John Sutton

He scored on his debut against Dundee United on 23 August, and followed it up with a 79th-minute winner against Hibernian a week later.

Sutton continued his impressive start to his Motherwell career with a consolation goal against Celtic in a 4–2 defeat, an equaliser against his former club St Mirren and the winner against Falkirk, bringing his total to an impressive five goals in his first six league matches.

He scored his first goal for the club the following week netting the winner in the 47th minute in their Dundee derby win over Dundee United.

His form proved better back in Scotland, scoring 8 times in 33 league appearances.

John William Michael Sutton (born 26 December 1983) is a former English football player.

He has played for a number of clubs in England and Scotland as well as Australia during his career, and also represented England at the under-15 and under-16 levels.

He currently runs his own personal training business and is still involved in coaching football.

He is best known for his goal scoring exploits in Scottish football, most notably at Motherwell.

Born on 26 December 1983 in Norwich, England, Sutton was a promising youth cricketer, representing Norfolk at various age levels.

He was a modest batsman and useful off-spinner of moderate pace.

He started his football career as a youth trainee with Tottenham Hotspur and as part of their reserve squad.

Whilst playing at under 17 level he scored 25 goals in 26 games.

In 2002, he went on loan with Carlisle United (where he scored his first career goal against Cambridge United) before agreeing to be released by Tottenham and signing on a months contract with Swindon Town.

In 2003, Sutton joined Raith Rovers.

He made a quick impression at Raith, scoring 13 goals in 20 league appearances for the Scottish First Division club.

Several clubs enquired about his availability in January including Valencia where he spent three days on trial, Dundee and English Championship club Millwall, who signed him for £60,000.

He failed to make an impression at Millwall, playing just 4 league matches.

He did however contribute to Millwall's run to the 2004 FA Cup Final, coming on as a substitute against Tranmere Rovers in their quarter-final replay.

Sutton returned to Scotland on a season-long loan with Scottish Premier League side Dundee, making his debut on 7 August 2004 in Dundee's 1–0 defeat to Hearts.

On 31 August 2005, Sutton joined Scottish First Division club St Mirren on a two-year contract, making his debut on 10 September 2005 against Queen of the South, He scored his first goal for the club three days later against Stenhousemuir in the Scottish Challenge Cup.

Sutton scored the winning goal for St Mirren in the 2005 Scottish Challenge Cup Final against Hamilton Academical.

Sutton was sent off on 26 December against Queen of the South after a challenge with Jim Thomson, although the red card was later rescinded upon appeal.

He scored 17 goals in all competitions that season, helping St Mirren win promotion to the Scottish Premier League in his first season.

In total, Sutton made 75 appearances scoring 30 times for the club.

With his contract having expired at the end of the season, he became a free agent in May 2007.

On 28 June 2007, Sutton signed for Wycombe Wanderers, making his debut on 11 August against Accrington.

He scored his first goal for the club on 2 October, against Barnet in their 2–1 defeat.

On 19 August 2008, after one season, Sutton's Wycombe contract was cancelled by mutual consent.

In all Sutton made 48 appearances scoring six times for the club.

Sutton then signed for Scottish Premier League club Motherwell on a three-year contract.

On 2 February 2009, Sutton scored a brace in Motherwell's 3–0 Scottish Cup victory over Inverurie Loco Works.

In his first season, he scored 12 goals in 31 appearances in all competitions.

Motherwell qualified for the 2009–10 Europa League through the FIFA Fair Play Award and were drawn against Welsh club Llanelli in the first-qualifying round.

In the first-leg in Scotland, Llanelli shocked The Steelmen 1–0, but Sutton scored twice in the return leg as Motherwell won 3–0 to progress through to the next round, where they were drawn Albanian side Flamurtari Vlorë.

In the first-leg in Albania, Sutton scored from the penalty spot early in the match, but the referee ordered a retake, which he missed.

There did not seem to be any infringement before the kick was taken and manager Jim Gannon blasted the decision as Flamurtari won 1–0.

Sutton's penalty miss did not matter at all, as Well blew the Albanians away in the second leg at Fir Park, winning 8–1, although Sutton did not score in this match either, nor did he score in either leg of the third qualifying round tie with Steaua București, as Motherwell lost 3–0 in Romania and 3–1 at home to go out 6–1 on aggregate.

He finished the 2009–10 season with a total of 14 goals in 38 appearances.

Sutton netted a brace in the historic 6–6 draw with Hibernian on 5 May 2010.

In an interview with the Daily Record on 5 October 2013, Sutton stated joining St Mirren saved his career saying that the club had the "enthusiasm for the game" he needed.