Jonson Clarke-Harris

Jonson Scott Clarke-Harris (born 21 July 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for League One club Peterborough United. He set a new record during his first spell at Coventry City when, aged 16 years and 21 days, he made his debut becoming the youngest player ever to play for the Coventry first team.

Jonson Clarke-Harris

Personal information
Full name	Jonson Scott Clarke-Harris[1]
Date of birth	21 July 1994
Place of birth	Leicester, England
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[2]
Position(s)	Striker
Club information
Current team	Peterborough United
Number	9
Youth career
0000–2010	Coventry City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2010–2012	Coventry City	1	(0)
2012–2013	Peterborough United	0	(0)
2012	→ Southend United (loan)	3	(0)
2013	→ Bury (loan)	12	(4)
2013–2014	Oldham Athletic	45	(7)
2014–2018	Rotherham United	71	(9)
2015	→ Milton Keynes Dons (loan)	5	(0)
2015	→ Doncaster Rovers (loan)	9	(1)
2018	→ Coventry City (loan)	17	(3)
2018–2019	Coventry City	27	(5)
2019–2020	Bristol Rovers	42	(24)
2020–	Peterborough United	26	(15)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:40, 9 February 2021 (UTC)

Career

Coventry City

Clarke-Harris was playing park football in Leicester for Beaumont Town and Judgemeadow under 16s when Mick Elliott MBE then Coventry Head of Recruitment brought him to the club for a trial. With his strong physique and pace, he made an immediate impact playing a trial game for Judgemeadow against a good Coventry City u16 team and was very quickly given a scholarship offer by Coventry City Academy which he accepted. Clarke-Harris made his professional debut as a substitute on 10 August 2010 in a 2–0 League Cup loss to Morecambe, coming on to replace David Bell after 68 minutes. With this appearance, he became the youngest player to ever appear for Coventry City. He was 16 years and 20 days old. It was confirmed on 30 April 2012 that Clarke-Harris had not been offered a professional contract with Coventry and had left the club. Andy Thorn refused to speculate on why Clarke-Harris had been released but alluded to disciplinary problems.[3]

On 8 May 2012, he played in a reserve match for Blackburn Rovers, scoring the only goal of the game.[4] On 23 July he signed a two-year contract with Peterborough United.[5] Without having made a first team appearance for Peterborough United and was loaned out on 12 October to Southend United for a month.[6]

Oldham Athletic

Clarke-Harris signed for Oldham Athletic from Peterborough United for an undisclosed fee, agreeing a one-year contract with the club and an option for a further year in the club's favour in May 2013 .[7] His first goal for the club was a 25-yard free-kick in a 3–2 defeat to Notts County.[8] On 7 February 2014, Clarke-Harris was rewarded for his continued improvement with an eighteen-month contract extension.[9]

Clarke-Harris ended his first season with the club with 8 goals in 49 appearances in all competitions. After many excellent performances throughout his first season, he won the Young Player of the Season award at the end of season awards. Upon receiving the award, Clarke-Harris thanked the fans and everyone at the club for support of his progression during his first season with the club, and he vowed to work even harder and to "continue scoring goals for Oldham Athletic".

Rotherham United

On 1 September 2014, Rotherham United announced that they had signed Clarke-Harris for a club record fee, rumored to be in the region of £350,000.[10] He scored his first goal for Rotherham with a 25-yard strike that gave them the lead in a 2–1 win over Leeds United.[11] Clarke-Harris then made it 2 in 2 games just a few days later, scoring Rotherham's second goal in a 3–3 draw with Fulham.[12] Inconsistent form within the Rotherham side that season led to him leaving the club on two different loan spells to get some game time. He finished the 2014–15 season for Rotherham with 3 goals in 15 appearances.

