Deon Burton

Early career

Born in Reading, Berkshire, Burton began his professional career with Portsmouth, with whom he made his debut in the 1993–94 season, playing in two games. Burton would play intermittently for Portsmouth over the next three seasons and scored the goal that kept the club in the First Division in a 1–0 final day win against Huddersfield Town in May 1996. In 1997, former Portsmouth manager Jim Smith signed Burton for Premier League club Derby County in a £1 million move.

Derby County, return to Portsmouth and loans

Burton would again struggle to establish a starting role at Derby, playing intermittently there with loans at other clubs including Stoke in February 2002, and a second spell at Portsmouth, which began in August 2002. He returned to Derby in September having broken a bone in his foot, but later signed for Portsmouth in December 2002 for a fee rising to £250,000 and Portsmouth were promoted at the end of the season. Burton stayed shortly at Portsmouth, but, unable to establish a starting role, was loaned to Walsall and Swindon Town, where he scored once against Wycombe Wanderers. In July 2004 he signed for Brentford, playing for them in the 2004–05 campaign and helping the club to the League One play-off semi-finals against Sheffield Wednesday as their top scorer.

Rotherham United

In July 2005 he joined Rotherham United on a free transfer, signing a contract for two years. After scoring 14 goals in the first half of the season,…

In 2018, Burton joined West Bromwich Albion as a youth coach. In July 2020, Burton was named as the manager of the U23 team after he had impressed when he took over on a temporary basis when Michael Appleton left the role to join to Lincoln City in September 2019. On 13 May 2022, Burton lead West Brom U23 to victory in the 2021–22 Premier League Cup, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers U23s on penalties in the final.

Burton made his debut for the Jamaica national team on 7 September 1997 in the latter stages of their 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. He finished with four goals from five games, an exploit which won him Jamaican Sportsman of the Year Award for almost single-handedly getting the country to the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals. However, he failed to score in France. He also appeared in each of Jamaica's games as they finished fourth in the 1998 CONCACAF Gold Cup but he failed to score. He was also in the squad that failed to qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup and was again included on the roster for the 2000 CONCACAF Gold Cup. He was included in the qualifying squad for the 2003 CONCACAF Gold Cup, making substitute appearances but was dropped from the squad after qualification. Burton had to wait three years for his next international involvement – coming against the country of his birth England. Good form for Sheffield Wednesday meant that he was recalled for a friendly match against Trinidad and Tobago on 27 March 2008. He came on as a second-half substitute for Marlon King in a 2–2 draw. He kept his place in the squad for the next friendly game against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines on 3 June, again coming off the bench for King in the second half, to score his side's fourth goal a minute later and also to cross for Ricardo Gardner to score the fifth and final goal in the 87th minute of a 5–1 victory.

Club

International