- Neil Sullivan
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This article is about the footballer. For the physicist, see Neil S. Sullivan.
Neil Sullivan Personal information Full name Neil Sullivan Date of birth 24 February 1970 Place of birth Sutton, England Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Playing position Goalkeeper Club information Current club Doncaster Rovers Number 1 Youth career 1986–1988 Wimbledon Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 1988–2000 Wimbledon 181 (0) 1992 → Crystal Palace (loan) 1 (0) 2000–2003 Tottenham Hotspur 64 (0) 2003–2004 Chelsea 4 (0) 2004–2007 Leeds United 95 (0) 2007– Doncaster Rovers 193 (0) National team‡ 1997–2003 Scotland 28 (0) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:32, 21 November 2011 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 22:29, 2 March 2008 (UTC)Neil Sullivan (born 24 February 1970 in Sutton, Greater London) is an English-born Scottish ex-international professional Association footballer. A goalkeeper, Sullivan currently plays for Doncaster Rovers after signing on a permanent basis from Leeds United at the end of the 2006–07 season, following two loan moves to Doncaster. He has 28 full caps for Scotland.
Contents
Club career
Wimbledon
Sullivan began his career with local club Wimbledon in 1988, amassing a total of 224 appearances between 1988 and 2000. It was during his tenure at Wimbledon that Sullivan was often acknowledged as one of the best goalkeepers in the league marked by his selection for the division's 1997–98 team of the season.
Sullivan was the goalkeeper against whom David Beckham scored a goal from the halfway line, while he was off his line. He also played one game on loan for Crystal Palace in 1992.
Spurs & Chelsea
In 2000, Sullivan moved to Tottenham Hotspur from Wimbledon, where he made over 80 appearances. He then moved to Chelsea in the 2003–04 season, playing eight times for them.
Leeds United
In June 2004, he was signed by Championship team Leeds United,[1] by manager Kevin Blackwell to replace Paul Robinson who had left Leeds to join Tottenham. Sullivan beat off competition for number one spot from young goalkeeper Scott Carson. In his first season (2004–05), he was voted as the club's Player of the Year after some superb saves throughout the season, including saving several penalties for Leeds. Leeds finished 10 points off the playoffs after a season of rebuilding. In his second season at Leeds, they reached the playoff final against Watford, with Sullivan again having a decent season. But the playoff final ended in disaster for Sullivan with Leeds losing 3–0 to Watford and Sullivan being at fault for the second goal.
Due to an injury picked up in the pre-season match against Nottingham Forest, Sullivan made few appearances in the 2006–07 campaign for Leeds, with loan goalkeeper Tony Warner filling in whilst Sullivan was injured. Kevin Blackwell was sacked and replaced by Dennis Wise. Wise decided to sign Graham Stack on loan to compete with Warner and Sullivan. On 23 November 2006, he moved on loan to Doncaster Rovers. His loan was however cut short and he returned to Leeds on 21 December 2006. Manager Dennis Wise told the press after Leeds' 2–1 victory against Coventry City that Sullivan had put on weight, and his performances were not as good, hence his loan to Doncaster.[2] Leeds signed Casper Ankergren as the new number one goalkeeper. Sullivan re-signed on loan for Doncaster Rovers in February 2007. After the end of his loan at Doncaster, Sullivan returned to Leeds but was released at the end of his contract.
Doncaster Rovers
On 15 May 2007, returning to Doncaster shortly afterwards. He has since then been the first team keeper and his consistent performances throughout the 2007–08 season helped Doncaster to promotion. He made an error in the 2–1 loss to Yeovil Town on 21 March 2008, mis-controlling a backpass which led to a Yeovil goal, but the disappointment of this mistake was over-shadowed by a very successful season between the sticks, in which Sullivan kept an impressive 20 clean sheets.[3]
He overcame this to help Doncaster win promotion to the Championship with a playoff final win over former club Leeds United, leaving them in the third tier of the Football League for at least another year.
Sullivan was also credited with a man-of-the-match performance against Aston Villa on 24 January 2009 which gave Doncaster a 0–0 draw that helped keep them in the FA Cup.[4]
The veteran goalkeeper continued to be an ever-present in the Rovers side throughout the 2009–10 season, appearing in all 46 league games for the club. In 2010, Sullivan signed a one-year-contract extension for the Rovers, meaning he would be at the club until the end of the 2010/11 campaign. However, he had an injury-hit season, and was eventually replaced by Gary Woods as no.1. However, at the end of the season, he signed another one-year extension.[5]
International career
Sullivan has also been capped 28 times by Scotland. He was named in the Scottish squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, but was an unused substitute in all of Scotland's three matches.
