John Thomas Palethorpe (23 November 1909 – 6 June 1984) was an English professional footballer who played for Reading, Stoke City, Preston North End, Sheffield Wednesday, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace.
[2] He signed professionally for Reading for the following term and had two good full seasons at Elm Park scoring 54 goals in 59 League appearances.
[1] Palethorpe's first taste of top flight football the following season only lasted for 11 games as he switched to Second Division leaders Preston North End who hoped he would do a similar job to what he did at Stoke and guarantee promotion.
Palethorpe formed a fine goalscoring partnership with George Stephenson ensuring that Preston gained promotion as runners-up.
He had the unusual record of playing for four different First Division clubs (Stoke, Preston, Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa) but never actually completing a full season with any one of them.