Alan Joseph Mahon (born 4 April 1978) is an Irish 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 a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

and was capped by the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

Playing career

Club career

Early career

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

-born Mahon, who was educated at St. James Street Christian Brothers Secondary School in the Irish capital, joined English

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 ...

club

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...

in 1995. In five years at the club, Mahon made a total of 144 appearances, scoring fourteen goals. He played in the 2000 Football League Cup Final as Tranmere lost 2–1 to

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

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on 27 February 2000. On 4 July 2000, he moved to

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, joining

Portuguese Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

club

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

on a free transfer. He played the first half in a 4–0 defeat in the Champions League to

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

at the Santiago Bernabéu on 25 October, he was loaned to

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club

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

on 15 December for the rest of the season, making his debut two days later as an 89th-minute substitute in a 2–0 victory over their

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

rivals

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

Turf Moor Turf Moor is an association football stadium in Burnley, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Burnley F.C., Burnley Football Club since 1883. This unbroken service makes Turf Moor the second-longest continuously used ground in Footbal ...

. He was a regular first-team squad member and made eighteen league appearances, as Blackburn finished in second place and were promoted to 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 ...

Blackburn Rovers

On 29 June 2001, he signed for Blackburn Rovers permanently for a transfer fee of £1.5M. He made his Premier League debut on 22 August in a 2–2 draw with

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

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. Three days later he scored Blackburn's first goal in a 2–1 home win over

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. He made a total of thirteen league appearances in the 2001–02 season as Blackburn finished in tenth place. He was an unused substitute when Blackburn won the 2002 League Cup, beating Tottenham 2–1 at the

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on 24 February 2002. After just two league appearances, in the 2002–03 season, on 20 January 2003, Mahon was sent on loan to

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

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for the rest of the season as ''the Bluebirds'' won promotion to the First Division. On 8 September 2003, he was loaned out to

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

, where he made eleven league appearances and scored one goal against Bradford in a three-month loan spell. He returned to Blackburn on 22 December, and made three further league appearances.

Wigan Athletic

Mahon signed for

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

on 6 February 2004, stating that he wanted regular first-team football. He made his debut the following day in a 3–1 victory over Ipswich at

Portman Road Portman Road is a association football, football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C., Ipswich Town since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one E ...

. The following season he made 27 league appearances scoring seven goals as Wigan won promotion to the Premier League. After starting the 2005–06 season in the first team, he dropped out of favour halfway through the campaign and was allowed to leave, despite being seen as an ongoing squad player by

Paul Jewell Paul Jewell (born 28 September 1964) is an English football manager and former player, who was most recently director of football at Swindon Town. Jewell began his playing career with Liverpool, continued at Wigan Athletic and concluded in a t ...

. On 23 March 2006 he joined Burnley on loan for the rest of the 2005–06 season, making his debut the following day against

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 ...

. Jimmy Bullard, a Wigan Athletic player, said that all the players wore black armbands when Mahon left the club.

Burnley

After eight appearances on loan, he joined Burnley permanently on 8 June for £200,000 on a three-year contract. Burnley's then-manager

Steve Cotterill Stephen John Cotterill (born 20 July 1964) is an English coach and former player who is currently the manager of National League side Forest Green Rovers. Cotterill, a striker, had a nine-year career as a footballer playing for Burton Albio ...

described Mahon as "an absolute gem,

e is E, or e, is the fifth letter and the second vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''e'' (pronounced ); plu ...

the jewel in our crown" and it appeared that Cotterill planned to build Burnley's team around Mahon in the 2006–07 season; however, injuries and a loss of form during the 2006–07 season saw Mahon become a fringe first-team player. In the 2007–08 season, he returned to the first eleven and appeared to have regained the form that he showed when first arriving at Turf Moor. However, injuries plagued his season once again, and he started just 15 games, scoring one goal. The 2008–09 season started the same way, with his being a fringe squad player for ''the Clarets''. On 14 March 2009, Cotterill's successor as Burnley manager,

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Indian Super League club Chennaiyin. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made one appearanc ...

, stated that fellow

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

had made an enquiry to take Mahon on loan for the rest of the season, saying: "I won't stand in his way because Alan needs to play. He is a terrific professional who I have so much time for and I am trying to do right by him." Blackpool

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

Tony Parkes Anthony Parkes (born 5 May 1949) is an English former professional footballer. After retiring, he became a coach. He was most recently caretaker manager at Blackpool. It was the seventh such role of his coaching career, having performed the rol ...

confirmed Blackpool's interest in Mahon. Three days later he joined ''the Tangerines'' on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut on 21 March in a 1–1 draw with

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

Bloomfield Road Bloomfield Road is a association football, football stadium in Blackpool, Lancashire, England, which has been the home of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool Football Club since 1901. It is the third stadium in the club's existence, the previous two be ...

. In June 2009, Mahon was released by Burnley at the end of his contract, alongside Gabor Kiraly and

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Tranmere Rovers

On 6 July 2009, he signed a three-year contract with former club

. He scored his first goal for Tranmere in a 3–2 defeat against Walsall on 12 September 2009. In July 2011, and following a series of injuries that kept him out of the first team for the whole of the 2010–11 season, Mahon's contract with Tranmere was terminated by mutual consent.

International career

Mahon played for the

Republic of Ireland national under-19 football team The Republic of Ireland national under-19 football team, is the national under-19 football team of the Republic of Ireland and is controlled by the Football Association of Ireland and competes in the biennial European Under-19 Football Champions ...

in the

1996 UEFA European Under-18 Championship The UEFA European Under-18 Championship 1996 Final Tournament was held in France and Luxembourg. It also served as the European qualification for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. Players born on or after 1 August 1977 were eligible to partic ...

finals in Luxembourg and made his senior international debut on 26 April 2000 as a 54th-minute substitute in a 1–0 friendly defeat to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

Lansdowne Road Lansdowne Road Stadium (, ) was a stadium in Dublin owned by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) that was primarily used for rugby union and association football matches. The stadium was demolished in 2007 to make way for the Aviva Stadium on ...

, Dublin. On 11 June he played in another friendly, a 2–1 win over

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Giants Stadium Giants Stadium (sometimes referred to as Giants Stadium at the Meadowlands) was a stadium located in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in the Meadowlands Sports Complex. The venue was open from 1976 to 2010, and primarily hosted sporting events and ...

, New York, United States.

Coaching career

In February 2020, Mahon took control of Manchester City Women on an interim basis.

Honours

Tranmere Rovers *

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 ...

runner-up: 1999–2000 Blackburn Rovers *Football League Cup: 2001–02 Individual * FAI Under-21 International Player of the Year: 1999

References

External links

Alan Mahon profile
at Clarets Mad

at burnleyfootballclub.com * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mahon, Alan 1978 births Living people Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Burnley F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Association footballers from County Dublin Premier League players English Football League players Sporting CP footballers Primeira Liga players Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Irish expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Men's association football midfielders Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Manchester City W.F.C. managers Women's Super League managers Republic of Ireland association football managers Manchester City W.F.C. non-playing staff