John Archer (footballer, born 1941)

Archer graduated through the Port Vale junior squad to sign as a professional in July 1958.[1] He made his Third Division debut in the 1959–60 campaign under manager Norman Low. He scored twice against Wrexham in a 3–1 victory at Vale Park on 16 April 1960, finishing the campaign with three goals in six games.[1] However, he featured just four times on 1960–61, and was moved on to league rivals Bournemouth & Boscombe Athletic on a free transfer in May 1961, then managed by Bill McGarry.[1]

He scored two goals on his club debut.[3] Bournemouth were pushing promotion, and finished in third place, three points short of promotion in 1961–62. They finished in fifth place in 1962–63, six points short of their target. A fourth-place finish followed in 1963–64, four points shy of promotion. They then dropped to eleventh place in 1964–65 under Reg Flewin. Archer left the club following a further slip down the table in 1965–66 under Freddie Cox's stewardship. He scored 37 goals in 139 league games during his time on the south coast.

He then moved on to Ernie Tagg's Crewe Alexandra for a £3,000 fee and was converted from an inside forward into a midfielder.[4] Crewe were aiming for promotion in the Fourth Division, but the "Railwaymen" finished fifth in 1966–67, four points short of promotion. Crewe won promotion the following season, though Archer left the club midway through.

In January 1968, Archer was sold to Huddersfield Town for a fee of £8,000 plus a player in exchange.[5] He played nine Second Division games without scoring under Tom Johnston in the 1967–68 campaign and struggled with injuries.[5]

Archer remained in the Fourth Division after putting pen to paper with Chesterfield, where he was also appointed club captain after being signed for a £1,000 fee in May 1969; manager Jimmy McGuigan could have signed him on a free transfer but decided to authorise the transfer fee so as to prevent other clubs from making Archer an offer.[4][5] After finishing just one place and two points above the re-election zone in 1968–69, the "Spireites" topped the division in 1969–70; Archer scored two goals direct from corners during the 1969–70 season.[4] They then finished fifth in 1970–71, nine points short of a second successive promotion. He took over penalty taking duties from Kevin Randall in 1971.[5] Archer retired after the club finished in mid-table in 1971–72. Fans nicknamed him Dan Archer after The Archers radio programme.[5] He played a total of 129 games for Chesterfield, scoring 24 goals.