Presenters

John is the voice of BBC Radio Stoke sport. He presents Praise and Grumble Friday, Sport on Saturday, Midweek sport, and can regularly be found sitting in for Stuart George and Pete Morgan during the week.

You might recognise John's voice from his commentary on Stoke City's goals as they made their way into the Premier League, he can also be found commentating on Port Vale and Crewe Alexandra, and then chairing the most famous Football phone in the Midlands ‘Praise and Grumble’, after 5pm on Match days and after 6pm every Friday night during the football season.

You can ask John a question at sport.stoke@bbc.co.uk or get yourself on his show right NOW by calling Praise and Grumble 24/7 on 0044 (0)1782 221215 and leaving a message.

Big break

John was brought up by the sea near Plymouth in Devon in a village called Wembury, and got his big break when he worked for free with the Community Service Volunteers at BBC Radio Devon.

He was soon presenting his own show at weekends and reporting on Plymouth Argyle, Exeter City and Torquay United on Saturdays. He then spent a spell out of Radio, working for the now defunct ITV digital, and has been a dockyard labourer and basketball official in younger life.

It was a Post Graduate course in Broadcast Journalism at Falmouth College of Arts that got him back behind a microphone in 2001, and spells at Kick FM in Newbury, and Kestrel FM in Basingstoke led to him landing his dream job here at BBC Radio Stoke.

Stan

John lives with his wife Marianne in Stoke-on-Trent, and sadly only has one cat now - Stanley (named by listeners to the Friday Football Phone in after the great Sir Stan Matthews) - after Nugget died.

He loves all sports including cricket, where he represented his county at youth level. He's also mad on golf, and is a member at Wychwood Park golf club in Weston.

He’s also a big fan of Poker and regularly has the rest of the sports team round to his place to take their money.

Contact John now at sport.stoke@bbc.co.uk