They played for your club…Needham Market

Continuing the series started during lockdown on players who have represented the current clubs in the Southern Football League.

Although records show the existence of a Needham Market Football Club during the late 1890s, the modern club was officially established in 1919. They subsequently joined the Ipswich & District League and after finishing as runners-up in Division 3A in 1930/31 and 1931/32, the club were promoted to Division Two A.

They went on to win Division Two A in 1932/33 and were runners-up the following season.

After the Second World War they won the Division Two title in 1946/47 and went on to win Division One in 1952/53.

The club won the League Cup in 1977/78 and again in 1979/80. However, they finished bottom of the Senior Division in 1983/84 and were relegated to Division One. But they won the Suffolk Junior Cup the following season.

In 1986/87 Needham Market were Division One runners-up, earning promotion back to the Senior Division.

They went on to win the Suffolk Senior Cup in 1989/90.

In 1995/96 the club were Senior Division champions, and were promoted to Division One of the Eastern Counties League.

They were Division One runners-up in 2004/05 and were promoted to the Premier Division, winning the Suffolk Senior Cup in the same season.

In 2006/07 the club won the East Anglian Cup, before going on to finish as runners-up in the Premier Division and win the League Challenge Cup and the Suffolk Premier Cup in 2007/08, as well as reaching the semi-finals of the FA Vase, losing 4–2 on aggregate to Kirkham & Wesham.

The 2009/10 season saw Needham Market win the Premier Division title and the League Cup `double`, earning promotion to Division One North of the Isthmian League.

In their first season in Division One, Needham finished as runners-up, qualifying for the promotion play-offs. However, they lost 3–1 at home to Brentwood Town in the semi-finals.

The following season the club finished third and reached the play-off final, but lost 1–0 to Enfield Town.

They qualified for the play-offs again after finishing fifth in 2013/14, this time losing 1–0 to Witham Town in the semi-finals.

The club went on to win the division the following season, earning promotion to the Premier Division.

In 2016/17 they won the Suffolk Premier Cup for a second time.

The Marketmen were transferred to the Premier Division Central of the Southern League at the end of the 2017/18 season as part of the re-structuring of the non-League Pyramid by the FA.

Simon Betts began his career at Ipswich Town, although he was unable to make the first team at Portman Road.

His most successful spell was with his second club, Colchester United, where he made 191 appearances and scored 11 goals.

He then had a spell with Scarborough in the Conference in 1999, playing 59 times for the Seadogs, scoring 9 goals, before moving to another Conference outfit, Yeovil Town in 2000/21, making 17 appearances for the Glovers.

He made a return to League football with Darlington in Division Three in 2001 and played over 70 games for the Quakers.

His spell `up north` ended with a short period with Northern Premier League Premier Division side Whitby Town before returning to East Anglia.

He first joined Eastern Counties League Premier Division side Halstead Town before finishing his playing days with another, Needham Market.

Jack Wignall was a strong central defender who started his career at Colchester United.

He made his first-team debut for the U’s in the Football League Trophy against to Swansea City in December 1999 and made his one and only League appearance that same season against Bristol Rovers.

In March 2001, Wignall signed for Conference Premier side Dagenham & Redbridge and then went on to have spells with Cambridge City, Chelmsford City and Wivenhoe Town, where his father Steve was manager.

He went on to make 112 appearances for The Dragons, scoring 12 goals.

In August 2007, he was released from his contract and became a free agent and he signed for Heybridge Swifts, but a few weeks later was transferred to Redbridge.

At the start of the 2008/09 season he was with Eastern Counties League side Needham Market.

However, his stay at Bloomfields was a relatively short one and he signed for Tiptree United.

In March 2009 he moved to Harwich & Parkeston and at the end of July 2009 he had signed to play for current Vanarama National League South outfit Concord Rangers for 2009/10, which he did and won promotion from the Isthmian League North Division with them.

In July 2010 he played in a pre-season game for AFC Sudbury and later the same month signed on for the 2010/11 season and played throughout it.

At the start of the 2011/12 season, Wignall was appointed first team coach but in January 2012 it was announced he was leaving the club to help run his parents business in North Wales.

Ian Miller was a centre-back whose career began with Eastern Counties League Premier Division side Bury Town.

He helped Bury to an FA Vase semi-final run in the 2005/06 season and, on the back of that, was signed by Ipswich Town in September 2006.

