Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Alan Neilson | ||
Date of birth | 26 September 1972 | ||
Place of birth | Wegberg, West Germany | ||
Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||
Playing position | Defender | ||
Youth career | |||
1989–1991 | Newcastle United | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1991–1995 | Newcastle United | 42 | (1) |
1995–1997 | Southampton | 55 | (0) |
1997–2001 | 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 | 5 | (0) |
Teams managed | |||
2009 | Luton Town (caretaker) | ||
2012 | Luton Town (caretaker) | ||
2013 | Luton Town (caretaker) | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
Alan Neilson (born 26 September 1972) is a Welsh former professional footballer who currently works as a Professional Development Coach for Norwich City.
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. He later re-joined Luton Town in 2008 as a youth coach, before becoming assistant manager and having three spells as the club's caretaker manager. He left the club in July 2013 and joined Cambridge United as assistant coach later that year. On 11 May 2015, he left the club as assistant manager, in the place of Joe Dunne.
Neilson was born in Wegberg, West Germany, where his father was serving in the Royal Air Force. He qualified to play for Wales through ancestry. 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 Old Den on 21 September 1991.
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.