Niall John Quinn (honorary MBE; born 6 October 1966) is an Irish former professional footballer, manager, businessman and sports television pundit. As a player he was a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

who played top flight football for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Manchester City 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 tw ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, with spells in the Premier League for both City and the Black Cats. Quinn also received 92 caps for the

Republic of Ireland national football team , FIFA Trigramme = IRL , Name = Republic of Ireland , Association = Football Association of Ireland (FAI) , Confederation = UEFA (Europe) , website fai.ie, Coach = Stephen Kenny (foot ...

, scoring 21 times, which makes him Ireland's second highest goalscorer of all time. He also appeared with the Irish team at the UEFA European Football Championship of

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

and two FIFA World Cups in

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

and

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

. He later was part of a consortium to buy Sunderland and became the club's chairman. He also had a spell as manager before stepping down to a role of club director. He left the club in February 2012 and has since worked as a pundit namely on Sky Sports.

Playing career

Gaelic games

Niall Quinn played

Gaelic football Gaelic football ( ga, Peil Ghaelach; short name '), commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA or Football is an Irish team sport. It is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kic ...

for the Perrystown, Dublin 12, club Robert Emmets. He also played underage football and hurling for Dublin. In July 1983, Quinn captained a Dublin Colleges GAA party on a one-month tour of Australia. Aged 16, he played in the 1983 All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship Final, and was offered a contract to play professional

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by k ...

before settling on a career in football. He played Gaelic football for Co. Kildare club Eadestown after his retirement, winning a junior C county title in 2008.

Club career

Arsenal

He played as a youth for Irish club

Manortown United Manortown United F.C. is a football club based in Perrystown, Dublin, Ireland. The club has senior teams competing in the Leinster Senior League and Ireland's cup competitions including the FAI Cup and the FAI Junior Cup. The youth set-up h ...

and then Lourdes Celtic in Crumlin, Dublin 12. After an unsuccessful trial at

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

he signed professional forms with English club

in 1983. He was signed as a centre-forward, but also had a brief spell as a centre-half for the Arsenal third team. After scoring 18 goals in 18 reserve matches in the first half of the 1985–86 season, Quinn was included in the first-team squad for a match against Liverpool. Quinn scored in the match as Arsenal recorded a 2–0 win. He made a further 11 league appearances for Arsenal that season, but failed to score as they finished seventh in the league. The end of the season brought Quinn his first call-up to the Republic of Ireland national team. Quinn found himself playing under a new manager for the following season, as George Graham was appointed in place of Don Howe. Quinn had a regular place in the side that season, appearing in 35 league games and scoring eight goals. He also collected a

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

winner's medal as Arsenal triumphed 2–1 over Liverpool. However, after Arsenal signed another target man, Alan Smith, in the 1987 close season, Quinn struggled to get into the team. Over the next three seasons he managed a total of just 20 league appearances and five goals – his three appearances in 1988–89 not being enough for a title medal. Quinn's lack of opportunities led him to submit a written transfer request at the start of the 1989–90 season. In total he scored 20 goals in 94 appearances for Arsenal, of which 81 were starts.

Manchester City

manager Howard Kendall signed Quinn for £800,000 in March 1990, shortly before the transfer deadline. He marked his debut with a goal, in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea at Maine Road. He scored 22 times in his first full season, and he went on to spend six years at the club, scoring 78 goals in 245 appearances; his time at City was hampered by a cruciate ligament injury in 1993–94. Although he returned to the side the following season, he managed just eight goals from 35 games. His most notable game for City was 20 April 1991 when he scored early on and saved a penalty as City beat Derby County 2–1, relegating Derby in the process. City goalkeeper Tony Coton had been sent off before half time for fouling

Dean Saunders Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and s ...

to concede the penalty. At this time teams rarely named goalkeepers as substitutes, so Quinn replaced Coton in goal. Other notable games included the Manchester derby on 7 November 1993, in which he scored twice in the first half to put City 2–0 up against United by half time, although a remarkable United comeback saw City lose 3–2. In the 1993 close season, Everton made a bid to sign Quinn and a further bid was made early in the 1993–94 season, but both bids were rejected and Quinn remained at Maine Road for a further three seasons. A cruciate ligament injury sustained in a match against Sheffield Wednesday in November 1993 caused Quinn to miss the majority of the 1993–94 season, and prevented him from playing in the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

