Cornelius "Neil" Duffy (born 5 June 1967) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former professional footballer who played in

defence Defense or defence may refer to: Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups * Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare * Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks * Defense indust ...

and

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

for

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the , the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is The Honest Men, fro ...

and

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

. He was appointed

assistant manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

Troon Troon (Scottish Gaelic: ''An Truthail'') is a town and sea port in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with ferry and freight serv ...

in August 2015. He is now the manager of Viewfield Rovers in the SSMAFL.

Early life

Neil Duffy was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

on 5 June 1967, but brought up in

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

, South Africa. His father, also named Neil Duffy, was himself a professional footballer in Scotland and South Africa. Neil junior played local amateur football for

Shamrocks Shamrocks is a solitaire game akin to La Belle Lucie. The object is the same as the latter: move the cards into the foundations. Rules The game is laid out as in La Belle Lucie: seventeen piles of three cards are placed on the table with one car ...

, where his father was coach.

Playing career

Duffy began his professional career with

at the age of 17 after passing a first team trial whilst on holiday in 1985. Soon afterwards, however, he returned to South Africa due to homesickness. In South Africa he again played for Shamrocks. He returned to Dundee United during the 1989-90 season but left for

without making a first team appearance. Duffy spent three years at Falkirk before moving to

in 1993–94, where he stayed for a similar time. During his time at Dundee, he captained the side to the 1995 Scottish League Cup Final but was unsuccessful. In August, Duffy rejoined Dundee United for a £200,000 transfer fee, finally making his first team debut in his third spell at the club. Like his previous two clubs, Duffy gave three years of service before moving on, this time to

. During his time at Ayr United, Duffy was able to help the team to two consecutive

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2002 League Cup final. In 2002–03, Duffy moved to

, where he stayed until retiring in 2004. His time at Dumbarton provided his one and only red card which came in his last ever appearance.

Coaching career

After some time coaching at Ayr United's youth academy, Duffy was appointed as

under-19 coach in May 2013. He became assistant manager of the club in August 2015 before departing in December 2015. On 15 December 2015, Duffy was named manager of Whitletts Victoria. He resigned from the role in January 2018.

Honours

Falkirk *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,1993–94

References

External links

* 1967 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Dundee United F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Men's association football midfielders South African men's soccer players Footballers from Glasgow Soccer players from Pietermaritzburg Scottish football managers Scottish Junior Football Association managers Ayr United F.C. non-playing staff Whitletts Victoria F.C. managers 20th-century Scottish sportsmen 20th-century South African sportsmen {{scotland-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub