Pemberton: John Matthew (John)

1993-1997 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Centre Back

Born: Oldham: 18-11-1964

Debut: v Tottenham Hotspur (a): 20-11-1993

5’11” 11 st 9lb (1993)

From 1st Auguat 1983, Pemberton was playing for Manchester area side Chadderton and Oldham Boys with David Platt before turning professional, on a no contract agreement, with Rochdale in September 1984, after being realeased by Manchester United, as a junior, in June 1983, but after only one game was given a free transfer. Crewe manager Dario Gradi, the master moulder of future stars, gave him a chance to restart his career at Gresty Road. Like teammates David Platt and Geoff Thomas, both future England Internationals, Pemberton went on to better things, joining Crystal Palace in March 1988 for £80,000, after scoring once in one hundred and sixteen League starts and five games from the bench, One goal in seven starts in the League Cup and three starts in the F.A. Cup and seven starts in other games. He helped Palace win promotion to Division One the following season and figured in their side that was beaten by Manchester United in the 1990 FA Cup Final after drawing 3-3 before losing the replay 1-0. Within three months of those Wembley games he left Selhurst Park, after scoring twice in seventy-six starts in the League and two substitute appearances, but not finding the net in eight F.A. Cup starts, six starts and one game from the bench in the League Cup and twelve starts in other games, to join Dave Bassett’s Sheffield United for £300,000. With the Blades he got to play in the top flight, after the Bramall Lane side had been pipped by Leeds for the Second Division Championship but still managed to get promoted as runners-up in 1989-90. He was a regular in his time at Bramall Lane and was made skipper. He started sixty-eight League games for the Blades, and one as a substitute with four F.A. Cup, four League Cup and one other start. He did get to Wembley where again he was on the losing side in the 1993 Semi-Final as they were beaten by their City rivals, the Owls. He was also in the Sheffield United team for one of Leeds’ finest hours, as they clinched the 1991-92 Championship at Bramall Lane, with Pemberton doing his best to spoil their day as Lee Chapman turned one of his crosses into his own net. The Blades’ skipper left Bramall Lane on, 15th November 1993 at a fee of £250,000, plus £1,000 for each of his first fifty games. An aggressive and pacey defender Pemberton was brought in to bolster Leeds’ squad midway through the 1993-94 season. He proved to be a crowd favourite as they admired his fully committed attitude and 100% effort. He was mainly used as a central defender but he was also used as left-back cover and even scored a hat-trick for the Reserves against Middlesbrough as an emergency centre-forward. This was a strange feat as throughout his career he was a goal-stopper rather than a goal-scorer. He only managed one at Crewe Alexandra, two at Crystal Palace and none at either Sheffield or Leeds. He also continued his abysmal Wembley record being in the Leeds team which crashed to a 3-0 humiliation to Aston Villa in the League Cup in 1995-96. He suffered knee ligament damage at Chelsea in the latter days of that season and after sitting out the entire 1996-97 season he gave up the game. He was given one chance to resurrect his career when Dario Gradi called him back to Gresty Road in August 1997 but he broke down after one game and decided not to try again. After becoming the holder of an UEFA ‘A’ coaching licence, he was coach of the Nottingham Forest Reserve team in the company of Youth coach Chris Fairclough and First team coach David Kerslake, all former Leeds players, and led his charges to the Pontins Central League Championship. He was Manager of Forest for a short while in late December 2008, after the departure of Coilin Calderwood, until the appointment of Billy Davies in January 2009. He took charge of the team for a 3-2 win at Norwich City and for the upset 3-0 win over Manchester City in the F.A. Cup Third Round at Eastlands the following week. At the end of the 2008-09 season Davies reorganized his coaching staff and Pemberton left by mutual consent after ten years with Forest's backroom team. He was brought in by Crystal Palace for two months as Assistant Manager to Paul Hart in an attempt to avoid relegation from the CCCL. This was achieved on the last day of the season, but he was not retained when his contract ran out on that day. In May 2010 he was appointed Manager of the Sheffield United Academy, taking his young charges to the final of the F.A. Youth Cup in the 2010-11 beating Cheltenham Town 4-1 away in the Third Round, Millwall 3-0 at home in the Fourth Round, Blackpool 3-1 at home after extra time in the Fifth Round, Leicester City 2-1 away in the Quarter Finals, before eliminating Aston Villa in the Semi-Finals by winning 1-0 away and 2-0 at home, only to lose the two legged final to Manchester United as the home leg at Bramall Lane ended 2-2 on 17th May 2011 but the return leg at Old Trafford saw them go down 1-4. On 7th September 2012 he announced he had left Sheffield United but on 25th October 2012 it was announced that he had re-joined the Nottingham Forest coaching staff as their "Professional Development Coach" with the responsibility for helping bridge the gap between Academy football and the first team for the Club’s up-and-coming young stars. In mid-February 2013 he was one of several managerial and coaching staff personel that were culled at Forest. On 13th May 2013 he joined Bristol City as Assistant head coach to Sean Driscoll. Pemberton was appointed caretaker manager at Bristol City on 28th November 2013 after the sacking of Sean Driscoll. Steve Cotterill was appointed Manager on 3rd December 2013 on a three-and-a-half year contract and Pemberton reverted to his previous role.