Phil Neal

Philip George Neal (born 20 February 1951) is an English retired footballer who played for Northampton Town, Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers as a full back. He is one of the most successful English players of all time, having won seven First Divisions, four League Cups, five FA Charity Shields, four European Cups, one UEFA Cup and one UEFA Super Cup during his eleven years at Liverpool. He later returned to Bolton Wanderers as manager, leading them to victory in the Football League Trophy before spells managing Coventry City, Cardiff City and Manchester City.

Neal also had a long career with the England national team, winning 50 caps and playing in the 1982 World Cup. He would go on to be England's assistant manager under Graham Taylor.

Phil Neal's nickname whilst at Liverpool was Zico – a reference to the Brazilian play maker and a compliment to Neal, who was known for scoring important goals throughout the club's history. Phil's son, Ashley Neal, also became a footballer.

Career

Playing career

Neal began his playing career at Wellingborough Town, before he joined Northampton Town in 1968. He went on to make 187 appearances for the club before being signed on 9 October 1974 for £66,000 by Liverpool manager Bob Paisley. Paisley had intended to break Neal in as a replacement for the ageing Chris Lawler, meaning that he initially played as a left-back. It would be, however, his industrious and energetic performances at right-back where he made his name.

Neal made his Liverpool début in the Merseyside derby against Everton at Goodison Park on 16 November 1974, a game which ended 0–0. Neal made his début alongside midfielder Terry McDermott. Neal's first goal for the club came almost exactly one year later on 4 November 1975, during the 6–0 defeat of Real Sociedad in a UEFA Cup game at Anfield.

Neal scored from the penalty spot late in the 1977 European Cup Final, when the Anfield club beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 in Rome to win the European Cup for the first time. Neal subsequently played in the winning 1978 and 1981 finals, Liverpool beating Club Brugge and Real Madrid respectively. He scored in the first half of the 1984 final against A.S. Roma, which ended 1–1 and was decided on penalty kicks, won by Liverpool (with Neal scoring Liverpool's first goal of the shootout, from its second shot). Neal was the only player to appear in all four of Liverpool's European Cup wins of the 1970s and 1980s.

In total, Neal won eight First Divisions, four League Cups, five FA Charity Shields, four European Cups, one UEFA Cup and one UEFA Super Cup during his eleven years at Liverpool, making him one of the most successful Englishmen ever to play the game. During his Liverpool career, Neal was ever-present in the starting line-up for several seasons. He played 366 consecutive league matches (a club record and among the highest in English football history) from 14 December 1974 until 24 September 1983, when he suffered an injury against Manchester United that forced him to miss the following week's match against Sunderland.

Neal departed Anfield after 11 years in 1985, joining Bolton Wanderers as player-manager. He retired from playing in 1989 after more than 700 league appearances and 50 caps for England.

Managerial career

In December 1985, Neal was appointed player-manager of Bolton Wanderers and managed the club for seven years. During this period, Neal led the club to win the Football League Trophy in 1989, although the club would later suffer relegation to the Fourth Division for the first time in their history. They won promotion back to the Third Division the following season, reaching the Third Division play-offs in 1990 and 1991 but failed to win promotion on either occasion. In 1991, they had been pipped to automatic promotion by Grimsby Town on goal difference, and lost to Tranmere Rovers in the playoff final. A year later, they finished 13th in the Third Division and Neal was sacked on 8 May 1992. His successor was Bruce Rioch, who guided Bolton to promotion from the newly named Division Two (rebranded as part of a reorganisation prompted by the creation of the FA Premier League) in 1993 and to the top flight in 1995.

Neal returned to club management on 23 October 1993 with Coventry City, beginning his spell at Highfield Road on that day with a 5–1 defeat against QPR that left them 12th in the Premier League. Despite a shaky start to his time as Sky Blues manager, they did well in the second half of the season and finished 11th in the league – their highest finish since coming seventh in 1989. Perhaps the most impressive result that season after Neal's arrival was a 4–0 home win over Manchester City on 19 February 1994. However, Coventry struggled in 1994–95 despite the £2million arrival of striker Dion Dublin from Manchester United on 10 September, and Neal was sacked on 14 February 1995 despite a 2–0 away win over fellow strugglers Crystal Palace three days earlier, which saw them 17th in the Premier League and two places above the relegation zone. Neal's successor Ron Atkinson ensured City's survival.

He was appointed manager of Cardiff City in Division Three in February 1996, but in October that year he left Ninian Park to become assistant manager to Steve Coppell at Manchester City who were struggling in Division One after relegation from the Premier League. However, Coppell resigned on 8 November 1996 and Neal became caretaker manager until the arrival of Frank Clark on 29 December.

For the 1997–98 season, Neal was recruited as assistant manager to chairman-manager Barry Fry at Peterborough United after their relegation to Division Three, but he was axed by Fry on 15 March 1998.

He has also played for and coached the Liverpool masters side which dominated the Sky Sports Masters series.

Media

In recent years, Neal has worked as a football pundit for various television and radio organisations.

He has written two autobiographies, ''Attack From The Back'' in 1981 and ''Life at the Kop'' in 1986.

Career statistics

Club

* ¹ – Also played in the FA Charity Shield
* ² – Also played in the Intercontinental Cup
* ³ – Also played in the Football League Super Cup

International

Honours

Player

Liverpool
* Football League First Division (7): 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84
* Football League Cup: 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84
* FA Charity Shield: 1976, 1977 (shared), 1979, 1980, 1982
* European Cup: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1983–84
* UEFA Cup: 1975–76
* UEFA Super Cup: 1977
* Football League Super Cup: 1986

Manager

Bolton Wanderers
* Football League Trophy: 1988–89

References

External links

Thisisanfield.com Exclusive interviewOfficial past players at Liverpoolfc.tvPlayer profile at LFChistory.netExclusive interview at LFChistory.netPhil Neal England Biography part 1 1976–77 at Sporting-heroes.netPhil Neal England Biography part 2 1978 – June 82 at Sporting-heroes.netPhil Neal England Biography part 3 1982 World Cup-83 at Sporting-heroes.netPhil Neal England caps part 1 at Sporting-heroes.netPhil Neal England caps part 2 at Sporting-heroes.netPhil Neal part 1 1974/75-1977/78 at Sporting-heroes.netPhil Neal part 2 1978/79-1982/83 at Sporting-heroes.netPhil Neal part 3 1983/84-1985/86 at Sporting-heroes.net

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neal, Phil
1951 births
Living people
Bolton Wanderers F.C. managers
Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
Cardiff City F.C. managers
Coventry City F.C. managers
England international footballers
English football managers
English footballers
Premier League managers
UEFA Euro 1980 players
1982 FIFA World Cup players
Liverpool F.C. players
Manchester City F.C. managers
People from Irchester
Northampton Town F.C. players
English Football League players
Association football defenders
UEFA Champions League winning players
UEFA Cup winning players
Outfield association footballers who played in goal
Association football player-managers
FA Cup Final players