Career statistics
Club
Club Season Division League FA Cup League Cup FA Trophy Europe Play Offs Total Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals 1989–90 Wimbledon First Division 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - 0 1990–91 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - 0 1991–92 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - 0 Crystal Palace (Loan) 1 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - 0 1992–93 Wimbledon Premier League 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - 0 1993–94 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - 0 1994–95 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - 0 1995–96 16 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - 0 1996–97 36 0 7 0 7 0 - - - - - - 50 0 1997–98 38 0 5 0 1 0 - - - - - - 44 0 1998–99 38 0 3 0 5 0 - - - - - - 46 0 1999–2000 37 0 2 0 5 0 - - - - - - 44 0 Wimbledon Total 181 0 25 0 18 0 - - - - - - 224 0 2000–01 Tottenham Hotspur Premier League 35 0 5 0 3 0 - - - - - - 43 0 2001–02 29 0 4 0 5 0 - - - - - - 38 0 2002–03 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - - 39 5 Tottenham Hotspur Total 64 0 9 0 8 0 - - - - - - 81 0 2003–04 Chelsea Premier League 4 0 2 0 2 0 - - 0 0 - - 8 0 Chelsea Total 4 0 2 0 2 0 - - 0 0 - - 8 0 2004–05 Leeds United Championship 46 0 1 0 3 0 - - - - - - 50 0 2005–06 42 0 2 0 3 0 - - - - 3 0 50 0 2006–07 7 0 1 0 2 0 - - - - - - 10 0 2006–07 Doncaster Rovers (Loan) League One 3 0 - - - - - - - - - - 3 0 13 0 - - - - 1 0 - - - - 14 0 Leeds United Total 95 0 4 0 8 0 - - - - 3 0 110 0 2007–08 Doncaster Rovers League One 46 0 2 0 2 0 2 0 - - 3 0 55 0 2008–09 Championship 46 0 4 0 1 0 - - - - - - 51 0 2009–10 45 0 2 0 0 0 - - - - - - 47 0 2010–11 31 0 2 0 1 0 - - - - - - 34 0 2011–12 9 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - 0 0 9 0 Doncaster Rovers Total 193 0 10 0 4 0 3 0 - - 3 0 213 0 Career total 538 0 50 0 40 0 3 0 0 0 6 0 637 0 - As of 14:32, 21 November 2011[6]
References
- ^ "Sullivan set for Leeds switch". James Pearson. Sky Sports. 30 July 2004. http://home.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=216936&plid=2021&clid=&cpid=10. Retrieved 2006-12-24.
- ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/paulfletcher/2010/10/neil_sullivan.html
- ^ "Yeovil 2–1 Doncaster". BBC News. 21 March 2008. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_div_2/7298130.stm. Retrieved 20 May 2010.
- ^ "Doncaster Rovers 0–0 Aston Villa: Sullivan saves Rovers". ESPN Soccernet. 24 January 2009. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=261323&campaign=rss&source=soccernet&cc=4716. Retrieved 2009-01-25.
- ^ Steve Hossack (6 July 2011). "Rovers keep stopper Neil". Doncaster Free Press. http://www.thestar.co.uk/sport/football/doncaster/rovers_keep_stopper_neil_1_3547031. Retrieved 6 July 2011.
- ^ "Neil Sullivan Career Stats". Soccerbase. 30 October 2011. http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=7716. Retrieved 30 October 2011.
External links
- Neil Sullivan player profile at doncasterroversfc.co.uk
- Neil Sullivan player profile at leedsunited.com
- Neil Sullivan career stats at Soccerbase
Scotland squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup Doncaster Rovers F.C. – current squad 1 Sullivan · 2 O'Connor · 3 Friend · 4 Martis · 5 Naylor · 6 Chambers · 7 M. Woods · 8 Stock · 9 C. Brown · 10 Sharp · 11 Lockwood · 12 Hayter · 13 Mason · 14 Spurr · 16 Oster · 17 Barnes · 18 Gillett · 19 Diouf · 20 Radford · 21 Hird · 23 Bennett · 24 Dumbuya · 25 Baxendale · 26 Coppinger · 29 Bouhenna · 30 Keegan · 31 Ilunga · 33 G. Woods · 34 Wilding · 35 Lucas · 36 Wakefield · 37 Ball · 38 Maxted · 39 Chimbonda · 40 Husband · — Ikeme · Manager: Saunders
Categories:- 1970 births
- People from Sutton, London
- Living people
- Association football goalkeepers
- Anglo-Scots
- Scottish footballers
- Scotland international footballers
- Wimbledon F.C. players
- Crystal Palace F.C. players
- Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players
- Chelsea F.C. players
- Leeds United A.F.C. players
- Doncaster Rovers F.C. players
- The Football League players
- Premier League players
- 1998 FIFA World Cup players
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