In the 2015–16 season, Clarke-Harris failed to make the matchday squad for the first three games of the season. Consequently, manager Steve Evans sanctioned a potential loan move to Colchester United, and in hindsight said that Clarke-Harris' Rotherham career was nearly over.[13] However, he made his first appearance of the season in a 0–0 draw with Preston North End, coming on as a substitute.[14] His impressive performance led to him starting the following game against Queens Park Rangers, where he scored Rotherham's first goal in a 4–2 defeat.[15] He also started the next league game against Fulham, scoring Rotherham's only goal in a 3–1 defeat.[16]

Clarke-Harris missed the majority of the 2016–17 season after suffering a cruciate ligament injury in his first pre-season friendly,[17] however he returned to the team to finish the season strongly and signed a new one-year contract with the club on 9 May 2017.[18]

Loan to MK Dons

On 16 January 2015, Clarke-Harris signed on loan for Milton Keynes Dons on a short one-month deal until 21 February 2015.[19] He made five appearances scoring no goals before returning to Rotherham for the remainder of the season.

Loan to Doncaster

On 12 March 2015, Clarke-Harris completed a loan move to Doncaster. He made 8 appearances scoring one goal against his old club Coventry City.

Return to Coventry City

On 31 January 2018, Clarke-Harris re-signed for Coventry City on loan to the end of the season with a view to a permanent transfer.[20]

After scoring three goals in 17 appearances in the league during his loan spell, aiding the club to promotion to League One via the play-offs, Clarke-Harris signed a two-year contract to join the Sky Blues on a permanent deal.

Bristol Rovers

On 31 January 2019, Clarke-Harris signed for Bristol Rovers. He came off the bench on 2 February in a 2–1 away victory over Southend United, replacing Gavin Reilly in the 52 minute to make his debut.[21] He scored his first goal in his first start in a 1–1 away draw with Portsmouth, opening the scoring with a 37-minute penalty before missing another penalty later in the match.[22] On 2 March, Clarke-Harris scored a hat trick in a 4–0 home victory over Blackpool.[23] On 12 April 2019, Clarke-Harris was named League One Player of the Month for March 2019, after he scored 8 goals in the month to help the Gas in their battle to beat the drop.[24]

Peterborough United

In summer of 2020, with just a year remaining on his Rovers contract, Clarke-Harris opted against signing an extension and on 27 August 2020, rejoined Peterborough United on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.[25] He scored his first goals back for the club with a double in a 3–1 victory over Swindon Town on 3 October 2020.[26] On 12 December 2020, Clarke-Harris scored a hat-trick in the first 22 minutes of a 4–1 victory over Rochdale, taking his tally for the season to 11, making him the top scorer of the league.[27]

Career statistics

As of match played 16 January 2021

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			FA Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Coventry City	2010–11[28]	Championship	0	0	0	0	1	0	—		1	0
	2011–12[29]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	—		0	0
Peterborough United	2012–13[30]	Championship	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Southend United (loan)	2012–13[30]	League Two	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
Bury (loan)	2012–13[30]	League One	12	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	4
Oldham Athletic	2013–14[31]	League One	40	6	5	1	1	0	3[lower-alpha 1]	1	49	9
	2014–15[32]	League One	5	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	6	1
	Oldham Athletic Total		45	7	5	1	2	0	3	1	55	10
Rotherham United	2014–15[32]	Championship	15	3	1	0	0	0	—		16	3
	2015–16[33]	Championship	35	6	1	0	1	0	—		37	6
	2016–17[34]	Championship	7	0	0	0	0	0	—		7	0
	2017–18[35]	League One	14	0	0	0	2	0	3[lower-alpha 2]	1	19	1
	Rotherham United Total		71	9	2	0	3	0	3	1	79	10
Milton Keynes Dons (loan)	2014–15[32]	League One	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
Doncaster Rovers (loan)	2014–15[32]	League One	9	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	1
Coventry City (loan)	2017–18[35]	League Two	17	3	1	1	0	0	3[lower-alpha 3]	0	21	4
Coventry City	2018–19[36]	League One	27	5	1	1	1	0	0	0	29	6
	Coventry City Total		44	8	2	2	2	0	3	0	51	10
Bristol Rovers	2018–19[36]	League One	16	11	0	0	0	0	1[lower-alpha 2]	0	17	11
	2019–20[37]	League One	26	13	5	2	2	1	2[lower-alpha 2]	0	32	16
	Bristol Rovers Total		42	24	5	2	2	1	3	0	49	27
Peterborough United	2020–21[38]	League One	20	13	1	0	0	0	2[lower-alpha 2]	1	23	14
Career total			251	66	15	5	9	1	14	3	286	76

