Jay Lovett (born 2 January 1978) is an English

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player who manages Burgess Hill Town. He spent his career playing in league football as a defender and

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

with

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

and also

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

in both county level, with Saltdean United, and in national level where he has played for the majority of his career with

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...

and Eastbourne Borough.

Playing career

Early career

Lovett started his career in

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

for

Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...

, making his debut for them 11 February 1995 as they lost 4–0 away at

Leighton Town Leighton Town Football Club are an England, English association football, football club located in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire. They were established in 1885. The club plays home games at Bell Close and currently play in the . History Early ...

in Isthmian League Division Three. Later that year he moved to the west country and

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

but was unable to start a first team game, after which he moved back to Sussex and played for Saltdean United in Division One of the

Sussex County League The Southern Combination Football League (named Premier Sports Southern Combination Football League) is a football league broadly covering the counties of East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey and South West London, England. The league consists of e ...

. He also spent time youth coaching at the

University of Central Florida The University of Central Florida (UCF) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in unincorporated area, unincorporated Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the State University System of Florida. ...

. A season later he moved to

in 1998 and played for two seasons.

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 ...

team

took interest in Lovett, after watching him in a pre-season friendly and paid Crawley their record sum of £60,000 for the midfielder in July 2000, with a further £15,000 to be paid after 15 appearances.

Brentford

In his first year at Brentford he was back on loan to Crawley Town for nine games before making 28 appearances for the first team. In 2003, Lovett made two more loan signings, firstly at

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

where he played for two months, and a month at Gravesend & Northfleet, before his contract expired at the end of the 2002–03 season.

Non-League football

Farnborough Town manager,

Tommy Taylor Thomas Taylor (29 January 1932 – 6 February 1958) was an English association football, footballer, who played as a Forward (association football), centre-forward and was known for his aerial ability. He was one of the eight Manchester United ...

signed Lovett in June, although he played nine games, he transferred to Lewes later in the year. In 2004,

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 level of the English football league system. The club was founded in the spr ...

signed Lovett on a month loan. Lovett joined Sussex rivals Eastbourne Borough in June 2006. He spent the end of their 2006–07 campaign with a broken collarbone, but helped the team win promotion into the

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 ...

league at the end of the 2007–08 season via the

Conference South The National League South, officially Vanarama National League South, is a professional Association football league in England. National League South is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 of the NLS and sixth-highest ti ...

play-off final against Hampton & Richmond Borough, the game ending 2–0. He played in Eastbourne's first ever season in the Conference National, scoring two goals and helping to win the

Sussex Senior Cup The Sussex Senior Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the Sussex Senior Cup, is an annual association football knockout cup competition for men's football clubs in the English county of Sussex. The cup is the county senior cup of the Susse ...

in a 1–0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion reserves, before being released in May 2009 failing to agree to a new deal with the club, scoring seven goals in 149 appearances. At the start of the 2009–10 season, Lovett signed for

Whitehawk Whitehawk is a suburb in the east of Brighton, England, south of Bevendean and north of Brighton Marina. The area is a large, modern housing estate built in a downland dry valley historically known as Whitehawk Bottom. The estate was originall ...

despite having offers from clubs in higher divisions, such as

Grays Athletic Grays Athletic Football Club is a football club based in Grays, Essex, England. They are currently members of the and play at Chadfields in nearby Tilbury. History The club was established as Grays Juniors in 1890, before merging with former ...

in the Conference National, Havant & Waterlooville in the Conference South and

Worthing Worthing ( ) is a seaside town and borough in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 113,094 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Br ...

Isthmian League Division One South The Isthmian League () is a regional 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 88 teams in fo ...

. In June 2010, Lovett signed for

Isthmian League Premier Division The Isthmian League () is a regional 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 88 teams in fo ...

club

Horsham Horsham () is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

. Failing to hold down a regular starting berth at Horsham, Lovett joined fellow Isthmian League club

Tooting & Mitcham United Tooting & Mitcham United Football Club is an association football club based in the London Borough of Merton. They are currently members of the and play at Imperial Fields in Morden. Their nickname is "the Terrors" or "the Stripes". History ...

in October 2010. During his spell at

Imperial Fields Imperial Fields is a football stadium in Mitcham, London, which is home to Tooting & Mitcham United. It is also the former ground of Chelsea Ladies and Kingstonian. The stadium opened in 2002, and has a total capacity of 3,500 (612 seated). ...

, Lovett was made the club captain and was instrumental in ensuring that Tooting & Mitcham avoided relegation. In March 2011, Lovett left Tooting & Mitcham in order to take up a position as

assistant manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

with

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

ese V-League side Đồng Tâm Long An, working as assistant to

Simon McMenemy Simon Alexander McMenemy (born 6 December 1977) is a Scottish football manager and the current technical director of Liga 2 club Persela Lamongan. Previously, he had spells as manager of Bhayangkara, Maldivian side New Radiant, Indonesia ...

. After a full season with Lewes in 2013–14, he re-signed as a player for Eastbourne Borough ahead of the 2014–15 season, already being a full-time academy manager there. A dual registration deal between The Sports and Metropolitan Police materialised on 14 October 2014. On 23 May 2015, Lovett returned to Lewes to become the club's new assistant manager and academy director, and in June he also registered as player. On 19 October 2015, he signed for a third spell with Metropolitan Police, as an assistant manager/player. He started the 2016–17 as an unused substitute in the two opening league games for Burgess Hill Town, before signing for

Loxwood Loxwood is a small village and civil parish with several outlying settlements, in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England, within the Low Weald. The Wey and Arun Canal passes to the East and South of the village. This Civil Parish is at ...

in September. While being the manager of

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

, he made comeback as a player in the final game of the

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional Association football, football league covering Greater London, East of England, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, th ...

South Central Division 2018–19 season. He was named the manager of Burgess Hill Town of the South East Division in November 2019. Lovett was sacked by Burgess Hill Town on 15 February 2023 and less than a week later appointed manager by Haywards Heath Town on 21 February 2023. Lovett left Haywards Heath Town on 16 October 2023 having received a coaching opportunity with Eastbourne Borough. On 28 May 2024, Lovett returned to Burgess Hill Town as joint manager with Gary Mansell.

Personal life

Lovett attended

Dorothy Stringer High School Dorothy Stringer School is a secondary school located in Brighton, East Sussex, England. It has over 1,600 pupils and 115 members of staff. There are 64 forms, each with an average of 26 students. Location and history The school is named aft ...

and

Varndean College Varndean College is a sixth form college in Brighton and Hove that serves the needs of sixth form students and adults. Location Varndean College is on Surrenden Road, in the northern part of Brighton. It shares the Surrenden campus with Balfou ...

. While a player with Saltdean United, he worked as an IT recruiter and at the time he joined Brentford in July 2000, was working for TSB. He is a Chelsea supporter.

Honours

Brentford *

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

runner-up: 2000–01 Eastbourne Borough *

play-offs:

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

* Sussex Senior Cup: 2009 Whitehawk *

Division 1: 2009–10

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lovett, Jay 1978 births Living people Footballers from Brighton English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Aldershot Town F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Burgess Hill Town F.C. players Crawley Town F.C. players Eastbourne Borough F.C. players Ebbsfleet United F.C. players Farnborough F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Horsham F.C. players Lewes F.C. players Loxwood F.C. players Metropolitan Police F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Saltdean United F.C. players South Park F.C. players Tooting & Mitcham United F.C. players Whitehawk F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players British sports agents South Park F.C. managers Burgess Hill Town F.C. managers Haywards Heath Town F.C. managers