He played for the likes of Darlington, for whom he made 130 appearances, Grimsby Town (46) and Cambridge United (49) after leaving the Tractor Boys in 2008 with one senior appearance to his name.

After a short stint at Braintree Town, Miller signed for Needham Market in 2015 and spent a couple of seasons at Bloomfields.

He moved to neighbours AFC Sudbury before going on to feature on 32 occasions for Bury in the Isthmian League North Division in 2018/19.

He went on to join the coaching staff at AFC Sudbury’s academy and in June 2019 he signed for Walsham-le-Willows as a player-coach.

He then took over the role of head coach at 442 Football Academy.

After starting out in the York City youth system in 1997, captaining England at under-15 level, Chris Hogg signed for Ipswich Town for a fee of £150,000 in June 2001.

He went on to add caps at under-17, 18 and under-19 level whilst with the Tractor Boys.

He was twice loaned to then-Third Division club Boston United before, due to financial restrictions at Ipswich, he was transferred to Hibernian in January 2005.

Hogg made over 200 professional appearances during his playing career, the majority of which came for Hibs - a team he captained and won the Scottish League Cup with in 2007.

He had a spell with Inverness Caledonian Thistle in 2011 until 2013 and then signed for Needham Market, where he spent a year.

He retired from the playing in 2015 to take up a full-time coaching role within Ipswich Town’s academy, working his way up from the under-18s to co-managing the under-23 side while he also enjoyed a spell as first-team coach of the Tractor Boys.

In August 2021, Hogg joined MK Dons as assistant head coach.

He moved from Newcastle United where has served as under-23 lead player development coach for the previous 18 months.

Hogg was in the Ipswich academy at the same as then-Dons` boss Liam Manning.

And then, earlier this month, following Manning's appointment at Oxford United, Hogg again followed him as assistant head coach at the League One outfit.

Lee Norfolk is a New Zealander who represented his country at under-17 level, scoring one goal in a 3-0 win over Fiji in Napier in 1991.

He became the first New Zealander to play in the English Premier League after graduating from the Ipswich Town youth team.

He made 4 appearances for the Tractor Boys, the first of which was at home to Southampton in February 1995.

Norfolk went back to his native New Zealand for a period with North Shore United before returning to England where he played for King’s Lynn, Cambridge City, Woodbridge Town, Bishop’s Stortford and Sudbury Wanderers before joining neighbours AFC Sudbury, for whom he played over 270 times and scored 55 goals.

A spell with Halstead Town followed and then, in 2005, he signed for Needham Market.

He returned to Halstead and had short stints at Diss Town, Stanway Rovers, Felixstowe & Walton United and Leiston.

He had been an Ipswich town academy coach for several years and was player-coach for Leiston during their Steps 5 and 4 `double` promotion and became caretaker manager.

In 2012, he moved back to Needham Market as first team coach where they won the championship and promotion to Step 3 football.

He became first team coach at Stowmarket Town then took up the role of assistant manager at AFC Sudbury.

He is currently first team coach at Needham Market’s league rivals Leiston.

Danny Gay started his career with Norwich City before joining Southend United where he played 11 League games for the Shrimpers.

He then started an illustrious non-League career playing for Hornchurch, Braintree Town, Bishop’s Stortford and Heybridge Swifts in the Isthmian League.

After a trial with Leeds United in 2007, he joined Chelmsford City and then trialled with Norwich City again before going to home-town club King’s Lynn but his stay was brief as they were wound up and it was then onto Needham Market.

There he helped the club win the Eastern Counties League and promotion to the Isthmian League and helped them into the play-offs.

In the summer of 2011, he moved to AFC Sudbury and then joined Leiston in October 2013, before signing for then-Southern Premier Division Central side St Neots Town in June 2015.

He re-joined Needham Market midway through the 2015/16 season and his performances helped the side secure their Premier Division status and saw him collect the supporters` player of the year award.

He hung up his gloves in 2018.

Jordao Diogo was born in Lisbon, Portugal of São Tomé and Príncipe descent.

After being in the youth ranks at Portuguese giants Benfica, and then Olivais Sul, Casa Pia and Alverca, the left back or midfielder made his senior debut in 2004 with A.D Carregado in the fourth division, on loan from Alverca.

He moved to England after one season, joining Chelmsford City, Lewes and then Aveley.

He had his first top-flight experience in 2008, joining Iceland's Knattspyrnufélag Reykjavíkur.

He was part of the squad that won the national championship in 2011 but only appeared in two league games, also spending two years on loan to Greek club Panserraikos where he was side-lined for two months with a knee injury contracted in early November 2010.

