Alan Neilson
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alan Neilson | ||
| Date of birth | 26 September 1972 | ||
| Place of birth | Wegberg, Germany | ||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Luton Town | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1989–1991 | Newcastle United | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1991–1995 | Newcastle United | 42 | (1) |
| 1995–1997 | Southampton | 55 | (0) |
| 1997–2002 | Fulham | 29 | (2) |
| 2001–2002 | Grimsby Town | 10 | (0) |
| 2002–2005 | Luton Town | 57 | (1) |
| 2006–2007 | Tamworth | 20 | (1) |
| 2007 | Salisbury City | 5 | (0) |
| Total | 218 | (5) | |
| National team | |||
| 1992–1996 | Wales[1] | 5 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2009 | Luton Town (caretaker) | ||
| 2009–2010 | Luton Town (assistant) | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Alan Neilson (born on 26 September 1972) is a German born Welsh former professional footballer turned coach, currently with Conference National side Luton Town. He played his entire career in England as a defender from 1991 until 2007, notably in the Premier League for Newcastle United and Southampton.
He also played for Fulham, Grimsby Town, Luton Town, Tamworth and Salisbury City.
Contents |
[edit] Playing career
[edit] Newcastle United
Neilson was born in Wegberg, Germany, where his father was serving in the Royal Air Force, but was qualified to play for Wales. He started his professional football career with Newcastle United in 1989 as a trainee, making his first-team debut on 9 March 1991. Described as a "tidy" central-defender, he did the defensive tasks in a plain and simple manner, avoiding the spectacular, but suffered because of his slight frame and was never dominant in the box. He scored his only goal for Newcastle in a 2–1 defeat by Millwall at The Den on 21 September 1991.[2]
Whilst with Newcastle he made four appearances for Wales, with his international debut coming as a late substitute for Dean Saunders against Republic of Ireland on 19 February 1992, with three further matches coming in 1994.[3]
[edit] Southampton
After a total of 50 appearances for Newcastle he was transferred to Southampton for £500,000 in June 1995. His signing was Alan Ball's last act as manager before moving to Manchester City.[4]
Neilson was a competent defender who could play at full-back or in the centre, but his career at The Dell was disrupted by frequent managerial changes. He made his debut on 26 August 1995 as a substitute at Everton, following which he replaced Jason Dodd at right-back for four matches before Dodd was recalled. Although Neilson made a few starts, his next run in the starting eleven came in March, when he took the place of Richard Hall at centre-half.[5] In the 1996–97 season, with Graeme Souness as manager, Neilson made a total of 29 appearances as "The Saints" struggled near the foot of the table, missing relegation by one point, having been in last place with five matches to play.[6]
Despite Saints' poor form, Neilson earned one further international cap while he was with the club, in a 7–1 defeat by Netherlands on 9 November 1996.[3]
Souness left the club in the summer of 1997, being replaced by Dave Jones who brought in several new players, including left-back Lee Todd from his previous club, Stockport County. With Todd and Dodd as the two full-backs, Neilson's few appearances came in midfield, before moving to Fulham for £225,000 in November 1997, where he joined up with his former manager at Newcastle, Kevin Keegan.[4]
[edit] Later career
Neilson suffered from injury problems throughout his career at Fulham, making just 29 league appearances in nearly five seasons. In October 2001, Neilson moved to Grimsby Town on a free transfer, but played just 12 games before being released in February 2002.[7]
Later that month following his release from Grimsby, Neilson joined Luton Town,[8] where he went on to make 57 appearances, scoring once.
Neilson joined Football Conference side Tamworth in 2006,[9] joining former Southampton team-mate Richard Dryden.
[edit] Coaching career
Neilson left Tamworth to continue his coaching at both Luton Town and at Barnfield College. He was undecided as to whether to retire from playing or not,[10] but on 23 February 2007, he signed for Salisbury City on a short term contract.[11]
In June 2008, Neilson joined his former club Luton Town as Youth Development Coach,[12] and was later given the position of first-team coach alongside Kevin Watson.[13] On 1 October 2009, manager Mick Harford parted company with the Hatters, leaving Neilson in charge ahead of the game against his former team Tamworth just two days later.[14] Neilson subsequently led the team on a five game unbeaten run as caretaker, until Richard Money was installed as permanent manager on 30 October. Neilson was named as Money's assistant manager.[15] Following the end of the 2009–10 season, Neilson's role was changed to First Team Development Manager, with Gary Brabin taking over the position of assistant manager.[16]
[edit] Managerial stats
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Win % | ||||
| Luton Town (caretaker) |  |
1 October 2009 | 30 October 2009 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 80.00 |
| Total | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 80.00 | |||
[edit] References
- ^ Samuel, Bill (2009). The Complete Wales FC 1876-2008. Soccer Books. p. 109. ISBN 1-86223-176-1.
- ^ "Player Profile: Alan Neilson". Toon 1892 - All Players. http://www.toon1892.co.uk/detail_player.php?sort=md&id=564&p=2. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
- ^ a b "Wales International Results 1990s". RSSSF. 20 May 2004. http://www.rsssf.com/tablesw/wal-intres90.html. Retrieved 13 April 2010.
- ^ a b Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (2003). In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology. p. 556. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X.
- ^ In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. p. 245.
- ^ In That Number – A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. p. 250.
- ^ "Grimsby release Neilson". BBC Sport. 19 February 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/g/grimsby_town/1830277.stm. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ "Luton close in on Neilson". BBC Sport. 21 February 2002. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/1834154.stm. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ "Cooper captures Neilson signature". BBC Sport. 25 May 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tamworth/5015274.stm. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ "Neilson could end playing career". BBC Sport. 14 February 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/t/tamworth/6361659.stm. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ "Salisbury sign new central defender". BBC Wiltshire. 23 February 2007. http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2007/02/23/scfc_230207_feature.shtml. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ "Luton appoint new youth coaches". BBC Sport. 25 June 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/7473996.stm. Retrieved 7 July 2009.
- ^ "Coaching staff appointments". Luton Town F.C.. 14 January 2009. http://www.lutontown.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10372~1520242,00.html. Retrieved 16 January 2009.
- ^ "Harford parts company with Luton". BBC Sport. 1 October 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/l/luton_town/8284283.stm. Retrieved 1 October 2009.
- ^ "Interest grows on Money". Luton Town F.C.. 30 October 2009. http://www.lutontown.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10372~1842164,00.html. Retrieved 30 October 2009.
- ^ "Backroom staff changes revealed". Luton Town F.C.. 11 May 2010. http://www.lutontown.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10372~2049109,00.html. Retrieved 11 May 2010.
[edit] External links
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- 1972 births
- Living people
- Welsh footballers
- Wales international footballers
- Newcastle United F.C. players
- Southampton F.C. players
- Fulham F.C. players
- Grimsby Town F.C. players
- Luton Town F.C. players
- Tamworth F.C. players
- Salisbury City F.C. players
- Association football midfielders
- Premier League players
- Wales under-21 international footballers
- Luton Town F.C. managers
