Neil Sullivan

This article is about the footballer. For the physicist, see Neil S. Sullivan.

Neil Sullivan

Personal information
Full name	Neil Sullivan
Date of birth	(1970-02-24) 24 February 1970
Place of birth	Sutton, England
Height	1.94 m (6 ft 4 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Doncaster Rovers
Number	1
Youth career
1986–1988	Wimbledon
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1988–2000	Wimbledon	181	(0)
1992	→ Crystal Palace (loan)	1	(0)
2000–2003	Tottenham Hotspur	64	(0)
2003–2004	Chelsea	4	(0)
2004–2007	Leeds United	95	(0)
2006	→ Doncaster Rovers (loan)	3	(0)
2007	→ Doncaster Rovers (loan)	13	(0)
2007–	Doncaster Rovers	184	(0)
2012–2013	→ AFC Wimbledon (loan)	20	(0)
National team‡
1997–2003	Scotland	28	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 09:01, 5 May 2013 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22:29, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Neil Sullivan (born 24 February 1970 in Sutton, Greater London) is an English-born Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Football League One side Doncaster Rovers.

He is a former Scottish international where he earned 28 caps between 1997 and 2003, he has also previously played in the Premier League for Wimbledon, Crystal Palace, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea. He moved to Leeds United in 2004 following the clubs relegation to the Football League Championship which is where he stayed until moving to Doncaster in 2007.

Club career

Wimbledon

Sullivan began his career with local club Wimbledon in 1988, amassing a total of 224 appearances between 1988 and 2000. It was during his tenure at Wimbledon that Sullivan was often acknowledged as one of the best goalkeepers in the league marked by his selection for the division's 1997–98 team of the season.

Sullivan was the goalkeeper against whom David Beckham scored a goal from the halfway line, while he was off his line. He also played one game on loan for Crystal Palace in 1992.

Spurs & Chelsea

In 2000, Sullivan moved from Wimbledon to Tottenham Hotspur, where he made over 80 appearances. He then moved to Chelsea in the 2003–04 season, playing eight times for them.

Leeds United

In June 2004, he was signed by Championship team Leeds United, by manager Kevin Blackwell to replace Paul Robinson who had left Leeds to join Tottenham. Sullivan beat off competition for number one spot from young goalkeeper Scott Carson. In his first season (2004–05), he was voted as the club's Player of the Year after some superb saves throughout the season, including saving several penalties for Leeds. Leeds finished 10 points off the playoffs after a season of rebuilding. In his second season at Leeds, they reached the playoff final against Watford, with Sullivan again having a decent season. But the playoff final ended in disaster for Sullivan with Leeds losing 3–0 to Watford and Sullivan being at fault for the second goal.

Due to an injury picked up in the pre-season match against Nottingham Forest, Sullivan made few appearances in the 2006–07 campaign for Leeds, with loan goalkeeper Tony Warner filling in whilst Sullivan was injured. Kevin Blackwell was sacked and replaced by Dennis Wise. Wise decided to sign Graham Stack on loan to compete with Warner and Sullivan. On 23 November 2006, he moved on loan to Doncaster Rovers. His loan was however cut short and he returned to Leeds on 21 December 2006. Manager Dennis Wise told the press after Leeds' 2–1 victory against Coventry City that Sullivan had put on weight, and his performances were not as good, hence his loan to Doncaster. Leeds signed Casper Ankergren as the new number one goalkeeper. Sullivan re-signed on loan for Doncaster Rovers in February 2007. After the end of his loan at Doncaster, Sullivan returned to Leeds but was released at the end of his contract.

Doncaster Rovers

On 15 May 2007, returning to Doncaster shortly afterwards. He has since then been the first team keeper and his consistent performances throughout the 2007–08 season helped Doncaster to promotion. He made an error in the 2–1 loss to Yeovil Town on 21 March 2008, mis-controlling a backpass which led to a Yeovil goal, but the disappointment of this mistake was over-shadowed by a very successful season between the sticks, in which Sullivan kept an impressive 20 clean sheets.

