Town have confirmed the signing of Crystal Palace striker Stern John on loan until 29th December. The paperwork on the deal was completed close to the 5pm deadline with the authorities rubber-stamping the move later in the evening.

The Trinidad and Tobago international has played for the Eagles only seven times since joining them in the summer after undergoing elbow surgery in August. He is yet to score this season.

Having played for Malta Carib Alcons in his home country, John moved on to the Carolina Dynamo, the New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers and Columbus Crew in the US before relocating to England with Nottingham Forest in 1999.

Since then the 5ft 11in tall frontman has played for a long list of clubs, largely at Championship level: Birmingham City, Coventry, Derby (loan), Sunderland, Southampton and Bristol City (loan), before joining Palace in the summer on a free transfer. He has made 109 appearances for his country, scoring 69 goals.

In eight months at Sunderland under Keane between January and August 2007, John scored five goals in 10 starts and six sub appearances, helping the Black Cats to win the Championship. Overall in English football, John has scored 97 goals in 250 starts and 105 sub substitute appearances.

The striker will train with his new team-mates on Friday and is likely to make his debut at Cardiff on Sunday.

Photo: Action Images

JammyDodgerrr added 19:21 - Nov 26 Woot (:
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taximan added 19:21 - Nov 26 brilliant
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BoxerBlue added 19:22 - Nov 26 Good news well done keano welcome aboard stern
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SitfcB added 19:23 - Nov 26 Give him a chane!!!!
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3wheeltractorboy added 19:23 - Nov 26 Stinks of desperation
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SitfcB added 19:24 - Nov 26 Chance***
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Wickets added 19:24 - Nov 26 Getting on a bit, but just the kind of player we need right now, big and strong in the box
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Greektractor added 19:25 - Nov 26 what help will a chain be?
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superblues9 added 19:25 - Nov 26 Desperate ?
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Farmers_Union added 19:26 - Nov 26 joy of joys. could make good foil for Priskin methinks. Most interesting. COYB
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siralfstrackie added 19:26 - Nov 26 Here come the go-als!!! COYB!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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3wheeltractorboy added 19:27 - Nov 26 2 goals in last 33 matches, wow thats the 20 goal a season striker we needed. I can sleep easy now knowing we will be safe..........
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MazzaCOYB added 19:28 - Nov 26 Very pleased with this, exactly what we missed last Saturday, someone who knows how to put it in the back of the net, the stats can prove this, sure he is getting on but I am sure he can still do a job. COYB roll on Sunday
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Surco72 added 19:29 - Nov 26 Counago and Stead will out score John and Priskin any day of the week ,would rather have had Harte, but we shall see
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OnlyOneSirBobby added 19:30 - Nov 26 unless he was gona score 20 goals between now and january, he was never going to be the 20 goal striker, but he is someone new, different type of player than what we currently have, and hopefully can get us a few goals and few wins...i truly believe its all we need to get our season up and running
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AJblue added 19:32 - Nov 26 Welcome to Town Stern. I hope it works out for you and us. Anyone who doesnt feel that way, well i despair in you. Lets leave judgement until he has pulled on the shirt and played a few games shall we? Once again all the best, cos if you do well...so do we.
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rubberblood added 19:34 - Nov 26 excellent.... gonna sign him on FM10 now!
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AJblue added 19:34 - Nov 26 Yeah Surco, Counago (who i rate) and Stead have been on fire this season havent they?
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lukeym18 added 19:35 - Nov 26 people give john a chance!! he's a decent player on the outside, he's big,strong,hard working,holds the ball up well, wins headers, and scores a few goals (properly not 20 goals) but a decent number indeed. im sure he could be a good player for us aswell.
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Mark added 19:37 - Nov 26 Hardly an inspiring signing at his age, but let's hope he can score a few goals for us. Really we need to be looking to January to bring in some players of better quality, although personally I'd prefer a manager with a better judgement than Keane has shown to be given the cash to spend. Looking at the stats on Wiki, John's recent (since 2007) goalscoring record is 5 in 16 (31%) at Sunderland, 19 in 47 (41%) at Southampton, 2 in 24 at Bristol City (8%) and 0 in 7 at Palace (0%). The last two are worrying, so we'll need to get him back to his old form. Keane doesn't seem to have got the best out of many players thus far, so let's hope it works with John.

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biggerblue added 19:37 - Nov 26 OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHH DEAR Hangs head and blows out !! I hope he proves me wrong!!
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Daleyitfc added 19:38 - Nov 26 Where is Dwight Yorke when you need him .....
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Keaneish added 19:39 - Nov 26 Not liking the look of this. Did Bent's injury stop a move from Healy i wonder? Up to you now Priskin. Get the goals the man brought you in for or have his sacking on your CV. No doubt John has been brought in as foil for Priskin. Lets see how we go then.
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NS2Blue added 19:40 - Nov 26 Give him a chance! We never rated Shefki when we signed him and look how he did well for us.
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marcoitfc added 19:41 - Nov 26 I am elated that we have picked up a Crystal Palace reserve that is just coming back from injury and has barely kicked a ball all season. This really is scraping the bottom of the barrel and says a lot for our transfer skills such as spending a fortune on Priskin and giving away Rhodes!! Even Lee is ahead of John in the pecking order at Palace!! We are becoming a total joke!!

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