Those Beginning With - P
A to Z The Men of AFC Sudbury 15 of 20

15. Those Beginning With - P


Wayne Pannell

An ex-Halstead Town player this experienced front runner signed in February 2003 from Stowmarket Town to play in the club’s reserve side but was needed when many first teamers were rested in an East Anglian Cup tie at Long Melford. At the end of season 2002/03 he returned to Stowmarket Town. In August 2004 he was playing for Needham Market, later that season he went to Debenham LC where he was playing in season 2005/06. In January 2007 he was playing for Capel Plough in the SIL and was still there in August 2007. He went to play later on for Old Newton. In April 2011 he played a few games for Cornard United and he was playing for the Blackhouse Lane club again on 24th September 2011. In October 2011 he was appointed as player/assistant manager alongside Chris Symes. He was still with the club and played against AFC on 10th July 2012 and then played in the league for Cornard. On 17th November 2012 he was playing for Capel Plough again. 7th December 2013 saw him named on the bench for Capel.

Apps 1 Subs 0 Goals 0
Updated 07/12/13

Craig Parker

A forward (b 22/05/87) he started his footballing career with Bury Town who he joined on 1st July 2008 and left them on 1st July 2009 to join Needham Market. He remained with ‘The Marketmen’ until 1st July 2011 when he left for Chelmsford City where he played until 11th October 2012 when he re-joined Bury Town on loan (6 goals 17 apps) until 11th January 2013 going back to ‘The Clarets’. Bury Town re-signed him on 6th February 2013 where he stayed until 24th June 2013 when Leiston became his next club and from where he signed for AFC on 30th January 2015. He made his debut the next day away against Brentwood Town. In the middle of July 2015 he agreed to stay for the 2015/16 season. He played throughout the season culminating in winning a Ryman North Championship medal at the end of it. He was also the winner of the Golden Boot for the 2015/16 season scoring twenty-eight goals. On 1st June 2016 he agreed a one-year extension to remain with the club. On 28th June he was named in the Ryman North team of the season. He returned for the 2016/17 season and played throughout it as the club was relegated. he was awarded the Ownership Shield at the end of season Presentation Evening. On 15th June 2017 he announced that he had left and signed for King's Lynn Town.

Apps 115 Subs 5 Goals 47
Updated 17/06/17

Sam Parkinson

A young left back or left sided player he signed for AFC on 27th March 2009 from Cambridge United, where he also played for CRC. He had previously played as a younger player for Leicester City, made his AFC debut on 28th March 2009. On 12th May 2009 he signed again for season 2009/10. He started the season but on 8th December 2009 he was released. On 19th July 2010 he was playing as a ‘triallist’ for Soham Town Rangers, but in September 2010 he was playing for Ely City and was still there in April 2011. He started the 2011/12 season, and was still with the fenland club in May 2012. On 18th August 2012 he was still playing for ‘The Robins” and was still there in April 2013. He continued with Ely City on 10th August 2013, but later transferred to Haverhill Rovers. On 5th September 2014 he was a new signing for Mildenhall Town and he remained with them throughout the 2014/15 season. He returned to the 'Recway' club for the 2015/16 season and was still with them on 9th January 2016 and remained until the end of the season. He started the 2016/17 season still at Mildenhall and played for them on 17th December 2016. He played throughout the season and at the end of it won a Thurlow Nunn Premier League Championship medal and also a League Cup winners medal.

Apps 25 Subs 3 Goals 0
Updated 01/05/17

Ben Patrick

A young fast forward player, he started off at Sudbury Town before switching to Sudbury Wanderers just prior to amalgamation. Showed promise but did not make an appearance until coming on as a sub in February 2000. His appearances were of a limited nature. At the start of season 2003/04 he was included in the first team squad. There was no sign of him at the club at the start of season 2004/05. On 16th October 2004 he made his first appearance for Sudbury Athletic. At the start of season 2005/06 he was back at King’s Marsh signing for the reserve side, but his appearances were very limited. He was not playing at the start of the 2006/07 season. In December 2007 he was turning out in Sunday football for Boxford Rovers. October 2008 saw him playing Saturday football for the same club, and he remained there in 2009/10. He was with Rovers throughout the 2010/11 season and started the 2011/12 campaign with them.

Apps 7 Subs 9 Goals 4
Updated 19/09/11

Ollie Peters

A young midfielder ( b 16/07/99) he joined the club's Academy in 2015 after playing previously for Hadleigh United. Progressed through the club's Under 18's and Reserve sides. He was part of the very successful Under 18's side that won three trophies during the 2016/17 season. He was an unused substitute in September 2016, before he made his first team debut as a substitute on 28th August 2017.

