Date / Year of birth: 1st October 1958

Position: Striker

Season of first appearance: 1981/82

Season of last appearance: 1989/90

Also played for: Tonbridge, Canterbury City, Sheppey United, Gravesend & Northfleet, Crawley Town, Dartford and Chatham Town

Tough, fiery striker born in Rainham who excelled in the air.

Karl began his career with Tonbridge, joining them in March 1978 after having trials at Nottingham Forest. He spent two full seasons with the Angels and scored in a 4-1 defeat at Margate on 22.3.80.

He then joined Canterbury for the start of the 1980/81 campaign but after scoring five goals in 15 Southern League appearances he left the club before the end of the season and joined Sheppey.

Karl then returned to Canterbury in the summer of 1981 but he left Kingsmead early in 1982 and was playing local football in Gravesend when Thanet United signed him in March 1982.

United manager Terry Morris described Karl as being "deceptively strong and quick" and he made his debut in a game against Dover at Hartsdown on 20.3.82, marking the occasion with a goal. Karl scored twice more before the end of the 1981/82 season, both goals coming in a 3-0 win over Folkestone on 10.4.82. However he was sent off for kicking Gosport's goalkeeper during a 3-1 defeat there on 13.4.82. Although he was able to play in United's next three matches, taking his total appearances to seven, Karl was banned for the last two games of the campaign.

He stayed with United for the 1982/83 season but after playing in the first four matches of the campaign Karl was dropped. Terry Morris said "he hasn't played at all well... he's having problems even controlling the ball." Karl then suffered a groin injury and he didn't return to United's first team until March 1983. He made just 15 appearances (one as sub) during the season and scored only once - in a 2-0 win over Hounslow on 29.3.83.

Karl began the 1983/84 campaign as a regular in the United side but he scored only once in his first seven appearances of the season up to September 1983. He then had to serve an eight week ban for being sent off in a Sunday League game. When he returned from his suspension in November 1983 Karl was in and out of the side for a couple of months but by the end of the season he was playing regularly again. He finished the campaign with a decent record of eight goals from 26 appearances. However another sending off in a Medway Sunday League game for Rainham Social Club towards the end of the season led to Karl being hit with a five month ban, starting from August 1984.

When he returned to action at the end of his suspension in January 1985 Karl quickly made up for lost time by scoring in his first match of the season - a 2-0 win over Ashford in an Eastern Floodlight Cup tie at Hartsdown on 31.1.85. A few days later, on 2.2.85, Thanet travelled to Ashford for a Southern League game and the Thanet Times said that Karl was "outstanding". He scored again in a 1-1 draw to make it two goals in two games but it was only a taste of what was to come. His deadly opportunism brought him a total of 16 goals in his first 14 appearances, up to and including a 4-3 win over Braintree in the 1st leg of the Floodlight Cup semi-final at Hartsdown on 28.3.85. Karl scored twice in the match, including a superb volley from the edge of the penalty area, and it was the eighth consecutive game in which he'd scored in a run that had begun on 2.3.85 in a 1-0 home win over Hillingdon. In the replay of the Floodlight Cup semi-final at home to Braintree on 23.4.85 Karl lashed in what the Isle of Thanet Gazette called "a splendid goal" from the edge of the penalty area as United won 4-1. However he also showed the other side of his game as he was booked for what the paper called "a totally unnecessary foul". Karl finished the 1984/85 season with a record of 21 goals from just 29 appearances. He also won a £50 prize for being the top scorer in the entire Floodlight Cup competition.

Karl missed the first six games of the 1985/86 campaign due to injury and made his first appearance of the season on 10.9.85 when he came on as a substitute in a Southern League game at Burnham & Hillingdon. His first start came in a Southern League Cup tie at Sheppey on 18.9.85 but Karl suffered a serious facial injury and had to be substituted. He had five stitches in a wound near his eye but he was able to play in United's next game, a home match against Dorchester on 21.9.85. Karl scored as Thanet ran out 5-0 winners - his first goal of the season. On 22.10.85 he scored both United's goals with trademark headers to clinch a 2-1 win over Canterbury in a Southern League Cup tie at Hartsdown but a few weeks later Karl suffered a knee injury that put him out of action for almost three months. After playing in a Kent Senior Cup tie against Gravesend & Northfleet on 5.11.85 he missed Thanet's next 17 matches before returning to action on 25.1.86 as United entertained Ruislip at Hartsdown.

On 15.3.86 Karl was sent off as Thanet went down 3-2 at home to Ashford having been booked twice in quick succession for two off the ball incidents. The Thanet Times described the second of them as being "a vicious kick" at an Ashford player and United manager John Wickens said that Karl had had "a brainstorm." Wickens went on to say "he certainly felt the edge of my tongue after the game...he let the club down and the players down." By the end of the season Karl had made 35 appearances (four as sub) to take his overall tally for the club past 100 and he scored 11 goals, taking his total for Thanet to 44 - the all-time record for the club. The best of his efforts was a powerful first-time shot from the edge of the penalty area in a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Cambridge City at Hartsdown on 25.3.86. The Isle of Thanet Gazette said that it was "a splendid goal". The same paper had described Karl as being "big-hearted" earlier in the campaign.

In the summer of 1986 Karl joined Gravesend & Northfleet and he was soon amongst the goals for them. By November 1986 he was the Southern League Southern Division's joint top scorer, running neck-and-neck with Thanet's Gary Doe. At the end of 1986 Karl moved on having scored nine goals in 21 appearances (three as sub) for the Fleet.

After a spell out of senior football Karl had a short stint with Crawley where he played once - in a 2-2 draw with visitors VS Rugby in the Southern League Premier Division on 10.10.87.

Karl then spent some time with Dartford before rejoining Canterbury for a third spell in December 1988.

In April 1989 he returned to Sheppey and on 17.10.89 Karl scored twice with trademark headers as they fought back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to Margate in a Southern League Cup tie. When Margate visited Sheppey for a Southern League game on 4.11.89 Karl was sent off after picking up two bookings for fouls, the second of which the Adscene described as a "nasty" challenge on John Love.

In December 1989 Karl went back to Canterbury yet again but after making only a handful of appearances for City he made a surprise return to Hartsdown Park in March 1990.

Karl's first match for Margate was a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Buckingham on 27.3.90 and his second ended in another home defeat - a 2-1 reverse against Dunstable on 31.3.90. Karl got Margate's goal and he played twice more without scoring before leaving the club. His last appearance had come in a 1-0 defeat at Canterbury on 16.4.90.

Karl started the 1990/91 campaign at Chatham and scored twice in four appearances for them before leaving the club a couple of months into the season.