FACTS
Neil played football for struggling division four sides between 1989 and 1992.
He dropped into non-league football with firstly Gateshead and then Boston. When Peter Morris the Boston manager became assistant at Northampton he suggested the club signed Neil.
For a while he struggled to adapt until scoring a 30-yard special v Cambridge in the Associate members cup. From then on he found the net on a regular basis.
He helped the clubs into the play offs and made a Wembley appearance v Swansea but never got to play in division Two as he was sold to non-league Hereford for £25,000.
Three seasons later he was back in league football with Cheltenham having won the conference with them and received the biggest cheer at Sixfields ever received by an opposing goal scorer when he scored his side’s consolation goal min a 1-2 defeat.
He moved back in to Conference football and was still playing past his 40th birthday and also had a spell as caretaker manager of Stafford Rangers while working in a factory making windows.
At the start of the 2008-09 season Neil joined Glapthorp at the age of 43. He will play alongside his son Ashley (20)
England 'C' INTERNATIONAL MATCHES
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