John answers City's Caul

It has been one of the worst kept secrets in recent days, but this morning Cork City announced that club legend John Caulfield will take over as first team manager.

As the 49-year old manager takes up the reins at the club he loves, Extratime.ietake a look at John Caulfield (or ‘Johnny C’) the player.

Born in New York, Caulfield arrived at Cork City via Roscommon, Athlone and Munster Senior League club Wembley. The young striker made his debut for Cork City in the League Cup against Kilkenny City in 1986, but it was a hattrick in the 3-2 home win against Sligo Rovers that first made the Turner’s Cross faithful sit up and take notice.

October 1987 saw the club (and Caulfield) win its first ever piece of silverware in the shape of the League Cup, and in February 1988 Caulfield’s goals and performances were recognised when he became only the second player in the history of the club to win the Player of the Month award.

The ‘91-’92 season saw ‘Johnny C’ capture his second Player of the Month award (in January), for his goals in a scoring spree that ultimately saw him finish as the league’s top scorer with 16 goals.

A year later, and the Rebel Army captured the “holy grail” as Caulfield’s and Pat Morley’s goals fired Noel O’Mahoney’s men to the league title for the first time in the club’s history.

November 1994 saw Caulfield once again claim a Player of the Month award as he once again went on to finish the season as the league’s top scorer with 16 goals.

An FAI Cup medal and another Player award was to come in 1998 as the fan’s favourite continued to score at will into his thirties.

When Caulfield hung up his boots, he had amassed an incredible club record of 455 appearances and is fittingly joint top league scorer for Cork City with his striker partner Pat Morley with 129 goals.

The new Cork City manager is also currently the 20^th all-time topscorer in League of Ireland history, and fans of the Rebel Army will now be hoping that his team will go on to show some of the ruthlessness in front of goal that made their manager famous.

Here is a clip of some of his goals.