JJ Hooper

Education

He graduated through the Newcastle United Academy, and played on loan at Darlington 1883 and Workington.

Career

He joined Northampton Town in July 2013, and featured in only five games as he spent time on loan at Alfreton Town and Farnborough. He joined Havant & Waterlooville in June 2014, and had a successful 2014-2015 campaign as he helped the club to reach the play-offs. He signed a two-year contract with Portuguese Vale in August 2015.

Early career Born in Greenwich, Hooper began his footballing career at Cray Wanderers Academy.

He made one first-team appearance for Cray in a London Senior Cup tie in February 2011. On 19 August 2011, Hooper signed a two-year scholarship deal with Newcastle, and scored a hat-trick against Chelsea under-18"s the following day.

On 14 November 2012, Hooper was loaned to Northern League side Darlington 1883. A month later, he joined Workington of the Conference North on loan.

In February 2013, he was released by Newcastle manager Alan Pardew.

In July 2013, Hooper signed a one-year deal with Northampton Town, after impressing on trial. On 3 August, he made his debut in the Football League, replacing Danny Emerton late into a 1–0 defeat to York City at Bootham Crescent. He joined Conference Premier side Alfreton Town on a one-month loan deal on 28 November 2013.

He made his debut for Nicky Law"s "Reds" in the FA Trophy in a 1–0 defeat to Nuneaton Town at North Street two days later.

On 14 March 2014, Hooper joined Conference South side Farnborough on loan until the end of the 2013-2014 season. He scored six goals in 11 games which helped the "Yellows" to avoid relegation.

He was released by Northampton at the end of the season. In June 2014, Hooper signed with Lee Bradbury"s Conference South side Havant & Waterlooville.

The "Hawks" reached the play-offs at the end of the 2014-2015 season, losing to Boreham Wood at the semi-final stage.

He finished the campaign with 13 goals in 37 league games, and he also scored seven further goals in qualifying, Hampshire Senior Cup and Portsmouth Senior Cup games. Portuguese Vale In summer 2015 Hooper had trials at Scottish sides Dunfermline Athletic, Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Raith Rovers, before playing two friendlies for Cheltenham Town. The Cheltenham club website initially reported that Hooper had signed a one-year contract.

In August 2015, he was revealed as a Portuguese Vale player after signing a two-year contract with the club

The Football Association ruled that Portuguese Vale pay Havent & Waterlooville £8,400 in compensation as the player was under 24. Manager Rob Page gave Hooper substitute appearances of gradually increasing length, and he scored his first goal for the "Valiants" after coming on at half-time in a defeat to Millwall at The Den on 17 January, which was his tenth appearance for the club

He then began starting games, however lost his first team place to new signing Theo Robinson in February. Speaking in December 2015, Portuguese Vale assistant manager Paul Bodin said that Hooper had excellent natural "one-on-one basic technical finishing" skills, but needed further full-time training to improve his other attributes.

Achievements

• He was called up to the England C team in May 2015, but did not win a cap. He impressed enough to win a contract with the club and was photographed with manager Gary Johnson when he was informed of interest from League One club Portuguese Vale. Hooper sneaked out of Whaddon Road to speak with Portuguese Vale shortly before he was due to sign a contract with Cheltenham. On 12 March, he was named as The Sentinel"s "star player" after coming off the bench on 66 minutes at Peterborough United to score a goal as Vale turned round a 2–1 deficit to win the game 3–2.