James Perch

James Robert Perch (born 28 September 1985) is an English footballer who plays for Newcastle United. Perch is versatile and has covered many positions in both defence and across midfield. However, he is usually deployed at right back.

Career

Nottingham Forest

Perch was born in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire. He was educated at Sherwood Hall Upper School. He is a product of the Nottingham Forest youth academy. He is very versatile and has played in a number of different positions at the City Ground. Though he started off a striker in the Forest academy, he was moved to right-back as a cover and played well there; he's also known for being good in goal. The right-back position stuck for a while, but when he broke into the first team, he played as a central defender. Perch made his debut for the Nottingham Forest reserves in 2001. He scored two goals and almost scored a hat-trick when he went through on goal and forced Newcastle United goalkeeper James Pickering into a great save. Perch's game went sour when he was sent off for violent conduct for seemingly head-butting Sacha Stephenson, which resulted in a brawl between Forest defender Richard Woodward and Newcastle striker Tim Ivil. Referee Tanzil Aslam later endorsed the red card being rescinded after being shown video evidence.

In 2004, the versatile player was linked with a move to Levante but the move never materialised. Early in the 2005/2006 season he...
Read More