John Joseph Welsh Sr (born 10 January 1984) is an English former professional footballer who played as midfielder.

In the 2002–03 season John Welsh played only one game for the first team – his début match against Ipswich Town on 4 December 2002 in a League Cup fourth round tie at home – when he replaced Vladimír Šmicer in the 83rd minute.

His first game in Premiership was against Arsenal on 4 October 2003, when he replaced Salif Diao in the 82nd minute, but he couldn't help his team avoid defeat – they lost 2–1, and unfortunately for Welsh, his first act was to be booked for a foul on Ray Parlour.

Welsh featured in Liverpool's run to the 2005 UEFA Champions League Final, coming on as a substitute in the round of 16 away tie against Bayer Leverkusen.

After three starts and seven substitute appearances in all competitions for Liverpool, in August 2005, John went on a season-long loan to Championship side Hull City.

The club were impressed, and in November 2005 agreed a deal which saw Liverpool take promising young winger Paul Anderson in exchange.

On 31 December 2007, Chester City announced they would be signing Welsh on loan when the transfer window reopened the following day.

[9] Despite Tom Clarke taking over the captaincy for the 2014–15 season, Welsh still played a major part in getting the club promoted via the play-offs.