John Joseph Welsh Sr (born 10 January 1984) 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

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 ...

. Welsh notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, where he began his career before playing for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

, Chester City,

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They have played their ...

, Bury,

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

and

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

. In 2019 he dropped down to play at semi-professional level with Atherton Collieries before finishing his career with

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Division One West. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include ...

. He was captain of the England under-20 team, and has been

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

eight times for the under-21s. He represented England U20 at

2003 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship was the 14th FIFA World Youth Championship. It took place in United Arab Emirates between 27 November and 19 December 2003. Brazil claimed their fourth title, becoming the first country to simultaneously ho ...

Career

Liverpool

Wavertree Wavertree is a district and suburb of Liverpool, in the county of Merseyside, England. It is a Ward (country subdivision), ward of Liverpool City Council, and its population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 14,772. Located to ...

born Welsh, joined

at the age of 10. He progressed through the ranks, becoming captain of the Reserve Team in the process. Welsh trained with the Liverpool first team squad at their

Melwood AXA Melwood Training Centre, in West Derby, Liverpool is the training ground and academy for Liverpool Football Club's Women's first team, youth teams and academy. It was formerly the men's first team's training ground from the 1950s until N ...

training ground from the middle of the 2001–02 season. In the 2002–03 season John Welsh played only one game for the first team – his début match against

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

on 4 December 2002 in a League Cup fourth round tie at home – when he replaced

Vladimír Šmicer Vladimír Šmicer (; born 24 May 1973) is a Czech former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He started his senior career at Slavia Prague, the only Czech club he ever played for. In 1999, Šmicer moved to England where he play ...

in the 83rd minute. Also, he was amongst the substitutes for a number of

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

games. His first game in Premiership was against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

on 4 October 2003, when he replaced

Salif Diao Salif Alassane Diao (born 10 February 1977) is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Diao moved from Senegal to France when he was seventeen and started his career at Monaco, with whom he helped wit ...

in the 82nd minute, but he couldn't help his team avoid defeat – they lost 2–1, and unfortunately for Welsh, his first act was to be booked for a foul on

Ray Parlour Raymond Parlour (born 7 March 1973) is an English former professional footballer and sports radio pundit for BBC Radio 5 Live and Talksport. He was a midfielder from 1992 to 2007, and spent his career playing for Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Hull ...

. Welsh featured in Liverpool's run to the

2005 UEFA Champions League Final The 2005 UEFA Champions League final was the final match of the 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, 2004–05 UEFA Champions League, Europe's primary club Association football, football competition. The showpiece event was contested between Liverpo ...

, coming on as a substitute in the round of 16 away tie against Bayer Leverkusen. Liverpool would go on to win the trophy but Welsh was left out of the final match day squad.

Hull City

After three starts and seven substitute appearances in all competitions for Liverpool, in August 2005, John went on a season-long loan to

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

side

. The club were impressed, and in November 2005 agreed a deal which saw Liverpool take promising young winger Paul Anderson in exchange. The swap took place on 4 January 2006. However, three minutes into a match against

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

on 10 March 2007, Welsh dived into a tackle with Preston's

Neil Mellor Neil Andrew Mellor (born 4 November 1982) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career at Liverpool in the Premier League. He made his name in 2004 by scoring a stunning last-minute goal from long r ...

, a former Liverpool teammate. Welsh was carried off on a stretcher, and it later transpired that he had broken both the

tibia The tibia (; : tibiae or tibias), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two Leg bones, bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outsi ...

and

fibula The fibula (: fibulae or fibulas) or calf bone is a leg bone on the 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 bones. ...

in his right leg, ruling him out for many months.

Loans away from Hull

On 31 December 2007, Chester City announced they would be signing Welsh on loan when the transfer window reopened the following day. He made his Chester debut on 1 January 2008, in a 2–0 home defeat to

, and spent the rest of the month in Chester's starting line-up before returning to Hull. He joined

on 27 October 2008 for an initial one-month loan making his debut against

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

. In March 2009, he joined

Football League Two The English Football League Two, simply known as League Two and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet League Two, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League Two is the fourth division of the English Football League (EFL ...

side Bury on loan and was released from Hull on 2 June 2009.

Tranmere Rovers

In July 2009, Welsh signed a deal with League One side Tranmere Rovers. He had a very consistent season for Tranmere, playing the holding midfield role successfully. Welsh also scored four goals in his first season at

Prenton Park Prenton Park is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Prenton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers F.C., Tranmere Rovers Football Club since opening in 1912, and formerly the home ground ...

, including a volley in the 4–2 victory over Gillingham and a 25-yard strike in a 2–1 home victory over Brighton. The club offered him contract terms for the 2012–13 season.

Preston North End

In May 2012, it was announced that Welsh had signed for Preston North End on a two-year contract. He was voted

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

and Players' Player of the Year of Preston North End for the season 2012/13. On 17 December 2013, Welsh extended his contract with Preston for a further twelve months, thus keeping him at the club until the summer of 2015. Despite Tom Clarke taking over the captaincy for the 2014–15 season, Welsh still played a major part in getting the club promoted via the play-offs. This form was rewarded with a new two-year contract. At the end of the 2018 season he left Preston North End and was given an award for longest serving Preston player.

Grimsby Town

Welsh signed a two-year contract with League Two club

on 25 June 2018. He was firmly installed as club

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

for the 2018–19 season. Welsh left the club by mutual consent on 20 March 2019. This may have been in part due to his participation in a fracas at a bus stop in which he broke a woman's leg.

Non-League

In October 2019 he joined Atherton Collieries on a short-term contract. It was announced in August 2020 that he had signed for

, on step 10 of the

English football pyramid The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the ...

. On 8 October 2021, Welsh announced he was leaving Stafford and subsequently retired in order to focus on other work commitments.

Career statistics

Honours

Preston North End *

Football League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

References

External links

John Welsh profile
at hullcityafc.net
John Welsh profile
at liverpoolfc.tv * {{DEFAULTSORT:Welsh, John 1984 births Living people Footballers from Liverpool England men's youth international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Premier League players English Football League players English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Liverpool F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Carlisle United F.C. players Bury F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Atherton Collieries A.F.C. players 21st-century English sportsmen