John Neal (13 April 1932 – 23 November 2014) was an English football player and manager.

Playing career

Neal was a hard tackling full back who had seven seasons with Hull City, but seemed lost to the Football League when he joined King's Lynn in 1956.

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at the County Ground sin ...

brought him back to the Football League and he missed only one game in two seasons with the Robins. His career peaked when he signed for Aston Villa in 1959, with whom he won the

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 ...

championship and promotion to the Football League First Division. He won the inaugural Football League Cup a year later. He joined

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

in November 1962.

Managerial career

Wrexham

Neal was appointed manager of

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

in 1968, succeeding Alvan Williams who had brought Neal to the club as his assistant. He took Wrexham to 9th in Division 4 in 1969, and to 2nd in Division 4 in 1970 and promotion to the Third Division. With Welsh clubs now able to qualify for the

European Cup Winners Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourna ...

by winning the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the mos ...

, and following Wrexham winning the Welsh Cup, Neal in 1972 took Wrexham to the second round of the European Cup Winners Cup, where Wrexham held the Yugoslavian side Hajduk Split 3-3, but lost on the away goals rule. Two years later, Neal took Wrexham to the quarter-finals of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

. Wrexham beat

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 ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

and

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 ...

before losing in the quarter finals to First Division

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, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

at Turf Moor with just over 20,000 Wrexham away fans present. In 1976, Neal took Wrexham on another run in the European Cup Winners Cup. They lost narrowly 2–1 in the quarter finals to the eventual winners

RSC Anderlecht Royal Sporting Club Anderlecht, usually known as Anderlecht (, , ) or RSCA (, , ), is a Belgian professional football club based in Anderlecht, Brussels Capital-Region. Anderlecht plays in the Belgian First Division A and is the most successful ...

. In the 1976–77 season, Wrexham beat First Division

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

in the League Cup, and First Division Sunderland in the FA Cup.

Middlesbrough

Neal succeeded

Jack Charlton John Charlton (8 May 193510 July 2020) was an English footballer and manager who played as a defender. He was part of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup and managed the Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 199 ...

as manager of

in 1977. He left the club four years later.

Chelsea

Neal was appointed manager of

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in 1981 as a successor to

Geoff Hurst Sir Geoffrey Charles Hurst (born 8 December 1941) is an English former professional footballer. A striker, he became the first man to score a hat-trick in a World Cup final when England recorded a 4–2 victory over West Germany at Wembley S ...

. The club narrowly avoided relegation to the Third Division of the Football League during 1982–83 for the first time ever, but over the summer Neal signed

Kerry Dixon Kerry Michael Dixon (born 24 July 1961) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a forward. His club career was spent most notably at Chelsea, where he won the Second Division twice. His 193 goals for the club across all ...

from

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

Pat Nevin Patrick Kevin Francis Michael Nevin (born 6 September 1963) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a winger. In a 20-year career, he appeared for Clyde, Chelsea, Everton, Tranmere Rovers, Kilmarnock and Motherwell. He wo ...

from

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

, Eddie Niedzwiecki from

and

Nigel Spackman Nigel James Spackman (born 2 December 1960) is an English football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player he was as a midfielder from 1980 to 1998, notably for Liverpool, Chelsea and Rangers. He also ...

from Bournemouth. The previous season he had brought in

Joey Jones Joseph Patrick Jones (born 4 March 1955) is a Welsh former international football full-back who most notably played for Liverpool, with whom he won two European Cups. Club career Wrexham Jones was born in Llandudno, and joined Wrexham in 19 ...

and

David Speedie David Robert Speedie (born 20 February 1960) is a Scottish former footballer who played for several clubs in England during the 1980s and 1990s, most notably Chelsea, Coventry City, Liverpool and Blackburn Rovers. He accumulated more than 500 f ...

and then added Mickey Thomas in January 1984. This side won the Second Division championship in 1983–84, losing just four league games and securing their place in the top-flight for the first time since 1979. Upon returning to the top tier, Chelsea finished 6th, reached the League Cup semi-finals, and for a time were challenging for a place in Europe, though the events at Heysel that season would have rendered European qualification immaterial anyway. Neal retired at the end of the 1984–85 season due to ill-health and underwent heart surgery in 1986. After retirement as Chelsea manager in June 1985 he was appointed to the Chelsea Board of Directors. On 23 November 2014, Neal died at the age of 82.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

*
John Neal profile
at Swindon Town FC {{DEFAULTSORT:Neal, John 1932 births 2014 deaths Sportspeople from Seaham Footballers from County Durham English footballers Association football defenders Hull City A.F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Southend United F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Wrexham A.F.C. managers Middlesbrough F.C. managers Chelsea F.C. managers English Football League managers Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff