Neil Lyne (born 4 April 1970) 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 winger in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

, Chesterfield,

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'Th ...

and

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

. Lyne later played non-league football for

Kettering Town Kettering Town Football Club is a football club based in Burton Latimer, Northamptonshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Latimer Park. Kettering were the first club to wear sponsorship on their shirts in 1976, and have ...

before ending his career with Telford United. Lyne is currently manager of Hinckley Leicester Road.

Club career

Lyne was born in

Leicester 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 ...

, and started his career with Leicester United before moving to Nottingham Forest with

Tony Loughlan Tony Loughlan (born 19 January 1970) is an English retired footballer who played as a midfielder. He has held senior coaching positions at Sunderland, Watford and Ipswich Town under Roy Keane. Playing career Loughlan began his career in the yo ...

in 1989. Although Lyne would go on to make just one appearance for Forest, the transfer would later be highlighted in the 1997

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 ...

report of

Rick Parry Richard Nicholas Parry (born 23 February 1955) is the current chairman of the English Football League (EFL), the former chief executive of Liverpool, the original CEO of the Premier League and a board member at New York Cosmos. Career Parry w ...

, Robert Reid QC and

Steve Coppell Stephen James Coppell (born 9 July 1955) is an English professional football manager and former player. As a player, Coppell was a highly regarded right winger known for his speed, technical ability and work rate. He won domestic honours with ...

on bung culture in football.

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

and

Ron Fenton Ronald Fenton (21 September 1940 – 25 September 2013) was an English football player, coach and manager. He played as an inside forward and made nearly 200 appearances in the Football League. Fenton was born in South Shields where he attende ...

would later be charged with misconduct by the FA over the affair, though the charges against Clough were later dropped. To gain playing time, Lyne was loaned to

and

. The spell at Shrewsbury was a success, with Lyne scoring six goals in sixteen appearances, prompting the club to sign him on 11 July 1991 on a free transfer. Lyne would go on to make a further sixty-four appearances for the club, scoring eleven goals. In January 1993,

manager

Ian Atkins Ian Leslie Atkins (born 16 January 1957) is an English football manager, scout, and former player. Atkins amassed over 300 appearances for Shrewsbury Town, the club where he began his career. He also made appearances in the Football League for ...

swooped for Lyne in an effort to bolster a squad battling against relegation from Division 1, making his debut in a 2–0 win over

Grimsby Town Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...

. Unfortunately Cambridge were relegated at the end of the season, and the following season under new manager

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 29th List of governors of New Mexico, governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republica ...

he was twice loaned to Chesterfield, with his last appearance for Cambridge being a substitute appearance during a 1–0 home loss to

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

in September 1994. Lyne moved to Hereford in July 1994 on a free transfer, scoring five goals in eighty appearances. He was a favourite under manager

Greg Downs Gregory Downs (born 13 December 1958) is an English former professional footballer. Originally a centre-forward, he switched to left full-back early in his career. Downs began his career with Norwich City where he was player of the year in 19 ...

, before leaving for

. in 1996. Lyne's only appearance for Northampton came in a 1–0 home defeat to

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

, being substituted in the 79th minute.

Coaching and management

After spells in

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

with

and Telford United, Neil began coaching at

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 ...

as an academy coach. In October 2008, Lyne was named as assistant manager to former Leicester player

Phil Gilchrist Philip Alexander Gilchrist (born 25 August 1973) is an English former footballer and manager. He played as a defender. Career Gilchrist first joined Oxford United from Hartlepool United for £100,000 in February 1995. He soon formed one of the ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in north-west Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'', and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settleme ...

. However, on 2 April 2009 both Gilchrist and Lyne were sacked with immediate effect, with the club three points from safety in the

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

Hinckley United

In the summer of 2012 Lyne was appointed Head of Football Development at

Hinckley United Hinckley United Football Club was an English football club, from Hinckley, Leicestershire, which last played in the Southern Football League Premier Division during the 2013–14 season. They were formed in 1997 as the result of a merger between ...

. Along with assistant Rob Roskelly, he will be responsible for the running of two new sides at the Greene King Stadium, the under-14s and 21s, running alongside the under-15s, 16s and 18s. Roskelly will take the three younger sides while Lyne will be in charge of the two older teams. Following the resignation of

manager Dean Thomas on 10 October 2012, Lyne was put installed as a caretaker manager alongside former assistant manager Carl Heggs. Following Hegg's permanent appointment Neil reverted to his full-time job of Head of Football Development.

Hinckley Leicester Road

After Hinckley United folded, Lyne became manager of one of its successor clubs, Leicester Road in 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyne, Neil 1970 births Living people Footballers from Leicester English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Leicester United F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Shrewsbury Town F.C. players Cambridge United F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Kettering Town F.C. players Telford United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Hinckley United F.C. managers Hinckley Leicester Road F.C. managers