Neil Andrew Heaney (born 3 November 1971) is an English 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 ...

who played as a winger. Heaney began his career with top-flight club Arsenal before making 61 appearances 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

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 ...

. He played in the Football League for Manchester City,

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

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 ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

, Darlington and Plymouth Argyle, and also had a spell in the Scottish Premier League with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

. He was capped six times by

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team. This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...

in 1992.

Career

Neil Andrew Heaney was born in

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 ...

on 3 November 1971. He played football for

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

schools before being signed by London club Arsenal on schoolboy forms in January 1987. While still at school, he was part of the side that won the FA Youth Cup in 1987–88, and he turned professional in November 1989. After spells on loan at

and

, he made his Arsenal debut as a substitute against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

on 18 April 1992. A winger with considerable pace, he was on the fringes of the Arsenal first team over the next two seasons, before being sold by

George Graham George Graham (born 30 November 1944), nicknamed "Stroller", is a Scottish former Association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. In his successful playing career, he made 455 appearances in England's Football ...

for £300,000 in March 1994. He made eight senior appearances for Arsenal without scoring. He became Alan Ball's third signing for the Saints (just before the transfer deadline) and scored his first goal against Newcastle United on 22 March 1995. Saints had failed to win a game since before Christmas and had dropped into 20th place, just above the relegation zone. Heaney came on as a substitute with Saints 1–0 down, and with four minutes left he prodded home a loose ball after a save by

Pavel Srníček Pavel Srníček (10 March 1968 – 29 December 2015) was a Czech football coach and former professional player who played as a goalkeeper. In a career that lasted from 1990 to 2007, he notably played in the Premier League mainly for Newcastle ...

from Gordon Watson's header. Watson and

Neil Shipperley Neil Jason Shipperley (born 30 October 1974) is an English football manager and former professional player who played as a forward. He notably played in the Premier League for Chelsea, Southampton, Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest and Sheffi ...

completed the scoring to see Saints run out unlikely 3–1 winners. Saints then managed to climb up the table to finish in 10th place. According to Holley & Chalk, Heaney "had the ability and pace to turn matches, but could frustrate with a tendency to run up blind alleys." Heaney made 61 league appearances for Southampton in two-and-a-half seasons, scoring five goals, before being sold for £500,000 to First Division (second-tier) club Manchester City in November 1996. He was a regular in the matchday squad for the rest of that season, but rarely played during the 1997–98 season, which he finished with a loan spell at First Division rivals

. He was part of the Charlton side that faced Sunderland in the dramatic 1998 First Division play-off final, a match they won 7–6 on penalties after a 4–4 draw to gain promotion to the Premier League, while Manchester City were relegated to the third tier. After two-and-a-half seasons during which he started just 16 matches in all competitions, Heaney spent the last few weeks of 1998–99 on loan at First Division

before signing for Darlington in August 1999 on a free transfer. Playing on the left wing, he scored five goals from 36 league matches and became a crowd favourite as he helped the club reach the Third Division play-off final. He left for Scottish Premier League club

for a £175,000 fee in July 2000. He lasted 18 months and made just eight starts before leaving by mutual consent; club chairman

Jim McLean James Yuille McLean (2 August 1937 – 26 December 2020) was a Scottish football player, manager and director. He managed Dundee United between 1971 and 1993, becoming the longest-serving and most successful manager in the club's history, winn ...

mentioned him in a list of "players on wages that didn't match what they gave the club in return". He returned to English football with Plymouth Argyle, managed by

Paul Sturrock Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956) is a Scottish former football coach and former player. As a player, Sturrock spent his entire senior career with Dundee United, making more than five hundred appearances between 1974 and 1989. He w ...

who had signed him for Dundee United, but lasted less than a year of his 18-month contract before recurrent knee problems forced his retirement.

Personal life

After retiring, Heaney left football and became CEO of Judicare, an English firm of solicitors that deals with international legal issues and is known particularly for recovering monies invested into problematic property abroad, based partly on his own problems investing in Spanish property.

Honours

Arsenal * FA Youth Cup:

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

The Football Combination The Football Combination was a football competition for the reserve teams of English Football League clubs from Southern England, the Midlands and Wales; other clubs from the Midlands and those from the North playing in the Central League (it is n ...

: 1990 Charlton Athletic * First Division play-offs:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 1999–2000 Third Division

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heaney, Neil 1971 births Living people Footballers from Middlesbrough English footballers England under-21 international footballers Association football wingers Arsenal F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Darlington F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Scottish Premier League players