Alan Mahon

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Personal information
Alan Mahon
Full name	Alan Mahon
Date of birth	April 4, 1978 (age 28)
Place of birth	Dublin, Ireland
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.7 m)
Playing position	Attacking Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Burnley
Number	8
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995-2000 2000-2001 2000-2001 2001-2004 2003 2003 2004-2006 2006 2006-	Tranmere Rovers Sporting Lisbon → Blackburn Rovers (loan) Blackburn Rovers → Cardiff City (loan) → Ipswich Town (loan) Wigan Athletic → Burnley (loan) Burnley	120 (13) 1 (0) 18 (0) 18 (1) 15 (2) 11 (1) 47 (9) 8 (0) 24 (2)
National team²
2000	Republic Of Ireland	2 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 30/12/2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 06/08/2006. * Appearances (Goals)

For other persons named Alan Mahon, see Alan Mahon (disambiguation).

Alan Mahon (born April 4, 1978 in Dublin) is a footballer who has represented the Republic of Ireland. Throughout his career he has played for Tranmere Rovers, Sporting Lisbon, Blackburn Rovers, Wigan Athletic and signed for Burnley on loan until the end of the 2005-06 season. He signed permanently to Burnley on 8 June 2006 for £200,000 on a 3 year contract.

Mahon had a good start to his Burnley career, putting in some impressive performances since his debut against Norwich on the 24th of March. Burnley manager Steve Cotterill described Mahon as "an absolute gem, [he is] the jewel in our crown". It appeared that Cotterill planned to build Burnley's team around Mahon, as the Clarets looked for promotion in the 2006-07 season.

Whilst Alan Mahon was at Blackburn he managed to put in some steady performances and was a regular first-team squad member. He performed well in the promotion campaign in 2000-01, enough to win him a permanent deal (he was loaned out to Rovers from Lisbon at the time). He started the next season well and it as speculated that he would represent Ireland at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, having already played twice for them.

Halfway through the season he was dropped and did not win his place back. He was an unused sub when Blackburn won the Worthington cup, beating Spurs 2-1.

After another season where he was used sparingly (and loaned out to Ipswich) Mahon stated he wanted first team football and he left Rovers during 2004, ironically after he had featured in a run of games for the team. He joined Wigan.

In 2004-05 Alan scored some spectacular goals (including one at Leeds) and his performances helped Wigan to gain promotion to The Premiership. After starting the season well and scoring a memorable goal at Aston Villa, he dropped out of the team half-way through the season and was allowed to leave, despite being seen as an ongoing squad player by Paul Jewell.

Mahon currently plays for Burnley. Injuries and less impressive form at the start of the 2006-07 season have seen him appearing as a substitute but still seeming to be very much a part of the team's plans as he tries to convince new Ireland manager Steve Staunton he deserves another chance at international level.

[edit] External links

Alan Mahon career stats at Soccerbase

Burnley F.C. - Current Squad
1 Coyne \| 2 Thomas \| 3 Harley \| 4 McGreal \| 5 Coughlan \| 6 Duff \| 7 J. O'Connor \| 8 Mahon \| 9 Jones \| 10 Gray \| 11 Elliott \| 12 Jensen \| 14 G. O'Connor \| 15 Branch \| 16 McCann \| 17 Lafferty \| 18 Djemba-Djemba \| 19 Spicer \| 20 Akinbiyi \| 21 McVeigh \| 22 Foster \| 24 Caldwell \| 25 Guðjónsson \| Manager: Cotterill