Matty McNeil

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Matty McNeil
McNeil in 2013
Personal information
Full name Matthew McNeil[1]
Date of birth (1976-07-14) 14 July 1976 (age 48)[1]
Place of birth Manchester, England
Height 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)[1]
Position(s) Striker
Team information
Current team
 Rochdale (Academy Coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1999 Altrincham 17 (6)
1998–1999 → Woodley Sports (loan) 28 (21)
1999–2002 Stalybridge Celtic 63 (27)
2002–2003 Runcorn 39 (12)
2003–2006 Hyde United 108 (36)
2006 → Macclesfield Town (loan) 12 (1)
2006–2007 Macclesfield Town 35 (4)
2007–2010 Stockport County 42 (5)
2010–2011 Southport 35 (5)
2011–2012 Chester 32 (9)
Total 405 (126)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Matthew McNeil (born 14 July 1976) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker.

Career

Non League

Born in

Curzon Ashton Reserves before being spotted by the Altrincham Reserve team manager, Bernard Taylor. After turning out good performances in the reserves, he then progressed on into the first team scoring a goal on his debut. He then came on as a substitute in the league cup final against Gainsborough
, helping the team to come from behind to win the cup after extra time.

In pre-season, McNeil was then scouted by

Woodley Sports
.

After impressing in a cup tie for Woodley Sports against

Runcorn in January for an undisclosed fee. He helped the club have a strong finish to their season and the following year the club reached the first round proper of the FA Cup
, in which he scored in every round.

He was then sold to

Macclesfield Town boss Brian Horton.[2]

The Football League

McNeil made a scoring and man of the match performance on his professional debut in the

League Two side Macclesfield Town in June 2006.[3] He made 35 league appearances in the 2006–07 season, scoring five goals. The highlight of the season was playing at Chelsea in the third round of the FA Cup, and getting an assist for the goal in the 6–1 defeat. He also had a good end to the season, helping keep the club in the football league. He was offered a new contract at Macclesfield, but joined Stockport County in July 2007, where manager Jim Gannon
said of him, "He has all the qualities we want. He's very strong, hard working and well equipped for his role."

He made 22 appearances for Stockport, scoring six goals and won the player of the month for both September and November, before injury interrupted his 2007–08 season.[4][5] He returned to feature briefly in Stockport's final game of the season, coming on as a substitute for the final few minutes of their Wembley play-off victory.

He was offered a new twelve-month contract by Stockport, but the first half of his 2008–09 season also turned out to be plagued by injury. After being sent off shortly into the second match of the season, McNeil suffered a knee injury in training, and missed the remainder of August, all of September, and the first half of October. He returned to face Colchester United on 18 October, scoring in the first half, but being hospitalised with a head injury by a clumsy challenge in the second half.[6] After a further month out through injury, McNeil returned to the first team for a spell of games in November, before a recurrence of a back problem forced him to limp out of the pre-match warmup for an FA Cup tie against Gillingham on 9 December, and spend the next six weeks on the sidelines.[7] McNeil was out of contract at the end of the season, and with the club going into administration, plus the management being made redundant, he wasn't offered a new contract.

He then had a contract offer from

Stockport County in League One
, where he signed a short-term contract until January, and then he was promised a deal until the end of the season. With the club still in administration, they made some loan signings in January, and some signings on a 6-month contract, but towards the end of January, McNeil was only offered another short-term deal and not the deal until the end of the season as promised, so he decided to leave the club.

Return to non-League

McNeil signed for

Rushden was kicked out of the league due to breaking the rules.[8]

He signed for Chester in June 2011, after he left Southport the previous month. McNeil suffered a knee injury in his first pre-season friendly against Tranmere, and missed the rest of pre-season. He then managed to recover in time to make the first game of the season, where he scored on his debut. His season would be cut short due to a career threatening knee injury, which meant he would miss the last 10 games of the season, However, he still went on to win Supporters player of the year and the Managers player of the year. The team also went on to secure the league title and win their second successive promotion in two years.[9]

Personal life

His son, Dwight, currently plays for Premier League club Everton.[10]

Honours

Stockport County

Altrincham

  • 1997–98

Stalybridge Celtic

Hyde United

Chester

References

  1. ^
    ISBN 978-1-84596-474-0
    .
  2. ^ "McNeil seals Macclesfield loan". BBC Sport. 2 March 2006. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  3. ^ "Stockport sign up striker McNeil". BBC Sport. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  4. ^ "McNeil suffers setback". Football.co.uk. 13 June 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  5. ^ "Hernia operation for McNeil". Stockport Express. M.E.N. Media. 16 January 2008. Retrieved 29 March 2008.
  6. ^ McNeil out of Dons clash StockportCounty.com. Retrieved 6 June 2011
  7. ^ Stockport vs Gillingham StockportCounty.com. Retrieved 6 June 2011
  8. ^ Kirkbride, Phil (12 May 2010). l-101022-26435113/ "Southport FC sign Matty McNeil". Southport Visiter. Retrieved 12 May 2010. {{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
  9. ^ Banks, Jeff. "McNeil signs for the Blues". chesterfc.com. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  10. ^ "Dream Day For Goalscorer McNeil". Burnley F.C. 31 December 2018. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
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