Neil Emblen

Neil Emblen

Personal information
Full name	Neil Emblen
Date of birth	19 June 1971 (1971-06-19) (age 40)
Place of birth	Bromley, England
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Playing position	Central midfielder
Club information
Current club	Waitakere United (player/manager)
Youth career
1991–1992	Tonbridge Angels
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1992–1993	Sittingbourne	0	(0)
1993–1994	Millwall	12	(0)
1994–1997	Wolverhampton Wanderers	89	(9)
1997–1998	Crystal Palace	13	(0)
1998–2001	Wolverhampton Wanderers	114	(7)
2001–2003	Norwich City	14	(0)
2003	→ Walsall (loan)	5	(0)
2003–2005	Walsall	75	(7)
2005–2007	New Zealand Knights	32	(3)
2007–	Waitakere United	?	(?)
Teams managed
2009–	Waitakere United (player/manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 10:54, 24 October 2007 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals).

Neil Emblen (born 19 June 1971) is an English football (soccer) player who plays for and is coach of New Zealand club Waitakere United.

Emblen had spent the majority of his career in English football with Millwall, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Crystal Palace, Norwich City and Walsall.

Career

Emblen started his career as a youth player at Tonbridge Angels F.C. before moving to Sittingbourne F.C. and then Millwall for a fee of £210,000 including Michael Harle. After spending a year with the Lions, Emblen was sold to Wolverhampton Wanderers for £600,000, where he would become a regular during his three years at Molineux.

A £2,000,000 move to Crystal Palace beckoned in 1997 but would last just one season, and in 1998, after scoring two goals for Palace in the FA Cup against Scunthorpe United,^[1] Emblen moved back to Wolves in exchange for Wolves writing off the remainder of the £2million still owed as part of the initial transfer. Emblen's second three-year spell saw him gain favour with the Wolves fans as he made the attacking midfield role his own. It ended in 2001 when he moved to Norwich City for £500,000.

Emblen started just six games in a two-year spell with the Canaries because of chronic knee injury problems and spent the last few months of his contract on loan to Walsall (in two separate spells), whom he joined permanently on a two-year deal in June 2003. Upon leaving Walsall in 2005, Emblen moved to New Zealand to join the now-defunct New Zealand Knights. After the Knights ceased playing, Emblen moved to Waitakere United.

He was appointed head coach of Waitakere United in June 2009.

Family and personal life

His brother, Paul Emblen, was also a professional footballer, playing for Charlton Athletic and Wycombe Wanderers.

References

1. ^ "Crystal Palace 2 Scunthorpe 0". Sporting Life. 3 January 1998. http://www.sportinglife.com/football/cc_championship/crystalpalace/reports/story_get.cgi?STORY_NAME=soccer/98/01/03/SOCCER_Palace_Nightlead.html&TEAMHD=palace&DIV=prem&TEAM=CRYSTAL--PALACE&RH=Crystal--Palace&PREV_SEASON=1996. Retrieved 19 January 2010. 

External links

• Neil Emblen career stats at Soccerbase
• Flown From The Nest

Sporting positions
Preceded by Matt Jackson	Norwich City Captain 2001-2002	Succeeded by Malky Mackay

Persondata
Name	Emblen, Neil
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	19 June 1971
Place of birth	Bromley, England
Date of death
Place of death