Neil Young (born 14 August 1979) is a retired goalkeeper who played for Sorrento FC,

Melbourne Knights Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, the second-tier of the Australian soccer league ...

Newcastle Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Australian ...

and Perth Glory. He was previously the Head Goalkeeper Coach of A-League club

Melbourne City FC Melbourne City Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in the south–eastern Melbourne suburb of Cranbourne East, that plays in the A-League, the top level of Australian soccer, under licence from Australian Professio ...

Club career

Sorrento FC

Young played for the majority of his career in the

Football West State League The National Premier Leagues Western Australia is a regional Australian semi-professional soccer league comprising teams from Western Australia. The league name is often abbreviated to NPL Western Australia or NPL WA. As a subdivision of the N ...

with Sorrento FC. During this time he had trials with

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they were renamed Stockport Co ...

and A.F.C. Bournemouth in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, before moving to

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

to play for Melbourne Knights in 2008.

Newcastle Jets

Signed just prior to the beginning of the 2009-10 Hyundai A-League season as back-up to young Novocastrian goalkeeper Ben Kennedy, Young made his debut for the Jets at

EnergyAustralia Stadium Newcastle International Sports Centre, known as McDonald Jones Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose sports stadium located in Newcastle, Australia. The ground is home to the Newcastle Knights (National Rugby League) and Newca ...

on 8 November 2009 against

North Queensland Fury Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from ...

after Kennedy was forced out during the warm-up by a groin injury. Although rarely called upon due to the good form of Newcastle's defence, Young enjoyed a solid debut performance and kept a clean sheet in the 2–0 victory. In the Jets' clash against

Gold Coast United Gold Coast United Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Gold Coast, Queensland. The earliest incarnation of the club formed in 1966 and its home ground was at Nikiforides Family Park in Broadbeach. The first era of Gold Coast Unit ...

on 13 January, Young was kicked in the face by Gold Coast striker

Shane Smeltz Shane Edward Smeltz (born 29 September 1981) is a New Zealand Australian footballer. He plays as a striker for Guiseley AFC in the Northern Premier League, the 7th tier of English football. Smeltz had spent much of his early career playing in ...

when diving on a loose ball in the 18-yard box. The injury sidelined Young for the final four games of the regular season and an adverse reaction to medication meant the 30-year-old shot stopper missed the play-off final, which Newcastle won 6–5 on penalties. Young was left fighting for his life and remained in intensive care for more than 6 weeks, losing 20 kilograms (25% of his body weight) in the process. Doctors had to remove his large intestine and he stopped producing white blood cells in addition to bone marrow failure.

Perth Glory

On 28 February 2011, Young signed a two-year contract with A-League outfit Perth Glory, as the substitute goalkeeper to

Danny Vuković Daniel Vukovic ( ; born 27 March 1985) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Central Coast Mariners in the A-League and the Australia national team. Vukovic is the holder of several A-League records: he has th ...

.http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/a-league/news/1046587/Perth-snaps-up-Young Perth snaps up Young

Coaching

Young's first movement into coaching came due to an injury sustained while playing at Newcastle Jets. While under contract as a goalkeeper at Perth Glory in 2011 Young was appointed Head Goalkeeper Coach at the club. After a change of manager in 2014 Young moved back to the Jets, and at the end of his one-year contract he was appointed Goalkeeping Coach for

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is an Indian professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Indian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Organised by the All India Football Federat ...

side

Kerala Blasters Kerala Blasters Football Club (), commonly referred to as The Blasters, is an Indian professional football club based in Kochi, Kerala, that competes in the Indian Super League, the top tier of football in India. The club was established i ...

, working alongside Peter Taylor. Once his contract had expired at the end of the 2015–16 Super League tournament, Young was appointed the Goalkeeping Coach for

Thai Premier League The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from Augu ...

side Bangkok Glass F.C., working alongside

Aurelio Vidmar Aurelio Vidmar ( ; born 3 February 1967) is an Australian association football manager and former player, who is the current manager of Thai League 1 club Bangkok United. He is a former captain of the Australia national team and former coach ...

. Following the expiration of his contract, Young moved to the

Thai League 1 The Thai League 1 ( th, ไทยลีก 1), often referred to as T1, is the top level of the Thai football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Thai League 2. Seasons run from August ...

Champions Buriram United as Head of Goalkeeping, working within the Youth Development Academy. Appointed in July 2019, Young is currently Head Goalkeeper Coach of Melbourne City FC.

A-League career statistics

(''Correct as of 19 February 2012'')

References

External links

Newcastle Jets profile

Who Is Neil Young?
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FourFourTwo (Australia) ''FourFourTwo'' is a football magazine published by Future. Issued monthly, it published its 300th edition in May 2019. It takes its name from the football formation of the same name, 4-4-2. In 2008, it was announced that ''FourFourTwo'' had e ...

(Dec 2009) {{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Neil 1979 births Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia Australian soccer players Living people Newcastle Jets FC players Melbourne Knights FC players Perth Glory FC players A-League Men players Association football goalkeepers Melbourne City FC non-playing staff