Harrogate born former professional English footballer John Scales is fondly remembered by sports lovers. The defender shielded the centre of the box between 1984 and 2001 and played at the very top level in the Premier League for sides including Ipswich Town, Liverpool (who bought him for a £3.5 million transfer fee in September 1994), Tottenham Hotspur, Wimbledon, and also lower down the league for sides like The Gas aka Bristol Rovers. He was also called up on three occasions to play for his national side and they all came in 1995. In league terms John scored 15 goals in 412 games in all.
It was in the Umbra Cup that John played, starting in matches with Japan and Brazil as well as being a sub against Sweden, whilst he also made it into the team for England’s squad for Le Tournoi de France, but did not play. With such skill it made sense for England to call upon John for his coaching abilities and as such he was England coach for the Danone Nations Cup in 2007 and then went on later to train the England Beach Soccer team. After leaving his playing days behind, John was picked up and starred in the Sky Sports series Where are They Now? and is a company chairman with an events management company called Be Sport. This organisation arranges tournaments for school sides to play in and as well as this work John also offers great co-commentary for the BBC and their coverage of football on Radio Five Live.