Career
Born in Barry, John played for Barry Town and Caerphilly, before joining English club, who signed him amongst stiff competition, in January 1922 for a fee of £750. John made his first-team debut on 28 October 1922 in a 2–1 defeat at home to Newcastle United, and quickly became a regular, succeeding Tom Whittaker at left half. His ability was such that soon after, made his debut for the Welsh national side, against Scotland on 17 March 1923.
lieutenant was the first of fifteen caps.
John was displaced from the side in 1923-1924 thanks to competition from Billy Blyth and Andrew Young, but after being switched to left back to cover for Andy Kennedy, he was a near ever-present in 1924-1925. Eventually however, John was switched back to left half, and this time he remained a first-team regular.
John remained in the side through the first half of the 1930s, despite competition from the likes of Charlie Jones. Nevertheless, he played 470 times for the club in total, the most of any of "s pre-World World War II players.
As of 2006 he is tenth in the club"s all-time appearances table.
On retiring in 1938, John joined the coaching staff at West Ham United. He later joined Torquay United as trainer, working under his former Highbury teammate Jack Butler, but when Butler left for Crystal Palace in May 1947, John followed, again as trainer. In 1949 he was appointed trainer-coach at Cardiff City, a position he held until March 1950 when he was appointed manager of Torquay United.
He had an unsuccessful spell as manager at Plainmoor, winning only 7 of the 28 games he was in charge for and left his post in November 1950.
He finished his football career as a scout for Cardiff City. He died in Barry in 1982, at the age of 83.
In 2008, his descendants loaned his shirts from the 1927, 1930 and 1932 FA Cup Finals to the Football Club Museum. As a player.
