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Jon Macken
Personal information
Full name	Jonathan Paul Macken
Date of birth	September 7, 1977 (1977-09-07) (age 30)
Place of birth	Blackley, Manchester, England
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Barnsley (on loan from Derby County)
Number	21
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1996-1997 1997-2002 2002-2005 2005-2007 2006-2007 2007- 2007	Manchester United Preston North End Manchester City Crystal Palace → Ipswich Town (loan) Derby County → Barnsley	000 0(0) 189 (63) 051 0(7) 025 0(2) 014 0(3) 008 0(0) 002 0(0)
National team2
2004	Republic of Ireland	001 0(0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 07:59, 2 November 2007 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 16:44, 25 February 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Jonathan Paul "Jon" Macken (born September 7, 1977 in Blackley Manchester, England) is an English-born Irish footballer who plays as a striker. He currently plays for Barnsley on loan from Derby County. He has one international cap for the Republic of Ireland.

Although he began his career at Manchester United, Macken only started to play professionally after moving to Preston North End in 1997 where he scored over 70 goals, twice winning the Player of the Year award. Following this success, Macken moved into the Premiership with a transfer to Manchester City in February 2002, for a fee of £5,000,000. However, he was severely hampered by a succession of injuries and only made 27 league starts in over three seasons.

This downturn in his career brought about a move away from Manchester and Macken joined Crystal Palace in the summer of 2005 for £1,100,000. Initially, he did not get into the Palace team, and was behind England international Andrew Johnson and Republic of Ireland International Clinton Morrison. An injury to Johnson gave him a chance, initially, but then he himself got injured. His own replacement, Dougie Freedman showed good form, and despite a recovery from injury, Macken did not get back in the team.

However, things turned upwards from there. Poor form by Morrison in the run-up to the Christmas period gave Macken his chance, and he scored his first competitive goal for Palace in the game at Coventry City, on 14 October 2005 (he had previously scored in a pre-season friendly), and scored again on 26 December, at Ipswich Town, although he was later sent off.

More injuries then continued to limit his chances, and the partnership with Johnson continued to alternate between Morrison and Dougie Freedman, with many fans voicing their discontent that Macken was not living up to his price-tag. Johnson was sold to Everton, prompting the return of Sándor Torghelle to the club from his loan at Panathinaikos, creating speculation that Macken may be leaving the club, but the appointment of Peter Taylor as manager appeared to silence this. Taylor, a known fan of Macken, was reportedly trying to sign him for Hull, while he was in charge there.^[1]

Torghelle left permanently for Greece, but again his playing opportunities were limited. On deadline-day of the Summer 2006 transfer window, he made a further move to Ipswich Town in The Championship, this time on loan, being handed the number 27 shirt. The loan was finally agreed when Ipswich agreed to pay an increased proportion of his wages.^[2] Macken scored three goals for the Tractor Boys before returning to Selhurst Park.

On 31 January 2007 Macken joined Derby County on a free transfer. Derby were promoted to the Premier League at the end of the 2006-07 season, but he failed to win a place in the side in the new campaign and was loaned to Championship side Barnsley for two months in November 2007.^[3]

Macken has represented the England U-20 team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship, but represents the Republic of Ireland at full international level.

• Jon Macken career stats at Soccerbase