17. Ricardo Fuller
Fuller spent five seasons in the Premier League, bagging a combined 19 goals for Portsmouth and Stoke. After leaving the latter in 2012, the striker moved on to Charlton, Blackpool and Millwall, with his last professional contract coming at Oldham in 2015/16.
Fuller announce his retirement at the end of that campaign, but he’s since appeared for Sunday League side Grange Park Rangers, whose squad also features former Stoke colleague Mamady Sidibe. On his debut he turned up late, scored a penalty and then had to leave early to watch his son's game.
16. Titus Bramble
A clumsy and error-prone central defender at times, Bramble nevertheless managed to carve out a respectable 15-year professional career at Ipswich, Newcastle, Wigan and Sunderland before calling it a day in 2013.
But he was back for more in August 2017, agreeing a player-coach deal with Stowmarket Town of the Eastern Counties League Premier Division – the ninth tier of the English game.
15. Pascal Chimbonda
The former Tottenham right-back, now 38, signed for Northern League Division One outfit Washington FC in October 2017.
The one-time France international, who enjoyed two spells at White Hart Lane and also spent time on the books of Wigan, Blackburn, Sunderland and QPR, has slowly been working his way down the pyramid in the last few years – his recent clubs include Market Drayton Town, Carlisle and AC Arles-Avignon – culminating in his present employment at the Nissan Sports and Leisure Complex.
14. Barry Hayles
Hayles spent three years in the Premier League with Fulham, netting 13 goals in 75 games during that period and winning the Intertoto Cup in 2002.
Most of his career appearances came in the second and third tiers, though, including at Millwall, Plymouth and Leicester. The striker later had spells with Truro City, St Albans, Arlesey Town and Chesham United, and can currently be found in a player-coach role at Windsor in the Hellenic Football League Premier Division.
13. Clinton Morrison
Not many non-league players can lay claim to reaching the knockout stage of the World Cup, but Morrison is an exception having been part of the Republic of Ireland squad in Japan and South Korea in 2002.
Although the striker spent three years in the Premier League with Birmingham, he’s more synonymous with boyhood club Crystal Palace. Morrison played for Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, MK Dons, Brentford, Colchester and Exeter after leaving Selhurst Park for the second time in 2008, while he’s subsequently turned out for Long Eaton United in the Midland League Premier Division and Mickleover Sports in the Northern Premier League Premier Division.
12. Jonathan Greening
Greening got his first taste of Premier League action with Manchester United, but he's best remembered for his top-flight exploits with Middlesbrough and West Brom. The midfielder, who also played 10 times for Fulham in 2010/11, subsequently dropped down to the Championship with Nottingham Forest, before joining Tadcaster Albion in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division.
Greening briefly rose back up the pyramid with League Two York City, but rejoined Tadcaster in December 2015 and remained at the club following their promotion to the Northern Premier League Division One North.
11. Marcus Bent
Bent won the Premier League Player of the Month award in January 2002, but his exploits that campaign – nine goals in 25 appearances – weren’t enough to help Ipswich extend their stay in the top flight.
The striker also played for Crystal Palace, Blackburn, Leicester, Everton, Wigan, Charlton and Wolves at the highest level of English football, but these days he can be found way down in the Southern Combination Premier Division with Wick FC, whose chairman Rodney Lampton has been a friend of Bent’s since childhood.
10. Jamie O'Hara
O’Hara is another to make the transition from Premier League to Billericay Town in the seventh tier. The midfielder, who’s still only 31, started out at Tottenham and also played in the top flight for Portsmouth and Wolves, then dropped down the divisions with Blackpool, Fulham and Gillingham.
The former England Under-21 international then spent six months out of the game, during which time he appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, before penning a deal with Billericay in March 2017.
9. Lloyd Doyley
A cult hero at Watford, for whom he played 443 games between 2001 and 2015 - including 21 in the Premier League - defender Doyley ended his professional career with three appearances apiece at Rotherham and Colchester.
