn Garner (born 9 December 1976) is a Welsh former professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. He made one appearance for the Wales national football team, Wales national team in ...

. Matthews signed a one-year contract at Dorchester Town in May 2012. In June 2013 Matthews returned to Weymouth on non contract terms for the 2013–14 season. When Brendon King was sacked he was made temporary Player/Manager at Weymouth. On 12 January 2014, Matthews was appointed player/manager on a full-time basis, after winning four of his seven games. In the summer of 2022, Matthews signed for

Brislington Brislington is an area in the south east of the city of Bristol, England. It is on the edge of Bristol and from Bath, Somerset, Bath. Brislington Brook runs through the area in the woodlands of Nightingale Valley and St Anne's Wood. Brislingto ...

aged 46 playing part-time also working as an electrician.

Coaching career

Following his departure from Weymouth, Matthews joined Chippenham Town as player-coach. He became assistant head coach in January 2018, supporting Gary Horgan. In June 2022, Matthews joined

Salisbury Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...

as goalkeeping coach. On 27 March 2024, following the surprise departure of Bobby Wilkinson, Matthews was appointed interim manager of Weymouth. He became the interim manager of Weymouth again after

Mark Molesley Mark Clifford Molesley (born 11 March 1981) is an English football manager and former professional player. He played in the Football League for AFC Bournemouth, Aldershot Town, Plymouth Argyle and Exeter City, and the Football Conference fo ...

was sacked on 28 November 2024.

References

External links

*
Jason Matthews profile
at Welsh Premier Football * {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Jason 1975 births Living people People from Paulton English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Welton Rovers F.C. players Paulton Rovers F.C. players Mangotsfield United F.C. players Taunton Town F.C. players Salisbury City F.C. players Nuneaton Town F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Aberystwyth Town F.C. players Clevedon Town F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players Bath City F.C. players Chippenham Town F.C. players Dorchester Town F.C. players Bracknell Town F.C. players Salisbury F.C. players Brislington F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Cymru Premier players Western Football League players Southern Football League players Isthmian League players English football managers Weymouth F.C. managers