Neil Megson (born 27 July 1962) is a soccer coach and former player who coaches youth soccer. 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 ...

, he played two seasons in the North American Soccer League, nine in Major Indoor Soccer League, one in the Continental Indoor Soccer League and six in the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system ...

and its predecessors. He served as head coach to the

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

for five seasons, winning the 1995 A-League championship and being named the 2000 USL Coach of the Year. Born in England, he earned two

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

with the U.S. national team in 1988. He is the brother of former

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

and

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

manager

Gary Megson Gary John Megson (born 2 May 1959) is an English former football player and manager. He has previously managed Norwich City, Blackpool, Stockport County, Stoke City, West Bromwich Albion, Nottingham Forest, Leicester City, Bolton Wanderers ...

Playing career

Youth

Megson was born in

Manchester 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 Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. His father,

Don Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *County Donegal, Ireland, Chapman code DON *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name *Don, Benin, a town in Benin *Don, Dang, a vill ...

, played for English clubs

and

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

from 1959 to 1972. He then coached the Rovers for five years before moving to the United States to coach the Portland Timbers of the North American Soccer League (NASL) in 1977. Megson played with the Frampton Rangers Youth Academy before joining

Bristol Rovers F.C. Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

as an apprentice when he was fourteen. He was sixteen when his father moved their family to Portland. On arriving in Oregon, Megson attended

Lake Oswego High School Lake Oswego High School (LOHS) is a public high school in Lake Oswego, Oregon, United States. History Lake Oswego High School first opened in September 1951 as a six-year school, with an enrollment of 564. In 1956, it became a four-year high sch ...

, becoming an outstanding prep player. He was named the Oregon Player of the Year his senior year. Megson's family returned to England, but he elected to remain in the U.S. After high school, he attended a local community college for a year.

Professional

In 1983, the

of the NASL signed Megson. He saw time in fourteen games, but the Sounders folded at the end of the 1983 season and Megson moved to the Tulsa Roughnecks for the 1984 NASL season. The Roughnecks and the NASL folded at the end of the season. By the time the NASL had folded, Megson was firmly established as an indoor player with the Tacoma Stars of Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). He had signed with the Stars as the team's first player in the summer of 1983 and had played his first season in Tacoma during the 1983–84 NASL off season. He remained with the Stars until the team folded at the end of the 1991–92 season. In 1988, he had played with the

Calgary Kickers The Calgary Strikers (formerly the Calgary Kickers) were a Canadian soccer team in Calgary, Alberta that competed in the Canadian Soccer League from 1987 to 1989. They were founded as the Calgary Kickers for the 1987 and 1988 seasons, winning the ...

. Following the collapse of the Stars, Megson played a single season with the

Portland Pride The Portland Pride are a defunct indoor soccer team that played in the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) from 1993 to 1997. History In 1993, a new league, the Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) began its first season. Traditionally, ...

of the Continental Indoor Soccer League in 1993. In 1994, a new

team was formed, this time in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). Megson signed with the team as a free agent in March 1994 and spent most of his years with the team playing sweeper. In 1995, the Sounders won the A-League championship. In March 1996, Megson took on the duties of coach, as well as player, with the Sounders. In that role, he led the team to the 1996 A-League title. In August and then again in October of that year, he suffered several injuries which put him out of play for several months. Megson continued to play with the team through the 1998 season. In 1999, he became the team's dedicated coach.

International

Megson earned his first of two

with the U.S. national team in a 1–1 tie with

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

on 1 June 1988. He came on for Bernie James who replaced Megson as head coach of the Sounders after Megson was fired. Megson's second cap came two days later in a 3–1 loss to Chile. He started the game, then came off for Chris Sullivan.

Coaching career

While playing with the

in 1993, Megson also served as an assistant coach. When he moved to the Sounders in 1994, he served as both an assistant coach and player under Alan Hinton. On 3 March 1996, the Sounders elevated Megson from player to player-coach after the team fired Hinton. On 28 September 2000 he was named the USL A-League Coach of the Year. In 2003,

Olympic College Olympic College is a public community college in Bremerton, Washington. It opened as Olympic Junior College on September 5, 1946. Olympic College serves Kitsap and Mason counties in Washington. The college's service area contains two major na ...

hired Megson to establish the school's men's and women's soccer teams. He coached the women's team's first season in 2004.OC Men's Soccer Records
/ref> In 2004, he became the Coaching Director of the WestSound Football Club and remained with the club through July 2007. In 2007, Megson rejoined the Sounders club as an assistant with the Sounders Crossfire W-League team. He now coaches several Franklin Pierce Fury teams in Tacoma, Washington.

Non soccer ventures

Over the years, Megson has owned at least two

Baskin-Robbins Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake speciality shops owned by Inspire Brands. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913–1967) and Irv Robbins (1917–2008) in ...

ice cream stores and a hair salon.

References

External links

1983 Stats

1995 Sounders bio

{{DEFAULTSORT:Megson, Neil 1962 births Living people American Professional Soccer League players American soccer coaches Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players Continental Indoor Soccer League players English emigrants to the United States Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Footballers from Manchester Portland Pride players Seattle Sounders (1994–2008) players Seattle Sounders (1994–2008) coaches Seattle Sounders (1974–1983) players Tacoma Stars players Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984) players United States men's international soccer players Lake Oswego High School alumni American soccer players American expatriate soccer players American expatriate sportspeople in Canada Association football midfielders College men's soccer coaches in the United States College women's soccer coaches in the United States Calgary Kickers players