Andrew Linighan (born 18 June 1962) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a defender from 1980 until 2000, notably in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

and Crystal Palace. He also played in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for Hartlepool United,

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

and

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

before finishing his career with Non-league St Albans City.

Career

Linighan was born in

Hartlepool Hartlepool ( ) is a seaside resort, seaside and port town in County Durham, England. It is governed by a unitary authority borough Borough of Hartlepool, named after the town. The borough is part of the devolved Tees Valley area with an estimat ...

into a footballing family: his father, Brian Linighan, and his brothers

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

and

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

were also professional footballers. He first played for his local side, Hartlepool United, before he signed for

in 1984. He spent two season at

Elland Road Elland Road, or Elland Road Stadium, is a football stadium in Beeston, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, which has been the Home (sports), home of Leeds United F.C., Leeds United since the club's formation in 1919. The stadium is the List of foot ...

, being part of the team which narrowly missed out on promotion to the First Division in his first season there and then signed for

. In March 1988, a 25-year-old Linighan finally arrived on the First Division scene when Oldham sold him to

for £350,000. A tall, imposing

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

, Linighan became notable for his calm performances in defence for Norwich, who finished fourth in the league and reached the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

semi finals in his first full season with them. He was then signed by George Graham for

in a £1.2million deal in July 1990. Linighan had been very reluctant to leave Norwich, but was told by then-chairman Robert Chase that he was being sold. Linighan mainly played as backup to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

international defenders Tony Adams and

Steve Bould Stephen Andrew Bould (born 16 November 1962) is an English football coach and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a defender from 1980 until 2000. Bould began his football career with his hometown club Stoke City where he g ...

in his first season, in which Arsenal won the First Division. Linighan managed to put in 10 league appearances, which were enough for him to earn a winners medal. His biggest moment for the club came at the end of the 1992–93 season. Linighan was victorious as he lifted the League Cup as Arsenal beat

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

2–1 in the final at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

. Arsenal again met Wednesday of whom they faced in the final of the

. The final finished 1–1, forcing a replay, which finished a goal apiece after 90 minutes and thus went to

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. With 119 minutes gone, Linighan, who was suffering from a broken nose after

Mark Bright Mark Abraham Bright (born 6 June 1962) is an English sports correspondent and former Association football, footballer. Born to a The Gambia, Gambian father and English mother, he was adopted into a foster family in Stoke-on-Trent at an early a ...

had struck him in the face with his elbow, came up for a corner and headed in the winner. Coincidentally it was Bright who Linighan outjumped to score. Thanks to his goal, Arsenal became the first club in English football to win the Cup Double. His former club, Norwich City, qualified for the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

as a result of his FA Cup final winning goal, as it meant the European place for the League Cup winner went to the team who had finished third in the

instead. By then, Linighan's place in the Arsenal side was further in doubt, as

Martin Keown Martin Raymond Keown ( ; born 24 July 1966) is an English football pundit and former professional footballer. A defender, he played from 1984 to 2005, notably in the Premier League for Arsenal, where he made over 400 appearances for the club an ...

was no longer cup-tied after signing for the club earlier that year. Despite this, he stayed on at the club as fourth-choice centre-back. A highlight in his later years at Arsenal was scoring a late equaliser in a 2–2 draw away at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

in September 1996. After more than six years at

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

, he was sold to Division One promotion chasers Crystal Palace for £110,000 in January 1997. He helped Palace as they won promotion to the Premiership that year as playoff winners. Linighan also in that year became the captain of the Eagles, but was unable to prevent them from being relegated straight back to Division One. He stuck with Palace during the club's financial problems, even after they were forced to loan him to

for the final stages of the 1998–99 season to reduce their wage bill. Linighan returned to the club after his loan spell as captain, and in his 38th year was voted as Crystal Palace's Player of the Year in 1999–2000. After a falling out with new owner Simon Jordan, he was given a free transfer in the autumn of 2000. Linighan saw out the rest of the season with

, which ended in disappointment as United were relegated to the Division Three. Afterwards he briefly played for non-league

St Albans St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...

, before retiring completely from the game.

Personal life

After his playing days came to an end, Linighan became the owner of a

plumbing Plumbing is any system that conveys fluids for a wide range of applications. Plumbing uses piping, pipes, valves, piping and plumbing fitting, plumbing fixtures, Storage tank, tanks, and other apparatuses to convey fluids. HVAC, Heating and co ...

company.

Career statistics

Honours

Arsenal *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1990–91 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

(shared) *

: 1992–93 *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

: 1992–93 *

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

: 1993–94 **Runner-up: 1994–95 Crystal Palace * Football League First Division play-offs: 1996–97 Individual * Crystal Palace Player of the Year: 1999–2000

References

External links

*
Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Linighan, Andy 1962 births Living people Footballers from Hartlepool Arsenal F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players English men's footballers England men's B international footballers Men's association football central defenders Hartlepool United F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players St Albans City F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Premier League players People educated at English Martyrs School and Sixth Form College