Born in 1970, the son of teachers, one can see how a life of schools and teacher friends of his parents might have ultimately shaped his career path. Sure enough, Jon is now a teacher himself.

But his career path was not quite that straightforward. Teachers can make great parents (Jon can lay no blame at the door of the loving and stable household in which he was brought-up) but sons of teachers don’t necessarily make great pupils and so it was with the bright but lazy boy wonder. Clowning around and low-level mischief were his specialist subjects although he did like having a kick-around in PE and quite enjoyed English. When football and the opposite sex became far more attractive than doing anything academic, all of the advice in the world could not make Jon try particularly hard at school, even though his teachers kept telling him he could do really well if he tried, you know, just a little bit at least. By the time the first illicit tastes of alcohol hit his lips, ‘O’ level and ‘A’ level studies were destined to end in… well not failure but let’s just say that Jon did not cover himself in glory.

Four years of working in a building society taught Jon that unless he wanted to spend another 44 years working there he would have to try and get better qualifications. He managed to achieve an HND in Science and then a BSc (Hons) First Class degree to prove his former teachers right. By now Jon wanted to be a teacher himself and duly qualified. As his teaching career took off, Jon gained a Masters in Education Management and has held senior management roles in primary education for several years. But it is in the classroom where he gets most challenges and rewards. Now as an Assistant Headteacher Jon teaches 4 and 5 year olds.

Jon always dreamed (and still does - even at his age) of being a professional footballer but he is beginning to realise that there are no precedents for footballers launching professional careers in their late 30s, especially when they are rubbish and overweight, so it’s a good job he enjoys teaching. When he’s not dreaming about football, trying to play, or watching his two teams - Port Vale or 1.FC Nuremberg - Jon likes to write.

A few years ago he wrote a pack of practice test papers for 10 and 11 year olds. It’s not a bad piece of work if you’re about to take National Tests in English but if you’re not then you would be well-advised to steer clear.

His first ‘proper’ book, For Better Or For Wurst, will be published later this year. It is the tale of how Jon and a group of friends formed a fan-club for German football team 1.FC Nuremberg and the antics, the adventures, the beers and the sausages on a rollercoaster journey supporting the team.

Jon is a self-confessed football addict and sees the somewhat insane nature of football support as a perfect escape from the somewhat insane world in which we live. Jon has never written for any magazines, newspapers or other print publications but would love the opportunity to do so. He lives in Cheshire with his wife and young son.