Lucas Neill

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Personal information
Lucas Neill
Full name	Lucas Edward Neill
Date of birth	March 9, 1978 (age 29)
Place of birth	Sydney, Australia
Height	1.85 m
Playing position	Defender
Club information
Current club	West Ham United
Number	2
Youth clubs
1994–95	Manly United
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–2001 2001–07 2007–present	Millwall Blackburn Rovers West Ham United	152 (13) 188 0(5) 003 0(0)
National team²
1996–present	Australia	030 0(0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18:16, 4 March 2007 (UTC). ² National team caps and goals correct as of 19:09, 19 February 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Lucas Neill (born March 9, 1978 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian football (soccer) player who currently plays for West Ham United, and most often plays at right-back. He is a regular member of the Australian national team and was a member of the Australian squad which competed in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

1 Early life
2 Career in England
3 International Career for Australia
4 Career Stats
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Early life

Lucas' father Eddie is originally from Northern Ireland and played for Belfast sides Linfield Swifts, Cliftonville and Brantwood. He left Northern Ireland for Australia in 1969. Neill grew up in the Northern Beaches of Sydney and was a student at Wakehurst Primary School, in Belrose, and St. Augustine's College, in Brookvale, before attending the Australian Institute of Sport on a football scholarship (1994-95) ^[1].

[edit] Career in England

Neill joined Blackburn from Millwall in September 2001, having initially played at the Australian Institute of Sport. Neill played 145 games for Millwall in total and played his first game for Blackburn on September 8 against Sunderland, and scored his first Blackburn goal on September 19 against Bolton Wanderers. Neill is a combative, versatile player. He has played in all defensive positions during his professional career and is a key member for both his club and national team.

Neill was well-regarded by Blackburn Rovers supporters largely due to his never-say-die, determined attitude. He was one of Blackburn Rovers' most consistent performers and held the right back position for over 5 years without any competition.

Neill's combative style of play in the FA Premier League has attracted controversy over the years. He broke the leg of Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher in the fifth game of the 2003-04 season with a tackle at Ewood Park. Carragher was sidelined for 6 months and the incident sparked a war of words between Gérard Houllier and Graeme Souness after Neill and his manager did not apologise for 48 hours.

Johan Neeskens, who became assistant to Barcelona manager Frank Rijkard for the 2006-07 season, said that Neill "could play for any of the best clubs".^[2] On August 4, 2006 he announced he would not sign a new four-year contract for Blackburn Rovers. The player's agent, Peter Harrison, said "He has enjoyed his time there (Blackburn), he loves the club and the fans, he just feels it is time for a change."^[3] On August 30, Liverpool reportedly made a £2 million bid for Neill; however, this bid was rejected by Blackburn. The club wanted Stephen Warnock in part exchange for Neill; however Liverpool were not prepared to let the left-back go ^[4]. In late November, rumours emerged that Chelsea^[5] or even Barcelona ^[6] were also interested in his signature.

However in January 2007 Neill turned his back on a confirmed bid from Liverpool in favour of West Ham United. The deal was confirmed on January 20 and was formally completed on January 22 following the successful transfer of Stephen Warnock from Liverpool to Blackburn. Neill was accused of his primary motivating factor being money, but he later refuted these claims, stating the move was for purely footballing reasons ^[7]. Neill later alleged to the media that Liverpool hadn't made him feel truly wanted, and that he had not even spoken to manager Rafael Benitez. However, media reports suggested that Neill had signed for West Ham on a basic salary of £60,000 ($140,000) per week, double what Liverpool were prepared to offer, and that Neill might have spoken to Benitez ^[8].

On February 10, 2007 he played his first Premiership match for Hammers against Watford ^[9] [[1]] On March 4th, 2007 he captained the team for the first time during the enthralling 3-4 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur. This was the first game that Neill would use his preferred No.2 squad number instead of the No.34 used in previous games.

[edit] International Career for Australia

Neill competed at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney with the Australian men's team, the Olyroos.

