John Richard Filan (born 8 February 1970) is an Australian football coach and former professional player. As a player, he was a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

from 1989 until 2008 and notably played in 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 Fo ...

for

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed t ...

where he was a specialist at kicking the ball out of the stadium when under pressure,

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. Th ...

and

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, ...

, having also been contracted without playing for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

in England's top division. He also played in the Football League for

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on Ne ...

and

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

, and in his native country for St. George Saints,

Wollongong Wolves Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wat ...

and Sydney F.C. He was capped three times by Australia. Following retirement, Filan has worked as a coach and held a role with Sydney FC before a spell as assistant manager with both

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 ...

and

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

Club career

He played for St. George Saints and

in the old National Soccer League in Australia before moving to England to join

in 1993, after an unsuccessful trial at

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 ...

. In 1995, he signed for

, then moved on to

in 1997. He joined

in December 2001 for £600,000. Prior to the start of Wigan's debut season in the

he had missed only one match for the club but was injured at the start of the 2005–06 season with Wigan's new signing

Mike Pollitt Michael Francis Pollitt (born 29 February 1972) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Club career Manchester United Born in Farnworth, Lancashire, Pollitt began his career at Manchester United turning profes ...

taking his place in the side. Filan, however signed a new contract which kept him at the club until 2007. Seeing out his contract with Wigan, he was released at the end of the season. Whilst at Wigan he appeared as a substitute in the

2006 Football League Cup Final The 2006 Football League Cup Final also known as the 2006 Carling Cup Final for sponsorship reasons, was played between Manchester United and Wigan Athletic on 26 February 2006. Manchester United won the match comfortably, by four goals to nil. L ...

when Pollitt had to come off early in the first half with an injury. He is also remembered for saving a

Nolberto Solano Nolberto Albino "Ñol" Solano Todco (born 12 December 1974), commonly known as Nobby Solano, is a retired Peruvian professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is currently the assistant manager of the Peru national football team, as w ...

penalty in a 1–0 win over Newcastle United in February 2007.

International career

Filan was a member of the

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

team that competed at the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

in Barcelona and finished in fourth place. As he has an Irish passport through his ancestry, he once sought to play international football for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. However, FIFA ruled against it in February 1999 because he had played for the Australian Olympic team.

Coaching career

Filan returned to Australia in semi-retirement, resettling in his home town of Sydney. In August 2007 agreed terms with A-League side Sydney FC as backup to Clint Bolton, however the deal fell through citing outside issues. Filan was appointed as assistant manager to John Askey at

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

in June 2018, having previously worked with Askey during his managerial tenure at

. This role lasted only five months, with the whole management team departing after only four wins in seventeen league matches.

Honours

;Blackburn Rovers * Football League First Division runner-up: 2000–01 ;Wigan Athletic * Football League Championship runner-up: 2004–05 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

: 2002–03 Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 2002–03 Second Division

References

External links

Sydney FC profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Filan, John 1970 births Living people Soccer players from Sydney Australian people of Irish descent Association football goalkeepers Australian expatriate soccer players Australia international soccer players Olympic soccer players of Australia Footballers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Premier League players English Football League players National Soccer League (Australia) players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Sydney FC players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Wollongong Wolves FC players St. George Saints players Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Macclesfield Town F.C. non-playing staff Shrewsbury Town F.C. non-playing staff Australian soccer players