Apps Subs Goals
Updated 29/08/17

Adrian Pettigrew

A central defender (b 12/11/86 in Hackney) he joined the Chelsea Academy in 1999 and signed professionally with them in March 2005 and played for both their youth and reserve teams. During his time there he represented England at under16 (when 14) and under 17 (when 15) levels. On 2nd March 2007 he signed for Wycombe Wanderers on loan initially until the end of the 2006–07 season, but returned early to the London club in April 2007, having played just 45 minutes of first-team football. On 7th August 2007 he played in a pre-season game for Luton Town. On 10th August 2007 he joined Brentford on an initial one-month loan deal, which was later extended to run until 11th November 2007 making thirteen appearances for them. He returned to Stamford Bridge and on 30th January 2008, he joined Rotherham United on loan for the rest of the 2007/08 season, but returned to Chelsea at the end of March having made four appearances for the Millmoor club. In early May 2008 he had a trial with Belgium side Zulte Waregem before Chelsea decided to release him at the end of the 2007/08 season. In July 2008 he rejected the chance to join the Belgium club. In January 2009 he had a trial with Greek side AEK Athens before returning to England and playing one game for Cheshunt. On 23rd January 2009 he transferred to Bishop’s Stortford and on 20th February signed for AFC and made his debut the next day. He did not play for the club again.

Apps 1 Subs 0 Goals 0
Updated 19/09/11

John Pollard

He was 34 years old (b 17/11/71) when he signed at the end of the 2004/05 season for AFC from Heybridge Swifts where he was their record appearance holder. He started his career with Colchester United and played for Bury Town for a short time. He played for St Albans City for a couple of seasons before returning to Heybridge. A central defender or a defensive midfielder, he played a limited number of games in 2005/06 at AFC due to picking up several injuries. He was appointed Vice-Captain of the club by the new manager at the start of 2006/07. He started the season well but on 12th January 2007 was released by mutual consent from his contract. On 29th January he signed for Ridgeons First Division side Tiptree United, where he stayed until 27th March when he joined Halstead Town in the Ridgeons Premier Division. He however could not stop them being relegated, but towards the end of July 2007 was appointed assistant manager. ‘Polly’ was still there at the start of the 2008/09 campaign and played throughout it. He continued at Rosemary Lane at the start of the 2009/10 season, however in October 2009 he left due to changes in his domestic situation. In October 2014 he was Assistant First Team Manager at Coggeshall Town and was still in that position in July 2015. He continued in the 2015/16 season and was still there in March 2016 and in May 2016 the club achieved promotion to the Thurlow Nunn League. He continued with 'The Seedgrowers' in season 2016/17 and was still there on 24th December 2016 and at the end of the season as the club gained promotion again. The 2017/18 season saw him in the same role as the club achieved yet another promotion and on 27th May 2018 they announced he would be continuing with them for the 2018/19 season.

Apps 50 Subs 9 Goals 4
Updated 27/05/18

Russell Pond

A midfield player, (b 21/01/87) he started his footballing career as a youth with Leyton Orient before joining up with Colchester United in February 2003. He became an apprentice with them having loan spells with both Wivenhoe Town and Heybridge Swifts in October 2005, and the latter again in December 2005 and October 2006. He later signed full time for the Essex club. At the start of the 2009/10 season he joined Billericay Town and was their PYO for that season. In August 2010 he was playing for Concord Rangers but in January 2011 he signed again for Heybridge Swifts. He remained with them at the start of the 2011/12 season, but he joined AFC on 2nd March 2012 and played until the end of the season in May 2012. He returned for the 2012/13 season and played until the last week of March 2013 when elbow injuries seemingly ruled him out for the remainder of the season, however he played in the final game of the season on 27th April 2013. He did not return for the 2013/14 season. On 17th September 2013 he was playing his first game of the 2013/14 season having joined Maldon and Tiptree. He was still with them when they played AFC on 28th December 2013. On 1st June 2014 he was announced as staying with the club for the 2014/15 season. In the first week of February 2015 he transferred to Waltham Abbey. On 30th May 2015 Thamesmead Town announced that he had signed for them for season 2015/16. On 16th October 2016 Aveley stated that he had joined them along with their new manger who had left Thamesmead Town previously.

Apps 49 Subs 0 Goals 2
Updated 18/10/16

Matt Pooley

A defender/midfielder (b 15/11/92) he started in the Dagenham and Redbridge youth set up in July 2009. He signed for Braintree Town on 1st July 2011 before in March 2012 having a short loan spell at Walton and Hersham. He left Braintree at the start of the 2012/13 season joining Cray Wanderers until 16th October when he went to Thurrock. He joined AFC from there on 16th November 2012 and played his only game for the club the next day. He was released on 23rd November 2012 but the following week signed for East Thurrock United. During the second week of January 2013 he left and signed once again for Cray Wanderers. On 21st September 2013 he was playing for Heybridge Swifts, however on 29th October he transferred to Burnham Ramblers. On 13th December 2013 he had left and signed for Walton and Hersham. On 30th July 2014 he was on the bench for Billericay Town, he was however released by them on 17th September. On 6th December 2014 he had joined Maldon and Tiptree. On 11th July 2015 he played in a pre-season game for Heybridge Swifts and was still there on 25th April 2016 as he won a Tollesbury D'Arcy Cup Final medal.

