Alan Joseph Mahon (born 4 April 1978) is an Irish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and was capped by the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

Playing career

Club career

Early career

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

-born Mahon, who was educated at St. James Street Christian Brothers Secondary School in the Irish capital, joined English

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

club

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they adop ...

in 1995. In five years at the club, Mahon made a total of 144 appearances, scoring fourteen goals. He played in the

2000 Football League Cup Final The 2000 Football League Cup Final was played between Leicester City, in their third final appearance in four years, and First Division side Tranmere Rovers at Wembley Stadium on 27 February 2000. It was the 34th and last League Cup Final to be p ...

as Tranmere lost 2–1 to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

on 27 February 2000. On 4 July 2000 he moved to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, joining

Portuguese Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

club

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional fo ...

on a free transfer. He played the first half in a 4–0 defeat in the Champions League to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

at the

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium The Santiago Bernabéu Stadium ( es, Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, ) is a football stadium in Madrid, Spain. With a current seating capacity of 81,044, it has been the home stadium of Real Madrid since its completion in 1947. It is the second-larg ...

on 25 October, he was loaned to First Division club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

on 15 December for the rest of the season, making his debut two days later as an 89th-minute substitute in a 2–0 victory over their

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

rivals

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C. since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in English professional football ...

. He was a regular first-team squad member and made eighteen league appearances as Blackburn finished in second place and were promoted to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

Blackburn Rovers

On 29 June 2001 he signed for Blackburn Rovers permanently for a transfer fee of £1.5M. He made his Premier League debut on 22 August in a 2–2 draw with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the Football League and Premier League, who have played there since 1890. It is an all seater multi-sports facili ...

. Three days later he scored Blackburn's first goal in a 2–1 home win over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. He made a total of thirteen league appearances in the 2001–02 season as Blackburn finished in tenth place. He was an unused substitute when Blackburn won the 2002 League Cup, beating Tottenham 2–1 at the

Millennium Stadium The Millennium Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm y Mileniwm), known since 2016 as the Principality Stadium ( cy, Stadiwm Principality) for sponsorship reasons, is the national stadium of Wales. Located in Cardiff, it is the home of the Wales national rug ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, on 24 February 2002. After just two league appearances, in the 2002–03 season, on 20 January 2003 Mahon was sent on loan to

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

for the rest of the season as ''the Bluebirds'' won promotion to the First Division. On 8 September 2003 he was loaned out to

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line r ...

, where he made eleven league appearances and scored one goal against Bradford in a three-month loan spell. He returned to Blackburn on 22 December, and made three further league appearances.

Wigan Athletic

Mahon signed for

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on 6 February 2004, stating that he wanted regular first-team football. He made his debut the following day in a 3–1 victory over Ipswich Town at

Portman Road Portman Road is a football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly internatio ...

. The following season he made 27 league appearances scoring seven goals as Wigan won promotion to the Premier League. After starting the 2005–06 season in the first team, he dropped out of favour halfway through the campaign and was allowed to leave, despite being seen as an ongoing squad player by

Paul Jewell Paul Jewell (born 28 September 1964) is an English football manager and former player, who was most recently director of football at Swindon Town. Jewell began his playing career with Liverpool, continued at Wigan Athletic and concluded in a t ...

. On 23 March 2006 he joined Burnley on loan for the rest of the 2005–06 season, making his debut the following day against

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. Jimmy Bullard, a Wigan Athletic player, said that all the players wore black armbands when Mahon left the club.

Burnley

After eight appearances on loan, he joined Burnley permanently on 8 June for £200,000 on a three-year contract. Burnley's then-manager

Steve Cotterill Stephen John Cotterill (born 20 July 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the manager of side Shrewsbury Town. Cotterill had a nine-year career as a footballer playing for Burton Albion, Wimbledon, ...

described Mahon as "an absolute gem,

e is E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plur ...

the jewel in our crown" and it appeared that Cotterill planned to build Burnley's team around Mahon in the 2006–07 season; however, injuries and a loss of form during the 2006–07 season saw Mahon become a fringe first-team player. In the 2007–08 season, he returned to the first eleven and appeared to have regained the form that he showed when first arriving at Turf Moor. However, injuries plagued his season once again, and he started just 15 games, scoring one goal. The 2008–09 season started the same way, with his being a fringe squad player for ''the Clarets''. On 14 March 2009, Cotterill's successor as Burnley manager,

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Championship club Queen's Park. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made one ...

, stated that fellow

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

had made an enquiry to take Mahon on loan for the rest of the season, saying, "I won't stand in his way because Alan needs to play. He is a terrific professional who I have so much time for and I am trying to do right by him." Blackpool

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

Tony Parkes Anthony Parkes (born 5 May 1949) is an English former professional footballer. After retiring, he became a coach. He was most recently caretaker manager at Blackpool. It was the seventh such role of his coaching career, having performed the rol ...

confirmed Blackpool's interest in Mahon. Three days later he joined ''the Tangerines'' on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut on 21 March in a 1–1 draw with

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a single-tier football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two being Raikes Hall Gardens and the ...

. In June 2009 Mahon was released by Burnley at the end of his contract, alongside Gabor Kiraly and

Steve Jones Steve or Steven Jones may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Steve Jones (English presenter) (born 1945), English musician, disk jockey, television presenter, and voice-over artist *Steve Jones (musician) (born 1955), English rock and roll guita ...

Tranmere Rovers

On 6 July 2009 he signed a three-year contract with former club

. He scored his first goal for Tranmere in a 3–2 defeat against Walsall on 12 September 2009. In July 2011 and following a series of injuries that kept him out of the first team for the whole of the 2010–11 season, Mahon's contract with Tranmere was terminated by mutual consent.

International career

Mahon played for the

Republic of Ireland national under-19 football team The Republic of Ireland national under-19 football team, is the national under-19 football team of the Republic of Ireland and is controlled by the Football Association of Ireland and competes in the biennial European Under-19 Football Championsh ...

in the

1996 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1996 Final Tournament was held in France and Luxembourg. It also served as the European qualification for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. Teams The following teams qualified for the tournament: ...

finals in Luxembourg and made his senior international debut on 26 April 2000 as a 54th-minute substitute in a 1–0 friendly defeat to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium ( ga, Bóthar Lansdún, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for ...

, Dublin. On 11 June he played in another friendly, a 2–1 win over

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands or The Swamp) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and it primarily hosted sp ...

, New York, United States.

Coaching career

In February 2020, Mahon took control of Manchester City W.F.C. on an interim basis.

Honours

;Blackburn Rovers *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

: 2001–02 ;Individual * FAI Under-21 International Player of the Year: 1999

References

External links

Alan Mahon profile
at Clarets Mad

at burnleyfootballclub.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahon, Alan 1978 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Association footballers from County Dublin Premier League players English Football League players Sporting CP footballers Primeira Liga players Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Irish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Men's association football midfielders Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Manchester City W.F.C. managers Women's Super League managers Republic of Ireland association football managers Manchester City W.F.C. non-playing staff