Neil Sullivan

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Neil Sullivan
Personal information
Full name	Neil Sullivan
Date of birth	February 24, 1970 (1970-02-24) (age 38)
Place of birth	Sutton, England
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Doncaster Rovers
Number	1
Youth clubs
1986-1988	Wimbledon
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1988-2000 1992 2000-2003 2003-2004 2004-2007 2006 2007 2007-	Wimbledon → Crystal Palace (loan) Tottenham Hotspur Chelsea Leeds United → Doncaster Rovers (loan) → Doncaster Rovers (loan) Doncaster Rovers	181 (0) 001 (0) 064 (0) 004 (0) 095 (0) 003 (0) 013 (0) 046 (0)
National team2
1997-2003	Scotland	028 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13:23, 14 May 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 22:29, 2 March 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Neil Sullivan (born 24 February 1970 in Sutton) is a professional footballer currently playing for Doncaster Rovers again on a permanent basis after moving from Leeds United at the end of the 2006-2007 season. He is a goalkeeper. Although born and brought up in England, he has Scottish ancestry enabling him to play for the Scottish national side.

Sullivan began his career with Wimbledon in 1988, amassing a total of 224 appearances between 1988 and 2000. He also played one game on loan for Crystal Palace in 1992. In 2000, Sullivan moved to Tottenham from Wimbledon, where he made over 80 appearances. He then moved to Chelsea in the 2003-04 season, playing 8 times for them.

In June 2004, he was signed by Championship team Leeds United.^[1] In his first season (2004-05), he was voted as the club's Player of the Year.

Sullivan has also been capped 28 times by Scotland. He was named in the Scottish squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, but was an unused substitute in all of Scotland's three matches.

He is also famous for being the goalkeeper against whom David Beckham scored a goal from the halfway line, while he was off his line. The goal was later chosen as goal of the decade in 2003.

Due to an injury picked up in the pre-season match against Nottingham Forest Sullivan made few appearances in the 2006-07 campaign for Leeds. On 23 November 2006 he moved on loan to Doncaster Rovers. His loan was however cut short and he returned to Leeds on 21 December 2006. Manager Dennis Wise told the press after Leeds' 2-1 victory against Coventry City that Sullivan had put on weight, and his performances were not as good, hence his loan to Doncaster. He re-signed on loan for Doncaster Rovers in February 2007. After the end of his loan at Doncaster Sullivan returned to Leeds but was released at the end of his contract on 15 May 2007, returning to Doncaster shortly afterwards. He has since then been the first team keeper and he made an error in the 2-1 loss to Yeovil Town on 21 March 2008 ^[2].

He overcame this to help Doncaster win promotion to The Championship with a playoff final win over former club Leeds United, leaving them languishing in the depths of the Football League for at least another year.

[edit] Notes

[edit] External links

• Neil Sullivan career stats at Soccerbase
• Official Website's Player Profile
• Some Information from a supporters' web site

v • d • e Scotland squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Leighton • 2 McNamara • 3 Boyd • 4 Calderwood • 5 Hendry • 6 T. McKinlay • 7 Gallacher • 8 Burley • 9 Durie • 10 Jackson • 11 Collins • 12 Sullivan • 13 Donnelly • 14 Lambert • 15 Gemmill • 16 Weir • 17 B. McKinlay • 18 Elliott • 19 Whyte • 20 Booth • 21 Gould • 22 Dailly • Coach: Brown