John Schofield

John David Schofield (born 16 May 1965) is an English football coach and former professional footballer.

As a player he was a midfielder and spent twelve seasons in the basement division of the Football League with Lincoln City, Doncaster Rovers, Mansfield Town and Hull City, making a total of 547 league and cup appearances after turning professional at the age of 23.

In March 1988, he joined Gainsborough Trinity, also of the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

Lincoln City manager Colin Murphy signed him for a £10,000 fee on 10 November 1988.

Schofield made his debut in a 4–1 win over Fourth Division leaders Burnley at Turf Moor.

Schofield quickly established himself in the Lincoln team, making 31 appearances in the number 4 shirt in the 1988–89 season.

He scored his first goal at Sincil Bank in a 4–3 victory over Wrexham on 14 January 1989.

He played 34 games in the 1989–90 campaign, scoring two goals, having lost his first-team place in January.

He appeared 46 times in the 1990–91 season, scoring three goals, with all his starts coming in the number seven shirt.

He played 45 matches in the 1991–92 campaign, scoring three goals, again playing as a number seven.

He played 48 games in the 1992–93 campaign, with Lincoln now in the Third Division due to the creation of the Premier League; he again wore the number seven shirt, aside from a period in mid-season where he was restricted to appearances from the substitute bench.

He played 50 games in the 1993–94 season, scoring two goals, and was both club captain and supporters' Player of the Season.

He was named Lincoln City's Player of the Year in 1994.

Before this, he had spells in non-League with Woolley Miners Welfare, Shepshed Charterhouse, Matlock Town and Gainsborough Trinity.

He scored three goals in sixteen matches at the start of the 1994–95 season.

He was later voted as number 47 in Lincoln's list of 100 league legends.

On 18 November 1994, Schofield joined Sammy Chung's Doncaster Rovers.

He featured 27 times as a number eight in the 1994–95 season, before scoring four goals in 46 matches playing as a number seven in the 1995–96 campaign.

He scored seven goals in 46 games in the 1996–97 season, again wearing the number seven shirt.

Schofield signed with Mansfield Town for a £10,000 fee on 8 August 1997.

He featured 50 times in the 1997–98 campaign and 48 times in the 1998–99 season, wearing the number seven shirt throughout his time at Field Mill.

He joined Hull City on a free transfer on 28 July 1999.

He played 35 games in the 1999–2000 season, beginning the campaign in the starting eleven before being reduced to the role of substitute in the new year.

He had been signed to provide cover for player-manager Warren Joyce, but fell out with Joyce and found himself out of the team in favour of emerging talent Adam Bolder; he was identified as surplus to requirements by new manager Brian Little in April.

Schofield returned to Lincoln City on 6 June 2000 to take up the post of Head of Youth Development.

With Lincoln beginning to struggle financially, Schofield was also called upon as a player, making a further 24 appearances in the 2000–01 campaign, before he finally wound his playing career down.

Schofield, a UEFA Pro Licence holder, made impressive progress with Lincoln's youth team set-up.

A number of promising players, such as Lee Frecklington, either making the first team squad or being sold to higher-level clubs such as Jack Hobbs who was sold to Liverpool and Scott Loach who moved on to Watford.

His good work was rewarded with an increasing role with the first-team and he was appointed first-team coach before the start of the 2005–06 season.

Following on from his retirement, Schofield held various coaching roles back with Lincoln City, where he eventually became manager and led the club to the League Two play-offs during the 2006–07 season.

He has since held a variety of different positions on the coaching staff at Scunthorpe United, Walsall, Cheltenham Town, Cambridge United, Notts County, Gillingham, Scunthorpe United, York City, Doncaster Rovers, Peterborough United and Port Vale.

He also managed the Northern Ireland U21 team from 2021 to 2023.

Schofield was born in Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire.

A hard-working and combative midfielder, he began his career in non-League football, combining this with his job as an apprentice-trained motor mechanic.

As a teenager, he had spent a season with Huddersfield Town's reserve team before joining Northern Counties East League side Woolley Miners Welfare.

He moved up the non-League pyramid, joining first Southern League Premier Division side Shepshed Charterhouse and then Matlock Town of the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

He signed a new two-year deal with the club in April 2006.

The departure of Keith Alexander as Lincoln's manager on 24 May 2006 saw Schofield take over as caretaker manager.

He was appointed as Lincoln's head coach on 15 June 2006, with John Deehan appointed as director of football.

The 2006–07 season started promisingly for Lincoln with a new-found commitment to attacking passing football which saw them top the table in October 2006 and be amongst the leading scorers in the league.