JASON PUNCHEON

Born: 26 June 1986

Came from: Barnet   Went to: Southampton

First game: 09 August 2008   Last game: 28 December 2008

Appearances: 7 (6/1)   Goals: 0

Born in Croydon, Puncheon began his career as a trainee with Wimbledon and made 42 appearances for the club before he was released by the relocated Milton Keynes Dons in 2006. He then had brief spells with non-league Fisher Athletic and Lewes before joining Barnet. His form there led to interest from several clubs, with Argyle winning the race to sign the winger. Despite beginning his first season at Argyle in the starting line-up, he lost his place after just five games and joined his former team, MK Dons, on loan. He was recalled from this loan shortly before Christmas 2008, but re-joined Milton Keynes for a second loan early in the new year. After spending the 2009 pre-season with Argyle he once again returned to Milton Keynes, this time on a season-long loan.

Puncheon made 61 appearances and scored 11 times in his three loan spells for MK Dons before he left Argyle to join Southampton in the January transfer window of 2010, cutting short his third spell with the Buckinghamshire club as a result. Initially playing regularly for the Saints, he fared less well after manager Alan Pardew was replaced by Nigel Adkins, and eventually lost his place to a young Alex Oxlaide-Chamberlain, a player later sold to Arsenal for £15 million. In his first two years at St Mary's, Puncheon was loaned out three times: to Millwall in November 2010 (5 goals in 7 games); to Ian Holloway's Premier League Blackpool in January 2011 (3 goals in 11 games); and in August 2011 to Queens Park Rangers, also in the Premier League (2 games). When he netted his first Premier League goal (on his debut for Blackpool), he joined a select group of players to have scored in the top four tiers of English Football.

Having publicly criticised Southampton’s Chief Executive, Puncheon's return to St Mary's could have been difficult had it not been for his subsequent apology. By the end of the 2012-13 campaign, despite his many loan spells, he had still managed 81 appearances and 10 goals for his club, and had earned a contract extension to tie him to St Mary’s until 2016. In August 2013 his nomadic career continued when he joined fellow Premier League side Crystal Palace on loan for the season, joining other ex-Pilgrims Darcy Blake, Yannick Bolasie and Jason Banton at Selhurst Park.

In January 2014 Puncheon made his loan spell into a permanent move for a fee of around £1.75m after his three goals that month (and a further three in back-to-back wins in April) lifted Palace away from the relegation zone. This led former Argyle boss Tony Pulis to issue a 'hands off' warning to other clubs.

Remaining a regular for Palace across six Premier League seasons, Puncheon played over 150 games and scored 16 times in all competitions. He famously put Palace ahead in the 2016 FA Cup Final against Manchester United, a goal that promoted Alan Pardew's infamous touch-line 'moves'. In July 2017 he replaced Scott Dann as captain but then in January 2018, Palace manager Roy Hodgson announced that Puncheon would play no further part in the 2017-18 season because of a cruciate ligament injury. Returning to fitness, he made just three starts for Palace (all cup games) in 2018-19 and with his contract up at the end of the season, in the January 2019 transfer window he moved to Premier League rivals Huddersfield Town on loan until the end of the season, making seven appearances in total.

At the end of the 2018-19 season he returned to Palace, where he was released after six seasons with the Premier League club, having made 169 appearances and scored 16 times, including his original loan spell.

Puncheon then moved abroad and signed for Pafos in the Cypriot First Division for the 2020-21 season, spending three seasons with the club, playing 80 times, scoring 5 goals. For the 2022-23 season he moved to league rivals Anorthosis, where he played 17 times without scoring, before moving into management.

In 2023-24 he took charge of Cypriot Second Division side Peyia 2014. After 8 wins from 18 games, he moved to First Division side AEZ Zakakiou, but was sacked inside a month after failing to win any of his first seven matches.

He then briefly returned to playing with Kissos FC Kissonergas of the Cypriot regional fifth tier before being given a further chance in management in late October 2024 when he was appointed manager of Second Division AO Ayia Napa on a deal until the end of the season.