John Gayle

The big striker was signed from Birmingham for £100,000 by Bobby Gould in September 1993. Gould had signed him from Burton Albion after he had graced several Midland non-league sides whilst simultaneously working on building sites. In his handful of game the strong target man rarely looked top division material and disappeared into the reserves soon after Phil Neal succeeded Gould. The following summer he was sold to Burnley for £70,000 and spent short periods at a variety of lower division clubs including Stoke, Northampton, Scunthorpe, Shrewsbury and Torquay. In 2002 he was sued by Bolton player Nicky Spooner for a tackle which ended Spooner’s career and Gayle made an out of court settlement. In 2001 he moved into non-league with Moor Green and managed Devon League side Totnes & Dartington. He appeared in the Masters indoor competition for City.