Joe Mayo

Joseph Mayo (born 25 May 1952) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He began his career with Walsall but struggled to break into the first team, joining West Bromwich Albion where he won promotion to the First Division in 1976. He later played for Orient, Cambridge United and Blackpool.

Career Mayo grew up in Tipton and attended the town's grammar school, but never played football at school and only took up playing as a teenager when he began playing local amateur football. He was spotted by Ken Hodgkisson who signed him for non-league side Dudley Town. However, Mayo "never really thought about" becoming a professional footballer and had begun working as a trainee accountant at Brookhouse Steel where he made copies of ledgers.

While at Dudley, Mayo had an unsuccessful trial with Oxford United before being offered a trial with Walsall. He appeared for the club's reserve side in the Midland Intermediate League before being offered a professional contract in September 1972, at which time he left his accounting job. He made over 90 appearances in all competitions for West Brom, A year later, he was part of the Orient side that reached the semi-final of the FA Cup before losing to Arsenal. In 2017, he appeared on the ITV quiz show, The Chase, and made it through to the Final Chase, but he and his remaining teammate were caught by chaser Jenny Ryan with one second remaining. He appeared in the BBC game show Letterbox in 2018 where he and his friend Nikki lost in the semi-final.