On November 16, 2005 at Sydney's Telstra Stadium, Neill helped Australia qualify for the 2006 FIFA World Cup playing the entire game and scoring the Socceroos' second penalty in a shoot-out against Uruguay, after aggregate scores were tied at 1-1 following extra-time. He was named Man of the Match for this game.^[10]

Neill was an integral member of the Australian squad for the 2006 World Cup, wearing the #2 jersey. He started all four games in the position of centre-back. During Australia's Round of 16 game against Italy, Neill had a controversial injury-time penalty awarded against him, allowing Francesco Totti to score and give the Italians a 1-0 victory, knocking Australia out of the cup.

Following the World Cup, Neill expressed his desire to captain his national side and on October 6, 2006 was named as the 50th player to captain Australia. On October 7, 2006 he made his debut as the Socceroo's captain in a 1-1 friendly against Paraguay, in Brisbane. Four days later, in Sydney, he captained Australia again in an Asian Cup qualifying game against Bahrain, which Australia won 2-0. ^[11]

[edit] Career Stats

(correct as of 11 February 2007)

Club	Season	League			Cup^[12]		Europe		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
AIS	1994-95	0	0	0	-	-	-	-	0	0
Millwall	1995-96	13	0	-	0	0	0	0	13	0
	1996-97	39	4	-	5	0	0	0	44	3
	1997-98	6	0	-	1	0	0	0	7	0
	1998-99	35	6	-	9	0	0	0	44	6
	1999-2000	31	1	-	4	0	0	0	35	1
	2000-01	24	2	-	1	0	0	0	25	2
	2001-02	4	1	-	1	0	0	0	5	1
Blackburn Rovers	2001-02	23	1	0	4	0	0	0	27	1
	2002-03	34	0	3	7	0	4	0	45	0
	2003-04	32	2	0	2	0	1	0	35	2
	2004-05	36	1	2	8	0	0	0	44	1
	2005-06	35	1	2	7	2	0	0	42	3
	2006-07	20	0	0	1	0	5	1	26	1
West Ham United	2006-07	2	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	0
Career totals									395	21

[edit] References

^ "List of Australian Olympic athletes", Australian Institute of Sport.
^ Cockerill, Michael. "Neill good enough for Barca: Neeskens", The Sydney Morning Herald, 22-6-2006.
^ "Neill set for Blackburn departure", BBC Sport, 4-8-2006.
^ "Reds ready to bide time for Neill", BBC Sport, 1-9-2006.
^ "Sunday's football gossip", BBC Sport, 26-11-2006.
^ "Blackburn may sell skipper Neill", BBC Sport, 13-12-2006.
^ Dunn, Alex. "Neill rejects cash claims", Sky Sports, 23-1-2007. Retrieved on January 23, 2007.
^ Rogers, Paul. "Rafa: Neill's comments were a surprise", Liverpool F.C., 25-1-2007. Retrieved on January 25, 2007.
^ Tactical Formation. Football-Lineups.com. Retrieved on February 28, 2007.
^ "Jubilant Socceroos achieve their destiny", Australian Broadcasting Corporation, 17-11-2005.
^ Cockerill, Michael. "Arnold's roll of honour", The Sydney Morning Herald, 15-11-2006.
^ Includes FA Cup, League Cup, FA Community Shield and League Trophy

[edit] External links

	Australia squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Schwarzer \| 2 Neill \| 3 Moore \| 4 Cahill \| 5 Čulina \| 6 Popović \| 7 Emerton \| 8 Skoko \| 9 Viduka \| 10 Kewell \| 11 Lazaridis \| 12 Čović \| 13 Grella \| 14 Chipperfield \| 15 Aloisi \| 16 Beauchamp \| 17 Thompson \| 18 Kalac \| 19 Kennedy \| 20 Wilkshire \| 21 Sterjovski \| 22 Milligan \| 23 Bresciano \| Coach: Hiddink