Jason Christopher Prior (born 20 December 1988) is an English
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 plays as a
striker 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 ...
side
Dorking Wanderers. He has previously played for non-league sides
AFC Newbury,
Moneyfields and
Margate
Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook.
The town has been a significant m ...
. He made his full
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 ...
debut for
AFC Wimbledon
AFC Wimbledon is an English professional football club, based in Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 season. The club's home stadium is Plough Lane.
The cl ...
on 28 January 2012.
Club career
Non-League career
Starting as a central
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 ...
, Prior began his career at Premier Division
Wessex League
The Wessex Football League is an English association football league formed in 1986, with its premier division currently at the fifth step of the National League System, or the ninth tier of the overall English football league system. The part ...
club AFC Newbury. The club narrowly avoided relegation in the
2005–06 season and found themselves in financial difficulties in the close season when they lost the lease on their Town Ground stadium in
Berkshire
Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Be ...
, and as a result, were demoted to Division One of the Wessex League. Prior subsequently left the club and signed for fellow Wessex League side Moneyfields. Here he was converted to the position of
striker when it became apparent that he had a natural talent for scoring goals. In September 2009, Prior moved to
Isthmian League Premier Division
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 team ...
side Bognor Regis Town. It was here that he found the most prolific form of his career to date, scoring 95 goals in 126 appearances for the club. The striker was due to be sold to
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 ...
side
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 2011 census.
The town lies on the River Itchen, ...
for a fee of £12,000 in January 2012. However, before the deal could take place Prior was offered the opportunity of a trial at
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 ...
side
Newcastle United
Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...
. On 10 January 2012 Prior scored for Newcastle United Reserves' in a 3–1 win over
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 193 ...
Reserves in the
2011-12 Premier Reserve League. In spite of a successful three-week trial period however, the striker failed to win a contract with "The Magpies" and was subsequently released on 23 January 2012.
AFC Wimbledon
On 26 January 2012, Prior signed for
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 Le ...
club AFC Wimbledon on a two-and-a-half-year contract. Prior made his football league debut for AFC Wimbledon on 28 January 2012 as a second-half substitute for
George Moncur in a 2–1 defeat at home to
Aldershot Town
Aldershot Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spring ...
. The debut proved to be an ill-fated one for Prior, however, as he injured a
tendon
A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...
in his knee that side-lined him for nearly two months. Having recovered Prior made his first league start for AFC Wimbledon on 9 April 2012 in a 2–0 defeat away to
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 ...
. The next game against
Crawley Town
Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team com ...
on 14 April 2012 heaped further injury woes on Prior however, as in the first six minutes he was on the receiving end of a wild lunge by
Hope Akpan
Hope Ini Ita Akpan (born 14 August 1991) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for
Widnes.
He came through the youth ranks at Everton, making his first-team debut in 2009. He later played for Hull City (on loan), Crawley ...
which resulted in Prior being stretchered off with a broken leg. AFC Wimbledon physiotherapist, Mike Rayner, confirmed later that day that an
X-ray
X-rays (or rarely, ''X-radiation'') are a form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. In many languages, it is referred to as Röntgen radiation, after the German scientist Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered it in 1895 and named it ' ...
had shown that Prior had broken both his
tibia
The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...
and his
fibula
The fibula or calf bone is a human leg, leg bone on the Lateral (anatomy), lateral side of the tibia, to which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long ...
which would prevent him playing again for over nine months. After a long recuperation, Prior was finally able to make his return to league football on 29 December 2012, in a 3–0 defeat at home to
Oxford United
Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and ...
. On 18 March 2013, it was announced that Prior had joined
Conference
A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic.
Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main ...
side
Dartford
Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and
is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock ...
on a one-month loan to help improve his match fitness.
On 14 May 2013, Prior was released from his contract and left AFC Wimbledon.
Dartford
On 18 March 2013, it was announced that Prior had joined Conference side Dartford on a one-month loan.
Prior scored his first goal for Dartford in a 2–0 win over
Telford United on 6 April 2013. Prior made nine appearances, scoring one goal, during the loan spell before returning to AFC Wimbledon. Following his release from "The Dons" on 14 May, Prior re-joined Dartford on a permanent deal on 15 July 2013.
Margate
For the 2014/15 season, Prior teamed up with his former AFC Wimbledon boss Terry Brown by signing a two-year deal with
Margate
Margate is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in south-east England. The town is estimated to be 1.5 miles long, north-east of Canterbury and includes Cliftonville, Garlinge, Palm Bay and Westbrook.
The town has been a significant m ...
. However, he found opportunities limited at Hartsdown Park, making just 14 appearances, and spent the majority of the season on loan at former club Bognor Regis Town.
Bognor Regis Town
During the summer of 2015, he was released from his contract at Margate and returned to Bognor on a permanent basis for the 2015/16 season. Prior scored 40 goals in 52 games all competitions, in a season in which the Rocks reached the
FA Trophy
The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...
semi-final.
Career statistics
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prior, Jason
1988 births
Living people
Footballers from Portsmouth
English men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
A.F.C. Newbury players
Moneyfields F.C. players
Bognor Regis Town F.C. players
AFC Wimbledon players
Dartford F.C. players
Gosport Borough F.C. players
Margate F.C. players
Havant & Waterlooville F.C. players
Dorking Wanderers F.C. players
English Football League players
Isthmian League players
National League (English football) players