John started at Sheffield Wednesday in 1979, getting to the first team by 1981, scoring on his debut. During his spell at Wednesday, he played for the England youth team in 81 and 82. He made 64 appearances and scored 24 goals, before he joined Charlton Atheltic for a bargain £100,000 as he became their top scorer in 1985. £72k saw him move to Leeds United in 1987, where he earned the record for the most substitute appearances. In 1991 a loan spell at Rotherham saw him score 5 in 11 games before he moved to Barnsley for £135k. In 1993, after an injury blighted spell at Burnley, John joined Hull City on loan, but couldn't break into the Burnley first team, so joined Carlisle in 1995. The goals were drying up, with barren spells at Mansfield and Cardiff before he was injury hit again. Loan spells at Merthyr Tydfil, Stalybridge Celtic and Ashfield United before he retired from professional football and joined Chorley in in September 1995. Latterly he went on to play for Hallam and Sheffield, going onto manage Sheffield. He now runs a cafe in Sheffield and occasionally summarises games for radio.
