John McDermott

Who is John McDermott?

John McDermott is an English former professional footballer and assistant manager of Conference North side Harrogate Town.

As a player he was a right-back from 1987 to 2007, spending his entire 20-year playing career at Grimsby Town, and holds the club's all-time appearance record, having played 647 league games, 754 games overall for the Mariners. He is one of only 17 players in the history of English football to play more than 600 Football League matches for a single club. Grimsby Town FC and the Grimsby Telegraph newspaper are running a campaign for McDermott to be awarded an MBE; the Telegraph is hosting an online petition.

Upon retirement McDermott moved into coaching at the Grimsby Institute, and after failing in bids to become manager of Boston United and Grimsby Town he was appointed assistant manager at Harrogate Town in 2010.

McDermott's autobiography It's Not All Black & White, went on sale in August 2013. Co-written by Simon Ashberry, the book is published by The History Press. He will be taking part in two events to mark the launch of the book - An Evening With John McDermott hosted by the Mariners Trust at Grimsby Town on Friday 30 August, 2013 and a book signing sessions at Waterstones in Grimsby from 12 noon on Sunday 8 September, 2013.