Philip George Neal (born 20 February 1951) is a retired English footballer who played for Northampton Town, Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers as a full back. He is one of the most successful English players of all time, having won eight First Divisions, four League Cups, five FA Charity Shields, four European Cups, one UEFA Cup and one UEFA Super Cup during his eleven years at Liverpool. He later returned to Bolton Wanderers as manager, leading them to victory in the Football League Trophy before spells managing Coventry City, Cardiff City and Manchester City. Neal also had a long career with the England national team, winning 50 caps and playing in the 1982 World Cup.
Phil Neal's nickname whilst at Liverpool was Zico – a reference to the Brazilian play maker and a compliment to Neal, who was known for scoring important goals throughout the clubs history.
Neal began his playing career at Wellingborough Town, before he joined Northampton Town in 1968. He went on to make 187 appearances for the club before being signed on 9 October 1974 for £66,000 by Liverpool manager Bob Paisley. Paisley had intended to break Neal in as a replacement for the ageing Chris Lawler, meaning that he initially played as a left-back. It would be, however, his industrious and energetic performances at right-back where he made his name.
Neal made his Liverpool début Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park on 16 November 1974, in a game which ended 0–0. Neal made his début alongside midfielder Terry McDermott. Neal's first goal for the club came almost exactly one year later on 4 November 1975, during the 6–0 defeat of Real Sociedad in a UEFA Cup game at Anfield.
Neal scored the winning penalty in the 1977 European Cup Final, when the Anfield club beat Borussia Mönchengladbach in Rome to win the European Cup for the first time. Neal subsequently played in the 1978 and 1981 Finals, Liverpool beating FC Bruges and Real Madrid respectively, before scoring in the 1984 Final against A.S. Roma. This meant that Neal was the only Liverpool player to feature in all four of Liverpool's European Cup wins in the 1970s and 1980s.
In total, Neal won eight First Divisions, four League Cups, five FA Charity Shields, four European Cups, one UEFA Cup and one UEFA Super Cup during his eleven years at Liverpool, making him one of the most successful Englishmen ever to play the game. Throughout his Liverpool career, Neal never missed a league game for the club, playing 365 consecutive matches from 1975 to 1983, finally seeing this sequence brought to a halt after he suffered an injury which forced him out of one solitary match.
Neal departed Anfield after 11 years in 1985, joining Bolton Wanderers as player-manager. He retired from playing in 1989 after more than 700 league appearances, including 50 caps for England.
Managerial career[edit]
In December 1985, Neal was appointed player-manager of Bolton Wanderers and managed the club for seven years. During this period, Neal led the club to win the Football League Trophy in 1989, although the club would later suffer relegation to the Fourth Division for the first and only time in their history. They won promotion back to the Third Division the following season, reaching the Third Division play-offs in 1990 and 1991 but failed to win promotion on either occasion. In 1991, they had been pipped to automatic promotion by Grimsby Town on goal difference, and lost to Tranmere Rovers in the playoff final. A year later, they finished 13th in the Third Division and Neal was sacked on 8 May 1992. His successor was Bruce Rioch, who guided Bolton to promotion from the newly named Division Two (rebranded as part of a reorganisation prompted by the creation of the FA Premier League) in 1993 and to the top flight in 1995.[2]
Meanwhile, Neal began a memorable if infamous spell as a right-hand man to Graham Taylor during his spell in charge of the England team. Neal was frequently heard to parrot Taylor on every tactical idea he had, without ever coming up with suggestions of his own. This was captured on camera during a notorious fly on the wall documentary,"An Impossible Job", broadcast on Channel 4 after Taylor's reign had ended in disappointing failure to qualify for the 1994 World Cup. Neal became a mild source of ridicule as a result, though he continued to work as a coach and manager.
Neal returned to club management on 23 October 1993 with Coventry City, beginning his spell at Highfield Road on that day with a 5–1 defeat against QPR that left them 12th in the Premier League.[3][4] Despite a shaky start to his time as Sky Blues manager, they did well in the second half of the season and finished 11th in the league – their highest finish since coming seventh in 1989.[5] Perhaps the most impressive result that season after Neal's arrival was a 4–0 home win over Manchester City on 19 February 1994.[6] However, Coventry struggled in 1994–95 despite the £2million arrival of striker Dion Dublin from Manchester United on 10 September, and Neal was sacked on 14 February 1995[7] despite a 2–0 away win over fellow strugglers Crystal Palace three days earlier, which saw them 17th in the Premier League and two places above the relegation zone.[8] Neal's successor Ron Atkinson ensured City's survival.[9]
He was appointed manager of Cardiff City in Division Three in February 1996, but in October that year he left Ninian Park to become assistant manager to Steve Coppell at Manchester City who were struggling in Division One after relegation from the Premier League. However, Coppell resigned on 8 November 1996 and Neal became caretaker manager until the arrival of Frank Clark on 29 December.[3]
For the 1997–98 season, Neal was recruited as assistant manager to chairman-manager Barry Fry at Peterborough United after their relegation to Division Three, but he was axed by Fry on 15 March 1998.[10]
In recent years, Neal has worked as a football pundit for various television and radio organisations. He has also played for and coached the Liverpool masters side which dominated the Sky Sports Masters series.
He has written two autobiographies, being 'Attack From The Back' in 1981 and 'Life at the Kop' in 1986.
Career statistics[edit]
International[edit]
| England national team |
| Year |
Apps |
Goals |
| 1976 |
2 |
0 |
| 1977 |
7 |
0 |
| 1978 |
6 |
3 |
| 1979 |
7 |
0 |
| 1980 |
7 |
0 |
| 1981 |
5 |
0 |
| 1982 |
8 |
1 |
| 1983 |
8 |
1 |
| Total |
50 |
5 |
Honours[edit]
- Liverpool
- Football League First Division (8): 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86
- Football League Cup (4): 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84
- FA Charity Shield (5): 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1982
- European Cup (4): 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1983–84
- UEFA Cup (1): 1975–76
- UEFA Super Cup (1): 1977
Manager[edit]
- Bolton Wanderers
References[edit]
External links[edit]
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(s) secretary (c) caretaker
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| Persondata |
| Name |
Neal, Phil |
| Alternative names |
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| Short description |
Footballer |
| Date of birth |
20 February 1951 |
| Place of birth |
Irchester, England |
| Date of death |
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| Place of death |
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