Footballers who have played for both PNE & Shrewsbury
Andreas ARESETIDOU; Michael BROWN; Shane CANSDELL-SHERIFF; Jason HARRIS; Dave HIBBERT; Chris HUMPHREY; Michael JACKSON; Nigel JEMSON; John KAY; Kelvin LANGMEAD; Tony LORMOR; Conor MCLAUGHLIN; David MOYES; Colin MURDOCK; Willie NAUGHTON; Chris NEAL; Lewis NEAL; Paul PARRY; Jamie PROCTOR; Mark STALLARD; Ian STEVENS; Alan TARBUCK; Nicky WROE
Player Profile – John Kay
John Kay was born on 29 January 1964 at Great Lumley
He started his career at Arsenal as an apprentice initially in midfield before moving to full-back, joining in April 1980 and turning professional in July 1981. He made his League debut against West Brom on 26 February 1983 and went on to make a further seven appearances that season. He played another seven league matches in 1983/84 but in the 1984 close season he was given a free transfer.
He moved to Wimbledon in July 1984 and had a loan spell in Middlesbrough in January 1985, making 8 appearances. Kay helped the Dons win promotion to Division One in 1985/86 season. His first of two career goals his eigth league appearance with a 3-1 defeat at Fulham on 19 November. His last goal came in the following season with a 5-0 home win over Sheffield United on 21 December 1985. In total Kay made 63 league appearances.
In July 1987 Kay joined Sunderland for a fee of £22,500 and made his debut in the clubs first ever Third Division match with a1-0 win at Brentford. The end of the 1987/88 season saw Sunderland win the Third Division title, nine points ahead of second place Brighton.
Two seasons later saw his second promotion with Sunderland as they reached the First Division via the play-offs after finishing sixth. Kay is fondly remembered by Sunderland fans for his hard tackling and determination, in a particularly tough challenge on a Leeds player. The Leeds physio said after the incident that the player "looked like he'd been run down by a combine harvester". Kay earned the nickname "The Tractor" in reference to this comment. Also with Sunderland Kay broke his leg in his final game for Sunderland in a 1-0 victory, against Birmingham on 9 October 1993 and instead of writhing in pain, he sat up on the stretcher and pretended to row it off the pitch.
On 28 March 1996 Kay joined Second Division Shrewsbury on loan and made his debut in a 1-1 draw at home to Hull two days later, this was his first match in nearly 30 months. Kay’s second match on 2 April saw his first victory with a 2-1 win at York. In his 7 league appearances for the Shrews he was on the losing just once on his last appearance for the club in a 6-0 defeat at Oxford. Kay did make one other appearance for the club which was a Wembley appearanbce in the Football League Trophy Final on 14 April. Shrewsbury lost the match 2-1 against Rotherham, both the Millers goals came from former PNE and Shrewsbury player Nigel Jemson.
After 199 league appearances Kay left Sunderland at the end of the 1995/96 season he joined Preston and made his debut in a 0-0 draw at Deepdale on 24 August, he played in the number two shirt for the next 6 league matches. His last match was a 3-0 defeat at Tottenham in the Second Round Second Leg tie in the League Cup on 25 September.
His stay at Preston was a short one and was allowed to join Scarborough in September 1996. In his first season with Scarborough he was voted the club’s Player of the Year and scored the only goal in the FA Cup victory over former club Shrewsbury in November 1996.
Kay made 98 appearances for Scarborough, his last appearance was a 4-0 home defeat to Rotherham on 13 March 1999.
Kay then joined non-league Workington.