Neil Heaney

Neil Heaney

Personal information
Full name	Neil Heaney
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s)	Winger (Retired)

Neil Heaney (born November 3, 1971 in Middlesbrough) is an English former footballer who played as a winger for a number of British clubs.

Heaney started out playing on his native Teeside before being signed by London club Arsenal on schoolboy forms in January 1987. He was part of the side that won the FA Youth Cup in 1987-88 and turned professional in 1989. After spells on loan at Hartlepool United and Cambridge United he made his Arsenal debut as a substitute against Sheffield United on April 18 1992. A winger with considerable pace, he was on the fringes of the Arsenal first team over the next two seasons, before being suddenly sold by George Graham to Southampton for £300,000 in March 1994. He made nine senior appearances for Arsenal in total, scoring no goals.

He was Alan Ball's third signing for the Saints (just before the transfer deadline). Although he undoubtedly had pace, he had a tendency to run up blind allies to the frustration of both his team-mates and the fans. His first goal for the Saints came against Newcastle United on 22 March 1995. Saints had failed to win a game since before Christmas and had dropped into 20th place, just above the relegation zone. Heaney came on as a substitute with Saints 1-0 down, and with four minutes left he prodded home a loose ball after a save by Pavel Srníček from Gordon Watson's header. Watson and Neil Shipperley completed the scoring to see Saints run out unlikely 3-1 winners. Saints then managed to climb up the table to finish in a respectable looking 10th place.

Heaney made 61 league appearances for Southampton in two and a half seasons (scoring 5 goals), before being sold for £500,000 to Frank Clark's Manchester City in November 1996. However he never settled at City and fell out of favour under the club's various managers; he had a loan period at Charlton Athletic in 1997-98, being part of the side that won promotion to the Premier League, but this did not result in a permanent transfer. He eventually left in August 1999, dropping down a couple of divisions to join Darlington, before seeing out his career at Dundee United and Plymouth Argyle. He retired in December 2002.

References

• Duncan Holley & Gary Chalk (2003). In That Number - A post-war chronicle of Southampton FC. Hagiology. ISBN 0-9534474-3-X.

External links

• Neil Heaney at Soccerbase