In August 2012, he signed a three-year deal with Panachaiki in the Greek second division.

He competed mostly in the country's Super League the following years after a fleeting spell at Vitória in Portugal, representing in the competition Panthrakikos, PAE Kerkyra and Levadiakos.

He signed for Needham Market in September 2019 and retired from playing at the end of the 2019/230 season.

In October 2015, Diogo was called up by São Tomé & Príncipe for a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Ethiopia and made his debut, playing the full 90 minutes in a 1–0 win.

After starting out playing local Sunday league football, Kemal Izzet, younger brother of former Leicester City star Muzzy, was given a chance by his nearest club, Charlton Athletic, where he turned professional in 2018.

But his three years at The Valley failed to bring him any first team action, apart from a two-game loan spell with Colchester United.#

And in April 2001, he signed a permanent contract with the U’s and went on to make more than 450 appearances in a long and distinguished spell at the club.

He ended his time with the U's after having his contract terminated by mutual agreement in September 2013.

He subsequently joined then-Isthmian League Division One North side Needham Market that same month, despite interest from Football League clubs including Exeter City, instead choosing to invest his financial settlement agreed with Colchester after ending his contract in setting up a football school business, with help from financial advisor and then-Needham Market manager Mark Morsley.
Izzet was also studying towards his UEFA B Licence in the latter stages of his Colchester career and continued working toward coaching badge with the Marketmen.

After making 120 appearances and scoring 16 goals, Izzet left Bloomfields after his role as academy manager was effectively removed following re-structuring.

In May 2017, Izzet was appointed manager of Eastern Counties League club Stanway Rovers but at the end of the 2017/18 season, he left Stanway and was appointed manager of Brightlingsea Regent in October 2019 until October 2020 when he resigned, seven games into the season.

Goalkeeper Nathan Munson needs to be included in this list of Needham Market’s former players, simply because he is one of the few non-League players to have been awarded an MBE!

Born in Colchester, Munson came through his home-town club’s youth system and was handed his first-team debut at the end of the 1992/93 season.

His next appearance for the club came in bizarre circumstances as Colchester became the first club to have two goalkeepers sent-off in the same fixture!

The game against Hereford United in October 1993 saw John Keeley dismissed in the 43rd minute.

Roy McDonough covered in goal until half-time, where he conceded another goal to Pike.

Munson was brought on at half-time but was also sent-off in the 68th minute!

Munson was to make only 2 further League appearances for the club before being released in 1994.

Following his release from Colchester, Munson joined Wivenhoe Town, where he enjoyed a good spell.

Billericay Town was his next port of call and then Stanway Rovers in 2000, where he played over 100 games.

He then joined the police force, representing both the English and British police at international level.

He signed for Harwich & Parkeston in 2002 and appeared over 120 times.

Needham Market was his next port of call in 2005 and he played over 50 times for the Marketmen.

In 2007, he signed for neighbours AFC Sudbury before he announced his retirement from playing in November 2007, but took over as Sudbury's goalkeeping coach.

He was called into action on a number of occasions due to other players being cup-tied, making a total of 92 appearances for the club.

He left Sudbury in July 2008 to join Brantham Athletic, but returned to Harwich in October of the same year.

For the 2009/10 season, he returned to Brantham in a player-coach capacity and then joined Leiston in May 2011, again acting mostly as goalkeeping coach but also made some appearances for the club when required.

He returned to Needham Market in March 2013 as part of the coaching team alongside former Leiston manager Mark Morsley.

Munson was included in the 2016 New Year’s Honours list, receiving an MBE for his services to counter-terrorism while working for the Home Office as Detective Sergeant Hazardous Substances Industry Engagement Officer.

Midfielder or defender Karl Duguid made more than 450 appearances during two spells at Colchester United, with a three-year stint at Plymouth Argyle seeing the defender or midfielder clock up 591 games in a professional career that spanned 19 years.

The Letchworth-born utility player spent most of his career as a full-back, but has also featured in more attacking positions for Colchester and Plymouth.

As skipper, he led the U’s to promotion into the Championship for the first time in the club’s history back in 2006.

Duguid hung up his boots at the end of the 2013/14 season, before coming out of retirement to play for Welling United and Eastern Counties League Premier Division side Stanway Rovers.

He then joined the Marketmen in May 2015 after they had been promoted to the Isthmian Premier Division.

Needham Market Web Site