That wasn't quite the end for the London-born Jamaican, though: Doyley joined Hemel Hempstead Town of the National League South in October 2017 after five months without a club.
8. Jobi McAnuff
McAnuff only spent a single season in the Premier League, appearing in all 38 games during Reading’s relegation campaign of 2012/13.
The winger, once of Wimbledon, Crystal Palace and Watford, signed for League One side Leyton Orient in July 2014. A spell at Stevenage followed, before McAnuff returned to Brisbane Road to represent the O’s in the National League after back-to-back relegations.
7. Steve Claridge
Claridge's career went full circle, starting and ending in non-league football. The striker who scored the goal that earned Leicester promotion to the Premier League in 1996 began at Fareham Town of the Southern League in the mid-1980s, before moving to Bournemouth, Weymouth and Aldershot.
By 2007 he was back in non-league, playing a single game for Worthing in the Isthmian League Premier Division. Brief spells at Harrow Borough, Weymouth and Gosport Borough followed thereafter, before Claridge - now aged 51 - joined Salisbury as player-manager (with an emphasis on the latter) in 2017.
6. Grant Holt
It doesn’t feel that long ago since Holt was being spoken of as a potential line-leader for England at Euro 2012. The centre-forward scored 15 Premier League goals for Norwich in the season leading up to the tournament in Poland and Ukraine, but he netted only eight times the following year and soon found himself with Wigan in the Championship and Rochdale in League One.
Holt then spent a season in Scotland with Hibernian, before joining Evo-Stik Southern League Premier team King’s Lynn Town – managed by Norwich legend Ian Culverhouse – in October 2017.
5. Paul Konchesky
Konchesky enjoyed spells in the Premier League with Charlton, West Ham, Fulham, Liverpool and most recently Leicester in 2014/15, before joining Gillingham in 2016.
The left-back, who represented England twice between 2003 and 2005, is now plying his trade for Isthmian League Premier Division outfit Billericay Town, who are currently top of the league and looking good for promotion.
4. Stephen Jordan
Jordan made 75 Premier League appearances for Manchester City and Burnley, but trouble with injuries forced him down the divisions – first he joined Sheffield United, then Rochdale, before moving north of the border with Dunfermline in 2012.
The defender returned to England after Fleetwood offered him a deal the following year, before Jordan – despite receiving offers from Football League clubs – moved on to National League North side Chorley in 2016.
3. Paul Merson
Youngsters today may only know Merson from his appearances on Soccer Saturday, but before that he was a gifted Premier League midfielder with Arsenal for 12 years. He also had spells at Middlesbrough, Aston Villa and Portsmouth in England’s top two divisions, before a three-year stint at third-tier Walsall.
Merson’s first experience of non-league came with Tamworth in 2006, but the two-time First Division champion departed after a handful of outings. He came out of retirement six years later, briefly representing Whitton Athletic and Welshpool Town, and at the time of writing is awaiting international clearance to appear for Welsh Football Division Two side Caerau.
2. Jermaine Pennant
Pennant made Billericay Town his 15th club in summer 2017, adding another chapter to a story which has featured time in Spain, India and Singapore. The winger, once of Arsenal and Stoke, also represented Liverpool in the 2007 Champions League Final, when Milan ran out 2-1 winners in Athens.
“I’ve seen things I don’t think anyone else has seen in football,” the non-leaguer told the Guardian in August. “I can bring everything I’ve learned to what I do here.”
1. Julio Arca
Arca first moved to the northeast of England in 2000, when Peter Reid paid £3.5m for the Argentine’s services. He spent six years with the Black Cats before moving a few miles down the road to Middlesbrough, whom he represented almost 200 times between 2006 and 2013.
Such was his love for the region, Arca spent the 2014/15 season with Sunday League side Willow Pond, before joining South Shields in September 2015 and helping them to promotion in his debut campaign. Arca and his team-mates now play in the Northern Premier League Division One.
