Jon Macken

Jonathan Macken (born September 7, 1977 in Manchester, England) is an Irish footballer who plays for Ipswich Town in The Championship, on loan from Crystal Palace. He wears the dreaded number 13 shirt and is a striker.

Jon joined Crystal Palace from Manchester City in the summer of 2005 for £1,100,000. Although he began his career at Man Utd Macken only started to play professionally after moving to Preston in 1997 where he scored over 70 goals. Jon has also picked up two Player of the Year awards at Preston. Macken moved to Man City in the 2001-02 season for £5m but he was plagued by injuries and only made 27 league starts in over three seasons.

Initially, Macken did not get into the Palace team, and was behind England International Andy 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 following a return 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 (although Jon was also sent off later in the game, for elbowing an opposition player).

However, injuries then limited his chances thereafter, and the partnership with Johnson continued to alternate between Morrison and Dougie Freedman, and many fans have voiced their discontent that Macken has not lived up to his price-tag. Though Johnson has been sold to Everton, Sándor Torghelle will return to the club from his loan at Panathinaikos next season, creating speculation as to whether Macken would still be at Palace next season, but the appointment of Peter Taylor as manager appears to have silenced this. Taylor is a known fan of Macken, and was reportedly trying to sign him for Hull, while he was in charge there[1].

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