Jonathan Speak
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jonathan Speak | ||
| Date of birth | 12 August 1965 | ||
| Place of birth | Sion Mills, Northern Ireland | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1983–1984 | Ballymena United F.C. | 13 | (6) |
| 1984–1985 | Dundalk F.C. | ? | (2) |
| 1985–1987 | Ballymena United F.C. | ? | (22) |
| 1987–1992 | Derry City F.C. | ? | (69) |
| 1992–1994 | Ballymena United F.C. | 47 | (19) |
| 1994–2003 | Finn Harps F.C. | 152 | (64) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2001–2003 | Finn Harps F.C. | ||
| 2004 | Omagh Town F.C. | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Jonathan Speak (born 1965 in Sion Mills) is a former Northern Irish footballer and manager.
Speak started his playing career at Ballymena United in 1983 where he was top scorer with 11 league goals. He then signed for Dundalk F.C. and made his League of Ireland debut on 16 September 1984. After one season he moved back to Ballymena where in 2 seasons he was their top scorer.
He joined Derry City in August 1987. He was the 1987–88 League of Ireland Premier Division top scorer with 24 goals. Six of these goals came in one game in a 7–2 win over Sligo in April 1988.
Speak also helped Derry to a domestic treble in the 1988–89 season.
After 5 years at the Brandywell he moved back to Ballymena. In the 1993/94 season he again topped their scorers chart with 13 league goals.
He moved back to the League of Ireland to join Finn Harps in August 1994 for £14,000.
He led the Harps gallop to promotion in 1995–96, scoring 17 goals that season. Indeed, he was the club's top scorer for the next three seasons. Speak played 209 times for Harps in all competitions and scored 81 goals, 64 league goals in 152 matches. He also scored the winner in the 1999 FAI Cup semi-final in Terryland Park against Galway to send Harps to their first Cup Final in 25 years and scored again in one of the FAI Cup Final replays in Tolka Park.
When Gavin Dykes took over the managerial reins from Charlie McGeever in 2000, he appointed Speak as his assistant. Speak was also manager of a very talented Harps Under 21 team at the time.
When Dykes resigned after an abysmal run of games that left Harps rooted to the bottom of the Premier table, Speak took over as caretaker, if somewhat reluctantly. He took Harps on an amazing unbeaten run of 14 games only to be cruelly relegated on the last day of the season.
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