John Pemberton

John Pemberton became the Harriers manager in May 2019 following a two month long search for a replacement for Mark Yates.

Johns playing career started with a short spell with local side Chadderton before being signed by Rochdale AFC as a trainee. He soon moved on to Crewe Alexandra where he made his mark and racked up just under one hundred and forty showings for them.

It wasn’t long before he moved up into the top flight with Crystal Palace and appeared in the 1999 FA Cup Final against Manchester Utd, losing the replay 1-0 following a 3-3 draw at Wembley.

He then moved on to Sheffield Utd and Leeds Utd where he again excelled before hanging up his boots one last time back with Crewe.

John then moved into coaching at Nottingham Forest and took temporary control of the first team following the dismissal of Colin Calderwood and the appointment of Billy Davies. On leaving the City Ground he took up various coaching and academy management positions with Sheffield Utd, Bristol City and then finally with Chesterfield from where he joined up with us.

After just six months at Aggborough he lost his job following a season long run of poor results accruing only five wins in nineteen games.

A few months later he became the caretaker manager at Chesterfield until he was dismissed in November 2020 following a poor run of results.