He overcame this to help Doncaster win promotion to the Championship with a playoff final win over former club Leeds United, leaving them in the third tier of the Football League for at least another year.

Sullivan was also credited with a man-of-the-match performance against Aston Villa on 24 January 2009 which gave Doncaster a 0–0 draw that helped keep them in the FA Cup.

The veteran goalkeeper continued to be an ever-present in the Rovers side throughout the 2009–10 season, appearing in all 46 league games for the club. In 2010, Sullivan signed a one-year-contract extension for the Rovers, meaning he would be at the club until the end of the 2010/11 campaign. However, he had an injury-hit season, and was eventually replaced by Gary Woods as no.1. At the end of the season, he signed another one-year extension.

AFC Wimbledon

On 16 November 2012 Sullivan joined AFC Wimbledon on a short-term loan from Doncaster Rovers and made his debut the following day against Aldershot. On 2 December 2012 Sullivan started in the FA Cup 2nd round match against MK Dons, which they lost 2-1.

With first choice keeper Gary Woods injured, Doncaster recalled him for their game at Bournemouth on 9 March 2012.

International career

Sullivan has also been capped 28 times by Scotland. He was named in the Scottish squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, but was an unused substitute in all of Scotland's three matches.

Career statistics

Club

Club	Season	Division	League		FA Cup		League Cup		Football League Trophy		Europe		Play Offs		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1989–90	Wimbledon	First Division	0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0
1990–91			1	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	0
1991–92			1	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	0
	Crystal Palace (Loan)		1	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	0
Crystal Palace Total			1	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	0	-	-	1	0
1992–93	Wimbledon	Premier League	1	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	0
1993–94			2	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	0
1994–95			11	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	11	0
1995–96			16	0	8	0	0	0	-	-	0	0	-	-	24	0
1996–97			36	0	7	0	7	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	50	0
1997–98			38	0	5	0	1	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	44	0
1998–99			38	0	3	0	5	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	46	0
1999–2000			37	0	2	0	5	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	44	0
Wimbledon Total			181	0	25	0	18	0	-	-	0	0	-	-	224	0
2000–01	Tottenham Hotspur	Premier League	35	0	5	0	3	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	43	0
2001–02			29	0	4	0	5	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	38	0
2002–03			0	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	0	0
Tottenham Hotspur Total			64	0	9	0	8	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	81	0
2003–04	Chelsea	Premier League	4	0	2	0	2	0	-	-	0	0	-	-	8	0
Chelsea Total			4	0	2	0	2	0	-	-	0	0	-	-	8	0
2004–05	Leeds United	Championship	46	0	1	0	3	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	50	0
2005–06			42	0	2	0	3	0	-	-	-	-	3	0	50	0
2006–07			7	0	1	0	2	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	10	0
Leeds United Total			95	0	4	0	8	0	-	-	-	-	3	0	110	0
2006–07	Doncaster Rovers (Loan)	League One	3	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3	0
			13	0	-	-	-	-	1	0	-	-	-	-	14	0
2007–08	Doncaster Rovers	League One	46	0	2	0	2	0	2	0	-	-	3	0	55	0
2008–09		Championship	46	0	4	0	1	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	51	0
2009–10			45	0	2	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	47	0
2010–11			31	0	2	0	1	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	34	0
2011–12			9	0	0	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	9	0
2012–13		League One	4	0	−	−	−	−	-	-	-	-	-	-	4	0
Doncaster Rovers Total			200	0	10	0	4	0	3	0	-	-	3	0	220	0
2012–13	AFC Wimbledon (Loan)	League Two	20	0	1	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	21	0
Career total			565	0	51	0	40	0	3	0	0	0	6	0	665	0

As of 21.30, 27 April 2013

Honours

Doncaster Rovers

• Football League Trophy Winner: 2006−07
• League One Play-off winner: 2007–08
• League One Champions: 2012–13

External links

• Neil Sullivan player profile at doncasterroversfc.co.uk
• Neil Sullivan player profile at leedsunited.com
• Neil Sullivan career stats at Soccerbase