| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alan Edward Knight | ||
| Date of birth | 3 June 1961 | ||
| Place of birth | Balham, London, England | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1978–2000 | Portsmouth | 683 | (0) |
| 2003 | Havant & Waterlooville | 2 | (0) |
| 2009 | Horndean | 0 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| 1983 | England U21 | 2 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2009 | Horndean | ||
| 2011- | Dorchester Town | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
|||
Alan Edward Knight MBE (born 3 June 1961) is a former English footballer and currently the manager of Conference South club Dorchester Town.[1] He holds the record for the most appearances for a single club by a goalkeeper, having played 683 league games (and 801 games overall) for Portsmouth between 1978 and 2000; this superseded Peter Bonetti's record of exactly 600 goalkeeping appearances for Chelsea. He helped Portsmouth to the 1992 FA Cup semi final which they lost on a penalty shootout to Liverpool.
Knight was born in Balham, London. In addition to his goalkeeping record, he is the second-longest serving Portsmouth player of all time behind Jimmy Dickinson, and is also the only player to have appeared in all four divisions of the Football League for the club. He was capped at under-21 international level, but was never selected for the full England squad.
Known by the Fratton Park faithful as The Legend, Knight spent almost all of his 25-year playing career at Portsmouth, sometimes demonstrating world-class saving and acrobatics. His 800th appearance, as a substitute in a cup tie at Blackburn, saw fans in all corners of Ewood Park rising to applaud his appearance on the pitch. A few weeks later, he played his last match for Portsmouth, at Norwich in January 2000. In 2001, his loyalty to Portsmouth received royal approval when he was awarded an MBE in the New Year's Honours List.[2]
In 2003–04, due to an injury crisis, Knight was called on to the substitutes' bench for Portsmouth and was listed as a squad member, but was never actually called into action. He played briefly for the local non-league side Havant & Waterlooville towards the end of his career. He also worked as goalkeeping coach at Portsmouth until he quit the job in summer 2005.
Knight was named goalkeepers' coach for the American Major League Soccer team FC Dallas in 2006. The head coach at Dallas was at the time, Knight's former Portsmouth teammate Colin Clarke.
In 2006 Knight ran football coaching clinics for B.E.S.T (British European Soccer Tuition) in the USA. The B.E.S.T patron of honour was Knight's former Portsmouth manager and World Cup winner, the late Alan Ball.
On 12 December 2006, it was announced that Alan Knight was named goalkeeping coach at AFC Bournemouth. Knight also served as goalkeeping coach at Conference South Side Dorchester Town, where he was also a registered player, for the 2006/07 season. Knight appeared on the bench as a substitute, but did not make an appearance on the pitch.
Knight's autobiography entitled 'Legend' was published in September 2003 by Legendary Publishing. On 8 October 2007, Knight was appointed goalkeeping coach at Havant & Waterlooville by the team's newly-appointed manager Shaun Gale, a former teammate of Knight at Portsmouth.
In May 2009 Knight was named joint manager of Horndean of the Wessex League. He made a brief playing comeback for Horndean at the age of 48 in a Wessex League match against East Cowes Vics in November 2009.
Knight joined Aldershot Town as a goalkeeping coach in December 2009. In July 2011 he left Aldershot for a coaching job at Havant & Waterlooville[3], but he left the Hawks to return to Dorchester as first team manager on 29th November 2011.
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Keith Viney |
Portsmouth F.C. Fans' Player of the Year 1981–1982 |
Succeeded by Alan Biley |
| Preceded by Kit Symons |
Portsmouth F.C. Fans' Player of the Year 1994–1995 & 1995–1996 |
Succeeded by Lee Bradbury |