John Salako

John Salako

Personal information
Full name	John Akin Salako
Date of birth	(1969-02-11) 11 February 1969
Place of birth	Ibadan, Nigeria
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Crystal Palace (1st Team Coach)
Youth career
	Westerham FC
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986–1995	Crystal Palace	215	(22)
1989	→ Swansea City (loan)	13	(3)
1995–1998	Coventry City	72	(4)
1998	→ Bolton Wanderers (loan)	7	(0)
1998–1999	Fulham	10	(1)
1999–2001	Charlton Athletic	47	(2)
2001–2004	Reading	111	(13)
2004–2005	Brentford	35	(4)
Total		510	(49)
International career
1991	England	5	(0)
Managerial career
2009–	Crystal Palace (U16s)
2015-	Crystal Palace (1st Team Coach)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John Akin Salako (born 11 February 1969) is an English former professional footballer, sports television pundit and first team coach of Premier League side Crystal Palace.

Born in Nigeria, Salako played as a midfielder from 1986 until 2005, he notably played in the Premier League for Crystal Palace, Coventry City and Charlton Athletic, in the Football League for Swansea City, Bolton Wanderers, Fulham, Reading and Brentford. He represented England at senior level, earning five caps, all during 1991 while he was a Crystal Palace player.

Playing career

A fast and imaginative player, Salako began his career at Crystal Palace in the mid 1980s, and was their regular left winger by the time they won promotion to the First Division in 1989. He was also in the side for the 1990 FA Cup Final, picking up a runners-up medal after they drew 3-3 with Manchester United before losing the replay 1-0. A year later, he helped Palace finish third in the league. Late in the 1990-91 season, he memorably scored twice for Palace in their 3-0 home win over Manchester United in the league.

However, a serious knee injury suffered in a league match against Leeds United ruled him out until the following season, when Palace were founder members of the FA Premier League but finished the season relegated. Salako helped them get straight back up, but they went down again the following season despite reaching the semi-finals of both cups.

Salako left Palace in August 1995, signing for Coventry City. He spent three seasons at Coventry, spending a brief period on loan at Bolton Wanderers, before signing for Fulham in Division Two. At Fulham he scored twice, once in the league against Macclesfield, and again in the League Cup against Cardiff City. After Fulham he played for Charlton Athletic and Reading, before ending his career at Brentford

Coaching career

He has coached Crystal Palace under 16 team, working with former teammate Mark Bright. On 8 August 2015, he was announced as Crystal Palace first team coach. In 2005, Salako was voted into Palace's Centenary XI.

Media career

Salako now works as a matchday correspondent on Sky Sports.

Personal life

As a teenager, he lived in Westerham, Kent and was a student at The Wildernesse School in Sevenoaks, where he excelled at football. He now lives in Woldingham, Surrey. In 2013, Salako was reported to be bankrupt, due to a series of business deals having gone wrong. He is the brother of footballer Andy Salako.

External links

• John Salako career statistics at Soccerbase
• Official Blog