Neil Redfearn

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Neil Redfearn
Personal information
Full name Neil David Redfearn
Date of birth 20 June 1965
Place of birth Dewsbury, England
Club information
Current club Bradford Park Avenue
Professional clubs*
Years Club Apps (goals)
1982-1984
1984-1986
1986-1987
1987-1989
1989-1990
1990-1991
1991-1998
1998-1999
1999-2000
2000-2001
2001-2002
2002-2004
2004
2004-2006
2006-
1982-2006
Bolton Wanderers
Lincoln City
Doncaster Rovers
Crystal Palace
Watford
Oldham Athletic
Barnsley
Charlton Athletic
Bradford City
Wigan Athletic
Halifax Town
Boston United
Rochdale
Scarborough
Bradford Park Avenue
TOTAL
35 (1)
100 (13)
46 (14)
57 (10)
24 (3)
62 (16)
292 (71)
30 (3)
17 (1)
22 (7)
42 (6)
54 (12)
9 (0)
60 (17)
0 (0)
850 (174)
Teams managed
2002
2005-2006
Halifax Town (caretaker)
Scarborough

* Professional club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.

Neil David Redfearn (born 20 June 1965 in Dewsbury) is an English footballer and manager. Redfearn is also known as one of the most durable players in the history of English football, having played 790 matches in The Football League (5th all-time), and nearly a thousand first-team games overall in a career that has spanned 24 years.

Redfearn began his professional career at Bolton Wanderers in 1982, having previously been on the books of Nottingham Forest's youth team. He later made his name as goalscoring midfielder at lower-division sides Lincoln and Doncaster. In 1987, he was signed by Crystal Palace for £100,000, and he later played for Watford, before getting his first taste of football at the highest level in 1991 as a member of Oldham.

In September 1991, Redfearn joined Barnsley, and it was at this club he arguably spent his prime years. In his seven seasons at Oakwell, he hardly missed a single game, and was named club captain and penalty taker. In 1996/97, Redfearn scored 17 goals as Barnsley won promotion to the Premiership for the first time in the club's history.

Redfearn missed only one game, and was Barnsley's top scorer with ten league goals in 1997/98. It wasn't enough to save them from the drop though, as Barnsley were relegated on the final day of the season. However, despite his relatively high age, Redfearn's performances had made him a wanted man in the Premiership, and he was signed by Charlton Athletic for £1,000,000 in the summer of 1998. He left Barnsley having played 338 first-team games, scoring 84 goals.

He endured a dismal season at Charlton on the pitch in 1998/99, and his family didn't settle in London, and at the end of the season, Redfearn jumped at the chance of returning to his native Yorkshire, when Bradford City paid £250,000 for his services.

Redfearn didn't make much of an impact at Bradford, and joined his 10th team, Wigan Athletic after just nine months in Bradford. Despite a very good goalscoring record, Redfearn never became first-choice at Wigan either, and he dropped down two divisions to join Halifax Town in 2001. At Halifax, he also got his first taste of management, serving two spells as the team's caretaker manager. He left Halifax in the summer of 2002, having been snubbed for the permanent manager's job, and joined Boston United as player-coach.

Redfearn spent the better part of two years at Boston, before finishing his Football League career at Rochdale in the spring of 2004. Rochdale did not offer him a new contract at the end of the season, Redfearn dropped down to the Conference, where he became player-coach at Scarborough, managed at the time by his former Oldham teammate Nick Henry. When Henry was sacked in October 2005, Redfearn was named the team's new manager, while remaining registered as a player.

Redfearn resigned in June 2006 after it was revealed that Mark Patterson would be brought in as assistant manager. He subsequently signed with Unibond League side Bradford Park Avenue.

Redfearn is currently fifth in the all-time list of most Football League appearances. His last league appearance for Rochdale took his total to 790.

He is due to make an historic 1000th competitive appearance on 4th November 2006 for Bradford Park Avenue when they face Solihull Borough in the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Trophy


Preceded by:
Alan Little
Halifax Town A.F.C. Manager (Caretaker)
2002
Succeeded by:
Chris Wilder
Preceded by:
Nick Henry
Scarborough F.C. Manager
2005 - 2006
Succeeded by:
Mark Patterson