. He returned at the start of the 1994–95 season, but the partnership forged by Uwe Rösler and Paul Walsh in his absence meant he was not always a starter. In attempt to reduce the wage bill, Manchester City tried to sell Quinn in the 1995 close-season, but a proposed move to Lisbon club Sporting fell through after failure to agree contractual terms. He managed a total of 193 league appearances in over six years at Maine Road, and scored a total of 64 goals for them.

Sunderland

Quinn finished his career with a highly successful spell at

, joining the north-east club in August 1996 for a club record £1.3 million, although he missed six months of his first season due to a knee injury – similar to the one which ruined his World Cup chances three years earlier. Before his injury, he had got off to a fine start to his Sunderland career, finding the net twice on his debut in a 4–1 win at Nottingham Forest. In his absence from September to March, Sunderland struggled and although he was back in action by the end of the season, they were relegated. His partnership with striker Kevin Phillips, signed in the 1997 close season, was one of the most prolific in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

in the late 1990s/early 2000s (a combined 194 goals for both players in all competitions from 1997-98 to 2002-03) and helped the club to regain promotion to the Premiership for the 1999–2000 season. In March 1999 Quinn again had to play in goal, this time replacing the injured Thomas Sørensen in a game against Bradford City. In similar circumstances to when playing for Manchester City against Derby County in 1991 Quinn scored and then went in goal, and kept a clean sheet to help his side win. He also has the distinction of being the first player to score at Sunderland's

Stadium of Light The Stadium of Light is an all-seater football stadium in Sunderland, England, and the eighth and current home to Sunderland A.F.C. With space for 49,000 spectators, the Stadium of Light is the ninth largest football stadium in England. ...

, against Manchester City in 1997. He became a local legend at Sunderland, winning both the Sunderland and North East Sportswriters' Player of the Year awards in 1999 after scoring 21 goals in Sunderland's record-breaking Division One title-winning season. His final appearance for Sunderland came on 19 October 2002 against West Ham. In a league career lasting 17 years, he had played a total of 475 times in the Premier League and

, scoring 141 goals.

International career

Quinn played in the qualifiers for the

1986 UEFA European Under-18 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1986 Final Tournament was held in Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia. It also served as the European qualification for the 1987 FIFA World Youth Champion ...

, and made his Irish international debut at under-17 level against Northern Ireland at

Seaview Seaview or Sea View may refer to: Places * Clifton Beach, Karachi, also known as Sea View, a beach in Pakistan * Sea View, Dorset, a suburb in England * Seaview, Isle of Wight, a small village in England * Seaview, Lower Hutt, an industrial suburb ...

in a 6–1 friendly win in January 1985, the first ever fixture between the two nations. Quinn scored a hat trick as did Eamonn Dolan. However Arsenal refused permission for Quinn to travel to the

1985 FIFA World Youth Championship The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

s. Quinn made his

senior Senior (shortened as Sr.) means "the elder" in Latin and is often used as a suffix for the elder of two or more people in the same family with the same given name, usually a parent or grandparent. It may also refer to: * Senior (name), a surname ...

debut as a substitute against the host nation in the Iceland Triangular Tournament in 1986. Quinn played for his country at two World Cups, in

and

; he missed the

because of injury. Quinn was also a member of the Irish squad that participated in the 1988 European Championship playing just once, as a substitute in the Republic of Ireland's 1–0 win over England in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. Quinn scored the equaliser against the Netherlands in the 1990 FIFA World Cup which allowed the Republic to progress to the second round of that tournament. In the qualifiers for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he scored against Cyprus on his 35th birthday to break the all-time goalscoring record, then held by

Frank Stapleton Francis Anthony Stapleton (born 10 July 1956) is an Irish former professional football player and manager. He is best remembered for his time at Arsenal, Manchester United and as a pivotal player for the Republic of Ireland national team. He h ...

