Player Profile

A former Reading youth-teamer, Swindon signed midfielder John Goddard in the summer of 2016 after a prolific season with Woking in the National League, where he’d scored 17 goals. Town handed him a three-year contract in the belief he was someone they could he improve and he made his debut in the opening game of the 2016/17 season, a 1-0 win over Coventry.

A fairly slight figure, Goddard wasn’t able to replicate that goalscoring ability he’d shown in non-league football, scoring just three times in a relegation season where he started 28 games. Two of them came against Shrewsbury, the second a penalty in a draw at the County Ground where Town failed to complete victory when 1-0 up against 10 men. He described trying to play Luke Williams’ possession-based game as a "real learning curve".

Goddard always seemed a likely candidate to be moved on when David Flitcroft arrived after relegation to League Two, but he impressed the new manager enough to start in the 2-1 win at Carlisle on the opening day of the 2017/18 season. However, a foot injury sustained in that match robbed him of the chance to pin down a regular starting place. He did return, and score in an impressive 3-0 win at Steve Evans’ Mansfield in October, but that would be his last league goal. With his first team involvement tailing off almost completely December, Goddard was sold at the end of the January 2018 transfer window to Stevenage, ending his Swindon career with 5 goals in 65 games.

Playing Record

Senior

Reserve and Youth Team Appearances

Note that appearance data for reserve and youth teams may not be complete. Expand for more information.

Career details

Club	Details
Reading Reading	cs 2001 (schoolboy) 2011 (signed professional contract); released (2011/2)
Hayes and Yeading United Hayes & Yeading	July 2012 (unattached); released (2012/3)
Portsmouth Portsmouth	2012 (trial)
Woking Woking	rptd September 1st, 2013 (unattached); transferred out (May 23rd, 2016)
Swindon Town Swindon	May 23rd, 2016 (transferred in, undisclosed fee); transferred out (January 31st, 2018)
Stevenage Stevenage	January 31st, 2018 (transferred in, undisclosed fee); released (rptd January 18th, 2019)
Bromley Bromley	rptd August 17th, 2018 (loan); expired (2018/9)
Aldershot Town Aldershot	rptd January 18th, 2019 (unattached); released (2018/9)
Ebbsfleet United Ebbsfleet United	rptd July 16th, 2019 (unattached); released (rptd July 15th, 2020)
Woking Woking	rptd August 13th, 2020 (unattached); released (rptd June 18th, 2021)
St. Albans City St. Albans	rptd August 8th, 2021 (unattached); released (rptd June 18th, 2022)
Slough Town Slough Town	July 1st, 2022 (announced June 21st, 2022) (unattached); released (rptd May 24th, 2024)
Boreham Wood Boreham Wood	July 1st, 2024 (announced May 24th, 2024) (unattached)