An alumni of Brentwood Secondary School, where he represented Romford Schools and Essex Schools, John began his senior career at Delphian League Brentwood & Warley in 1953. During his national service with the Royal Engineers at Aldershot he played for the Army and was one of several players that joined the Dons via that route around that time. He made the first team after only four appearances in the reserves and during his short stay Wimbledon reached the semi-finals of both the Surrey and London Senior cups in 1957/58, but his appearances the following season were restricted by the emergence of Roy Law and he moved to Barking in October 1958.

He finished his career with Bata Sports before moving to Dublin, where he was on the maintenance staff at Cadbury Schwepps, retiring in 1998.