1. Appearances in Football League Trophy
2. Appearance(s) in the EFL Trophy
3. Appearances in the League Two play-offs

Honours

Milton Keynes Dons

• Football League One runner-up: 2014–15[39]

Coventry City

• EFL League Two play-offs: 2018[40]

Individual

• Football League One Player of the Month: March 2019[24]

References

1. "Jonson Clarke-Harris". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 19 June 2018.
2. Jonson Clarke-Harris at Soccerway. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
3. Turner, Andy (1 May 2012). "Andy Thorn tight-lipped after Jonson Clarke-Harris departure". www.coventryteletraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 July 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
4. http://www.rovers.co.uk/page/ReserveNews/0,,10303~2764040,00.html%5B%5D
5. "Jonson Clarke-Harris joins Peterborough after Coventry exit". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
6. "Southend United sign Jonson Clarke-Harris from Peterborough". BBC Sport. 12 October 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2012.
7. "Latics Sign Striker R". Oldham Athletic AFC. 12 May 2013.
8. "Notts County 3–2 Oldham" BBC Sport. 29 October 2013. Retrieved 27 December 2013.
9. "Striker's New Deal". Oldham Athletic AFC. 7 February 2014.
10. "Rotherham sign Clarke-Harris and Becchio". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
11. "Rotherham 2–1 Leeds". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
12. "Rotherham 3–3 Fulham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
13. "Jonson Clarke-Harris' Rotherham career was nearly over, says boss Steve Evans". Eurosport. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
14. "Rotherham 0–0 Preston". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
15. "QPR 4–2 Rotherham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
16. "Rotherham 1–3 Fulham". BBC Sport. Retrieved 31 August 2015.
17. "Breaking: Rotherham United: Long absence for Clarke-Harris". The Star. Johnston Publishing Ltd. 19 July 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
18. "BREAKING : Clarke-Harris pens new deal". Rotherham United Official Site. 9 May 2017. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
19. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/30855230
20. https://www.ccfc.co.uk/news/2018/january/transfer-jonson-clarke-harris-joins-the-sky-blues/
21. "Southend United 1–2 Bristol Rovers". BBC Sport. 2 February 2019.
22. "Portsmouth 1–1 Bristol Rovers". BBC Sport. 19 February 2019.
23. "Bristol Rovers 4–0 Blackpool". BBC Sport. 2 February 2019.
24. "Sky Bet League One: Manager and Player of the Month winners". www.efl.com. 12 April 2019.
25. "Jonson Clarke-Harris moves to Peterborough United". www.bristolrovers.co.uk. 27 August 2020.
26. "Peterborough United 3–1 Swindon Town". BBC Sport. 3 October 2020. Retrieved 12 December 2020.
27. "Peterborough United 4–1 Rochdale". BBC Sport. 12 December 2020.
28. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2010/2011". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
29. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2011/2012". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
30. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2012/2013". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
31. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2013/2014". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
32. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2014/2015". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
33. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2015/2016". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
34. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2016/2017". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 9 May 2017.
35. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2017/2018". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
36. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2018/2019". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 5 August 2018.
37. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2019/2020". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
38. "Games played by Jonson Clarke-Harris in 2020/2021". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
39. "2015: Dons clinch promotion in style". Milton Keynes Dons. 30 December 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
40. Law, James (28 May 2018). "Coventry City 3–1 Exeter City". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 May 2018.

External links

• Jonson Clarke-Harris at Soccerbase