Apps 1 Subs 0 Goals 0
Updated 26/04/16

Craig Pope

A central defender (b 17/09/82) he started his career in the Barnet youth system and went on to play for their first team from 2000/01 to 2002/03 making 31 appearances. He joined Cambridge City in July 2003 staying with them for four years. At the start of the 2006/07 season he went to Histon making sixty-nine appearances scoring six goals for them before signing for Thurrock in December 2009. He remained there until the start of the 2011/12 season when he signed for Grays Athletic from where he joined AFC at the start of the 2014/15 season. He stayed until 2nd February 2015 when he was released due to work and travel commitments and on 4th February signed for Harlow Town. On 1st July 2015 he signed for 'The Hawks' again for the 2015/16 season and played for them in March 2016. He won promotion with them via the play-offs in April 2015. On1st July 2016 the club announced he had agreed to stay for the 2016/17 season and he played against AFC on 3rd December 2016 and stayed throughout the season. On 7th July 2017 Harlow announced he would be returning for the 2017/18 season, which he did. On 27th May 2018 he was announced as a player and Assistant Manager for the 2018/19 season with Walthamstow FC.

Apps 36 Subs 0 Goals 3
Updated 27/05/18

Danny Potter

A 38 year-old ( b 18/03/79) when he joined AFC started out with Chelsea as a youngster before playing for a host of clubs including over 100 appearances for both Canvey Island and Cambridge United as well as playing for Newport County, Exeter City and Stevenage. During the 2016/17 season he was with Leiston as their goalkeeping coach, however he was called into action once and played one game in the FA Cup for them. At the start of the 2017/18 season he joined AFC as the goalkeeping coach. On 27th September 2017 he signed on a a player and was on the bench for an FA Cup tie on 30th September. On 24th October he decided to leave the club, six days later he was unveiled as the goalkeeping coach at Stowmarket Town.

Apps 0 Subs 2 Goals 0
Updated 30/10/17

Darren Pratt

He had been with Sudbury Town and joined AFC at the start but after a few weeks became disillusioned and left in November 1999 to join Cornard United. He however re-joined the club in March 2000 but never played another first team game. Went onto become player manager at Long Melford and remained there until the end of the 2003/04 season when he announced he would not be continuing with the job. In June 2004 however he changed his mind and decided to stay on until the end of the season when he stepped down to concentrate on business projects. At the start of the 2005/06 season he signed for AFC once again, this time to play reserve football. He played through the season and was part of the winning Suffolk Junior Cup winning side in April 2006 at Portman Road. At the end of the season he won the Reserve Team Manager’s Player of the Year award. He was signed again at the start of the 2006/07 season and played for the reserves throughout the season, the final few games in goal. On 15th August 2007 Long Melford announced he had signed once again for them, however on 8th November 2007 they stated he had retired due to a knee injury. On 28th December he came back and played yet again against Cornard United, but did not play again. He re-appeared for Sudbury Athletic Reserves on 17th January 2009 scoring twice. In May and June 2010 he completed a charity cycle ride from Serbia to Sudbury along with Gary Harvey. On 9th October 2010 he scored a hat trick playing once again for Sudbury Athletic. In the middle of September 2012 he was a member of Sudbury Cycle Club and taking part in road time trials. In November 2015 he had stopped cycling but was playing six-a-side football on Mondays.

Apps 2 Subs 2 Goals 0
Updated 28/11/15

Matt Proctor

He was an associate schoolboy with Norwich City as a youngster. A left back, (b 04/10/72) he was with Stowmarket Town but joined AFC at the beginning, he spent most of the next season injured playing only a handful of games. He left and joined Wroxham in season 2001/02 came back to the club from Stowmarket in September 2002 to help out the second team. At the start of season 2003/04 joined Cornard United as player/coach and was still there at the start of 2004/05. In January 2005 decided to retire. In February 2005 he started to referee local football, and he received some good marks and quickly made progress. On 16th January 2007 he emigrated to Australia with his family, where he continued his refereeing career. In May 2008 he joined the Police Service in ‘Oz’, and was still there in June 2012. He celebrated his fortieth birthday in October 2012. In January 2017 he was the youth team coach of South West Queensland Thunder. After leaving the Police on 18th February 2017 he started working for Football SWQ as their Schools Development Officer coordinating the Sporting Schools Program through Brisbane Roar. On 12th October he was appointed Head Coach of University of South Queensland Mens Premier side.

Apps 62 Subs 4 Goals 0
Updated 12/10/17

UP TO 19/07/2017