John Yems (born 28 August 1959) is an English professional football manager, who was most recently manager of

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 ...

Playing career

As a player, Yems was a member of the reserve teams of

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...

and

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

, before suffering a knee injury that forced him to retire. Due to an injury crisis, he played for

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 ...

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

whilst manager of the club.

Coaching career

Whilst coaching Fulham's youth team (YTS), Yems took up the manager role at

in December 1992 after manager Peter Evans was sacked following a 1–0 defeat at home to Petersfield United. Whilst manager at Horsham, Yems chose to play himself for multiple matches due to an injury crisis. Yems left the club four matches from the end of the 1993–94 season. Yems had a spell coaching

Dulwich Hamlet Dulwich Hamlet Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in East Dulwich in south-east London, England. They are currently members of and play at Champion Hill. History The club was formed in 1893, by Lorraine 'Pa' Wilson. The ...

in the late 1990s. Yems had coaching roles at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

and

before, in 2006, he was appointed as one of three joint caretaker managers at

following the sacking of

John Hollins John William Hollins (16 July 1946 – 14 June 2023) was an English football player and manager. He initially played as a midfielder, before becoming an effective full-back later in his career. Hollins played in the Football League, predomina ...

. Yems was sacked at the end of that season, and then joined

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 ...

, initially as chief scout and becoming first team coach in October 2007. He left the club by mutual consent in January 2008. Yems was appointed as assistant manager at

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 ...

in February 2008, but left in July 2009, since he lived in Sussex and did not wish to relocate. In October 2009, Yems took on a scouting role for

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

. Following a spell as a coach at Gillingham, Yems was appointed as football operations manager by

Bournemouth Bournemouth ( ) is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole unitary authority area, in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. At the 2021 census, the built-up area had a population of 196,455, making it the largest ...

in 2012, remaining until 2018, when the club stated that they could not afford to keep him. On 5 December 2019, Yems was appointed as manager of League Two side Crawley Town, after some time acting as a scout for several teams, including

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. On 30 January 2020, he extended his contract at Crawley until the end of the 2022–23 season. After winning three and drawing four of Crawley's seven matches in December 2020, Yems was nominated for the EFL League Two Manager of the Month award for December 2020, but lost out to

Derek Adams Derek Watt Adams (born 25 June 1975) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is the manager of National League football club Morecambe. Adams became manager of Ross County in 2007, winning promotion from the Scottish Second Divisio ...

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

Racism case

On 23 April 2022, Yems was suspended by Crawley following "serious and credible accusations" that he used discriminatory language and behaviour towards his players. On 4 May 2022,

The Football Association The Football Association (the FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest footb ...

announced they were performing an investigation into Yems' conduct, after the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'' published allegations from an unnamed player that Yems had used racial slurs towards black and Asian players, and that changing rooms in the training ground were

racially segregated Racial segregation is the separation of people into racial or other ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, such as schools and hospitals by people ...

. The following day, the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sports trade union, with approximately 5,000 current members each seaso ...

revealed that it had started an investigation, after seven current Crawley Town players contacted them with allegations of racist language and behaviour at the club. This meant that there were three separate investigations into Yems' behaviour ongoing; from Crawley Town themselves, the FA and the PFA. Yems denied the accusations. On 6 May 2022, Crawley Town confirmed that they had mutually agreed to part ways. On 28 July 2022, Yems was charged by the FA with racial discrimination, accused of making sixteen comments that had a reference to either ethnic origin, race, nationality, gender or colour between 2019 and 2022. On 6 January 2023, Yems was found guilty of 12 charges and was banned from all football activity for 18 months, the longest-ever ban handed to an individual by the FA for racist abuse. Four charges were not proven and a charge of enforcing racial segregation was dropped. Later that month, a report released by the FA stated that Yems used "offensive, racist and Islamophobic" language and joked that a Muslim player was a terrorist. Anti-racism charity Kick It Out declared Yems' verdict a "slap in the face to the victims" and stated they would be contacting the FA for an explanation of why the punishment was not more severe. Kick It Out also criticised the independent FA panel's judgement that it was not a case of "conscious racism". On 23 January, the FA announced that they would be appealing against the length of Yems' ban. The FA appeal was successful and on 19 April 2023, Yems was suspended from all football and football-related activity up to and including 5 January 2026. This was the longest ever ban issued in English football for discrimination.

Personal life

Yems lives in

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yems, John 1959 births Living people Fulham F.C. non-playing staff Millwall F.C. non-playing staff Crawley Town F.C. non-playing staff Exeter City F.C. non-playing staff Gillingham F.C. non-playing staff AFC Bournemouth non-playing staff Crawley Town F.C. managers English Football League managers English football managers English football coaches English football scouts Torquay United F.C. non-playing staff Newcastle United F.C. non-playing staff Crystal Palace F.C. players Reading F.C. players Millwall F.C. players English men's footballers Horsham F.C. players Men's association football defenders Men's association football player-managers Footballers from London Banned sportspeople