Alan William Fettis (born 1 February 1971) is a

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

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 ...

and goalkeeping coach at

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side

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 ...

As a player, he was as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

from 1988 to 2007. He notably played for

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

and

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

having also had spells with

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

Ards Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a type of respiratory failure characterized by rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs. Symptoms include shortness of breath (dyspnea), rapid breathing (tachypnea), and bluish skin color ...

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 ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

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 ...

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that in the 2022–23 season will compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system, following the victory in t ...

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 ...

and Bury.

Club career

Born in Newtownards, County Down, Fettis started his career with

before playing for

from 1988 to 1991, making 65 appearances in all competitions for the club. He was a firm fans' favourite whilst at

, and on occasion found himself playing as a striker due to injuries at the club, and bagged himself a couple of goals in the process. He later rejoined his manager at Hull, Terry Dolan at

, where his saves were credited by many fans with keeping York in the league during a period in which they struggled financially. He was sold back to Hull by new manager Chris Brass in 2003; York dropped out of the league a year later, returning for the 2012–13 season. Fettis was signed by Bury on a 12-month deal in June 2006, but broke his right arm in a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

defeat against former side

on 19 September. He was released by Bury at the end of the 2006–07 season.

Coaching career

Fettis was appointed as assistant goalkeeping coach at

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

in July 2007. In November 2008, Fettis became the new goalkeeping coach and chief scout at

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league sy ...

. In July 2009, Fettis became the new goalkeeping coach at Sunderland. He joined Manchester United in January 2011 as a goalkeeping coach for the club's

Academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

teams. In July 2011, Fettis made an appearance for Manchester United Reserves after both reserve keepers fell ill before a match against

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 ...

. In August 2016, former

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

goalkeeper

Víctor Valdés Víctor Valdés Arribas (; born 14 January 1982) is a Spanish football coach and former professional player, who played as a goalkeeper. Valdés was considered fiercely competitive and demanding, demonstrating great mental strength and concen ...

stated that without Fettis’ help he would have given up on football in 2015. "It's difficult to explain, but it was hard being alone. The easy way out would have been to end my career." "I want to say in a public way thank you to the U21 coach Alan Fettis - without him I may have given up football. He made me keep going and stopped me when I was thinking about bringing my career to an end." "I feel like a professional goalkeeper again after all those hard days in Manchester," he added. "But I don't have any bad words for Van Gaal or Manchester United". In 2019, after the sudden departure of Emilio Alvarez from the club, Fettis temporarily stepped up to first team duties to support senior goalkeeping coach Richard Hartis. Fettis returned to his role in the academy after the appointment of Craig Mawson from

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 ...

. In July 2022, he joined

as goalkeeping coach under Chris Wilder.

International career

Fettis was capped by Northern Ireland at schoolboy, under-16, under-17, under-18, B and senior levels.

Honours

Individual * PFA Team of the Year:

2002–03 Football League Third Division The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fettis, Alan 1971 births Living people People from Newtownards Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland B international footballers Northern Ireland international footballers Association football goalkeepers Glentoran F.C. players Ards F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players York City F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Bury F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Premier League players English Football League players Derby County F.C. non-playing staff Cheltenham Town F.C. non-playing staff Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff Middlesbrough F.C. non-playing staff Association football goalkeeping coaches