Faulkner: John Gilbert (John)

1970-1972 (Player Details)

Centre Half

Born: Orpington, Surrey: 10-03-1948

Debut v Burnley (h): 04-04-1970

6’0” 12st 3lb (1971)

He started his football career with Cray Wanderers as he studied to become a Quantity Surveyor. He played mainly as a forward and was a regular scorer in his two seasons with the club. He signed with Sutton United before the start of the 1969-70 season, but was converted into a centre-half. Although United thrashed Sutton United 6-0 in the F.A. Cup in January 1970, the Non-Leaguers’ Faulkner caught Don Revie’s eye. He did well against Mick Jones and within a few weeks he was at Elland Road for a £500 fee. While at Sutton United he had scored eight goals in forty-three games. At Elland Road, however, both his league games were undistinguished. He scored an own goal on his debut and broke his knee-cap against Manchester City a fortnight later. He also played twice for United against European opposition, both against Leirse SK in the 1971-72 UEFA Cup. In March 1972 he moved to Luton Town for £6,000 and scored six goals in two hundred and nine League appearances for the Hatters, playing a key role in the squad which won promotion to Division One in 1973-74. He played in the NASL from 1978 to 1981, with Memphis Rogues, where he scored five goals in seventy-four appearances, and California Surfs, where he scored once in thirteen games. In 1984 he became manager of Barton Rovers and later rejoined Luton Town as a coach. He then joined the Norwich City coaching staff, and was influential behind the scenes in two spells, resigning in 1996 and then being Assistant to Mike Walker and taking temporary charge of the team for a game when Walker moved to Everton in April 1978. He later was Coach with Danny Wilson at Sheffield Wednesday and scouted for them. Applying the lessons learned from football, Faulkner now lectures on high performance leadership at Cranfield University and has been involved with Glenn Hoddle's Football Academy in Spain. He is a visiting fellow in The Praxis Centre at Cranfield School of Management where he tutors on the High Performance Leadership and Managing People Effectively courses. As well as his qualification as a quantity surveyor, he also has his FA Full Coaching Badge, a Diploma in Sports Studies from the National Coaching Foundation, has completed the NCF Advanced Coaching Workshop and has certification for Pesso-Boyden System Psychomotor Therapy.