. In the tournament proper, his header set up

Robbie Keane Robert David Keane (born 8 July 1980) is an Irish professional Association football, football coach and former Football player, player who played as a Forward (association football)#Striker, striker. Keane served as Captain (association football ...

's late equaliser against Germany, which was the only goal Germany conceded before the final. In the second-round, with the Republic behind 1–0 to Spain, it was a foul on Quinn that led to Ireland's last-minute penalty, converted by

, which tied the game and brought extra-time, but the Republic lost 3–2 in the resulting penalty shootout. After the tournament, he announced his retirement from international football, amassing 92 caps. At the time, he was his country's all-time top scorer with 21 goals; this record was later surpassed by Robbie Keane in October 2004. Quinn had a testimonial match between Sunderland and the Republic of Ireland in 2002. He donated the entire proceeds to charity, an act for which he received a number of awards, including an honorary MBE. Instead of receiving an appearance fee for the game, all the players received a letter from a sick child. Quinn played for both teams during the match, which raised over £1 million. The Republic of Ireland won the match 3–0.

Post-playing career

Premier League and DEC unite to tackle famine (6344940162)

Quinn retired in 2003 at the age of 37, taking a brief coaching role at

. Quinn has also made appearances as a television pundit and commentator for televised matches involving his former teams with Sky Sports. He made a single league appearance for Thai Premier League side

BEC Tero Sasana Police Tero Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลโปลิศ-เทโร), formerly known as BEC Tero Sasana Football Club, is a Thai professional football club based in Bangkok. The club finished runners-up in the inaugural ...

in March 2006 to promote the league and the side's link with Arsenal. Quinn released an acclaimed autobiography ''Niall Quinn – The Autobiography'' (2002), which was ghostwritten by Tom Humphries. It won the Best Autobiography category in the inaugural

British Sports Book Awards The Sports Book Awards (previously National Sporting Club Book Awards then Telegraph Sports Book Awards) is a British literary award for sports writing. It was first awarded in 2003 as part of the National Sporting Club. Awards are presented in m ...

. It was also nominated for a William Hill Sports Book of the Year award. The book is not structured chronologically, but rather in the context of Quinn's career swansong, the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan. Heading the

Drumaville Consortium The Drumaville Consortium was a group of seven Irish businessmen and one English businessman led by former footballer Niall Quinn, who were involved in the 2006 takeover of English Premier League football club Sunderland A.F.C. The consortium was ...

of wealthy Irish businessmen, in June 2006, Quinn successfully brokered a deal to buy a controlling stake in Sunderland. In July 2006 Quinn became the

chairman The chairperson, also chairman, chairwoman or chair, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by members of the grou ...

and manager of Sunderland. The deal was finalised on 27 July 2006, with sufficient shares being sold to the consortium in order for them to take complete control. His managerial career did not get off to a good start as the team lost its first four league games in a row. On 22 August, Sunderland played Bury away in the League Cup where they lost 2–0. After the match Quinn said that a new manager would be appointed by Sunderland's next game. Quinn stepped to one side (to continue in his role as Sunderland chairman) paving the way for

Roy Keane Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971) is an Irish football pundit, coach and former professional player. He is the joint most successful Irish footballer of all time, having won 19 major trophies in his club career, 17 of which came during ...

to take charge. This was highly unexpected considering the huge rift between the two arising from Keane's infamous ejection from the 2002 World Cup. Keane was appointed manager of the club on 28 August 2006. The appointment matured into a great success, with Sunderland clinching an immediate Premier League comeback as

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the En ...

champions. Quinn made substantial amounts of money available for buying new players, as he had a declared ambition to establish Sunderland as a top club. In 2008, he received the James Joyce Award of the Literary & Historical Society in University College Dublin. In 2010, Quinn was named a patron of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation. In October 2011 Ellis Short replaced Quinn as chairman of Sunderland. Quinn was appointed as Director of International Development on behalf of the club and remained in this role until stepping down in February 2012 and after six years involved with the running of the club saying "Everything is in place for Sunderland to really make a statement, which was always my aim". Since leaving Sunderland, Quinn is now chairman of a satellite broadband company in Ireland called Q Sat. In 2012, Quinn started commentating for Sky Sports and normally commentates alongside Martin Tyler. He won, also in 2012, the North East Football Writers' Association's Personality of the Year for 2011. In November 2013, Quinn was bestowed with the Freedom of Sunderland award by the city of Sunderland. In January 2020, Quinn was appointed as interim deputy chief executive officer of the Football Association of Ireland, choosing to go without salary until the financial future of the organisation could be secured. In September 2020 he stepped down from his interim CEO role.

