My York travesty with Portsmouth convinced me to quit football - ex-Charlton, Millwall and Brighton keeperJohn Sullivan
Bootham Crescent has now departed – demolished and bulldozed – yet forever will remain the last resting place of John Sullivan’s football career.
York City have relocated to the York Community Stadium, a new home since February 2021 for the now National League North club.
Yet for many of those present for a Pompey 4-2 loss, the ghosts remain – particularly the man in goal on that wretched day.
In September 2013, Guy Whittingham’s side slumped to a defeat which left them 15th in League Two, while it effectively signalled the end of Sullivan’s Blues playing days.
On four minutes, the former Charlton man dropped Josh Carson’s free-kick, a routine catch, and Wes Fletcher capitalised to open the scoring.
The keeper’s performance unravelled as the hosts claimed a victory which humiliated the Blues – and Sullivan never played for Pompey again.
‘We lost 4-2 at York, it doesn’t get any lower than that,’ Sullivan told The News.
‘There’s a picture of me with a towel over my head after the final whistle, that day was awful. My dad and brother-in-law had also come up to see that travesty.
‘A simple free-kick came in, I dropped it, and Wes Fletcher finished. At that point, I knew I would never play for Pompey again and I quit football at the end of that season.
‘Mistakes happen, no-one ever tries to make an error like that. It happened because I wasn’t in the team all the time, the manager kept changing between me and Phil Smith.
‘I wasn’t relaxed, I was very on edge, then you play a little too angry. Whereas when you’re playing every week, you are playing freely and with spirit.
‘The best footballers are the ones who play without the worry of making a mistake because they know the manager is going to back them. I never really had that at Pompey.
‘I was probably a little too agitated before games, I wanted to impress people too much, that’s when a goal would come from a normal catch.
‘Phil is a very capable goalkeeper, but, in that situation, you want someone to step forward and say “Phil or John, you’re going to be my number one keeper, you’ve got 10 games”. A goalkeeper needs that environment – and we didn’t get that.
‘I played the first game against Oxford United and should have done better when Alfie Potter beat me at the near post. That was my debut and I was binned straight away.
‘Phil came in and then he was dropped and I was back in again – and it was still August! It was a weird situation.’
Sullivan would sit on Pompey’s bench for another 10 games that season, without ever being recalled for first-team duty.
In January 2014, he moved on loan to Cambridge United for an unsuccessful three-game stint, before ripping up his contract at the season’s end.
Sullivan added: ‘In my football career, I would look at social media, especially when playing well, you want to see the nice comments.
‘Then it’s “John you’re rubbish, clear off”. You read it. The big thing for footballers is don’t read, try to stay off social media, I don’t think it benefits you.
‘It’s hard not to, though, people tag you. Even then, someone is going to tell you about it, and that’s kind of the way the world is now.
‘I haven’t watched the news in 5-6 years, all the TV does is publicise bad news, but people are going to tell me the bad news anyway, so it doesn’t make a difference!’
A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron
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