Fan relationships

Quinn has his own song titled "Niall Quinn's Disco Pants". The song was originally created by Manchester City supporters during a night out on a pre-season tour in Penola, Italy, in 1992. There had been a bust-up with City team-mate Steve McMahon and Quinn had removed his torn and bloodied shirt and was dancing with Rick Holden wearing just a pair of cut-off jeans. He was "hardly aware" that there were a group of hardcore City fans watching and they treated him to "the first performance of the song that will follow me till the end of my career."Niall Quinn, ''The Autobiography'' (Headline Publishing, 2002), 182. The song was adopted by Sunderland fans and released as a single by the club's dedicated fanzine '' A Love Supreme''. It reached no. 56 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1999. Quinn has received praise for his relationship with Sunderland fans. This was highlighted in March 2007 when, during his tenure as chairman, Quinn paid over £8000 to allow around 100 Sunderland fans to travel home by taxi when stranded at Bristol airport after being ejected from their scheduled flight home. The incident happened on Saturday night when Quinn, Sunderland staff and a group of supporters boarded an easyJet flight from Bristol to Newcastle, following Sunderland's 1–0 win at Championship promotion rivals Cardiff. After spotting Quinn, many of the fans broke into song, serenading Quinn with 'Niall Quinn's Disco Pants'. EasyJet staff, angered by the boisterous behaviour, ejected the fans from the plane and Quinn, outraged at the fans' treatment, also left the plane. Quinn, seeing there were no other flights available, decided to commandeer a fleet of taxis and minivans in order to return the fans home.

Personal life

Both Quinn's parents are from Thurles, County Tipperary. His father as well as his uncles on his mother's side played

hurling Hurling ( ga, iománaíocht, ') is an outdoor team game of ancient Gaelic Irish origin, played by men. One of Ireland's native Gaelic games, it shares a number of features with Gaelic football, such as the field and goals, the number of p ...

for Tipperary. He was born in Dublin. He now lives in Kildare. He has been married to the Irish model Gillian Roe since 1992, and they have two children: Aisling and Michael.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Quinn goal.''

Managerial record

Honours

Arsenal *

: 1986–87 Sunderland *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1998–99 Individual * Irish Young Player of the Year: 1990 *

Player of the Year: 1991 *

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

: 1998–99 First Division *

Player of the Year: 1999 * North East Football Writers' Player of 1999 * Beacon Fellowship Prize for his contribution to medical and children's charities, 2003Beacon Prize Winners 2003
. Retrieved 3 February 2012. * PFA Merit Award: 2002 *North East Football Writers' Association's Personality of the Year: 2011 *Freedom of Sunderland award: 2013

References

External links

* *
The Niall Quinn Living Tribute Site

Fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, Niall 1966 births Living people Association football forwards Association footballers from Dublin (city) Arsenal F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Niall Quinn Premier League players English Football League players Niall Quinn 1990 FIFA World Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1988 players Businesspeople from County Dublin Dual players Dublin Gaelic footballers Dublin hurlers Eadestown Gaelic footballers English Football Hall of Fame inductees Gaelic footballers who switched code Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in Thailand Members of the Order of the British Empire Outfield association footballers who played in goal People educated at Drimnagh Castle Secondary School Republic of Ireland association footballers Republic of Ireland football chairmen and investors Republic of Ireland international footballers Republic of Ireland B international footballers Republic of Ireland under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland under-23 international footballers Republic of Ireland youth international footballers Republic of Ireland football managers Republic of Ireland expatriate football managers Robert Emmets Gaelic footballers Robert Emmets hurlers Sunderland A.F.C. directors and chairmen Sunderland A.F.C. managers