Neil Geoffrey Pointon (born 28 November 1964) 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 ...

. Pointon was a left-back who is perhaps best remembered for playing for Everton,

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and

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 ...

Career

Pointon began his career at lower-league

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

and quickly established himself as a regular first-teamer and a consistent and reliable performer in defence. In the autumn of 1985, after four years at Scunthorpe, Pointon was bought by the reigning English league champions Everton for £75,000, manager

Howard Kendall Howard Kendall (22 May 1946 – 17 October 2015) was an English footballer and manager. Kendall joined Preston North End as an apprentice and stayed with the club when he turned professional. He was a runner-up in the 1964 FA Cup with Preston ...

hoping Pointon could provide squad cover for regular left-back Pat Van Den Hauwe. Ultimately Pointon ended up featuring in the majority of Everton's games during the remainder of the 1985/86 season as a result of Van den Hauwe moving to central defence to cover for the injured centre-back

Derek Mountfield Derek Mountfield (born 2 November 1962) is an English former association football, footballer who played as a centre-back. His time at top-flight clubs Everton F.C., Everton and subsequently Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa were where he gained m ...

. Everton finished that season as runners-up to local rivals

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

in both the league championship and 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 ...

, though Pointon played no part in the FA Cup final due to Mountfield's return to fitness. In the following season, Pointon struggled with injury and had to compete with not only Van den Hauwe but also veteran defender

Paul Power Paul Power (born 30 October 1953) is an English retired professional footballer. He played both in defence and midfield and played for Manchester City between 1975 and 1986. Career He played in 447 games for the team scoring 36 goals before t ...

, signed from Manchester City, for the left-back spot at Goodison. Pointon did however play enough games that year to qualify for a Championship winners medal as Everton won their second title in three years. Over the next couple of years Pointon was a consistent performer in the Everton defence when called up to the first team, although Kendall's departure to

Athletic Bilbao Athletic Club (; ), commonly known as Athletic Bilbao (), or simply Athletic, is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in the city of Bilbao in the Southern Basque Country, Basque Country, Spain. They are known ...

and the break-up of the Championship winning side saw a decline in the club's fortunes. During 1989/90, Pointon became Everton's first choice left-back following the sale of Van den Hauwe to

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 ...

. In the summer of 1990, Pointon left Everton to rejoin Howard Kendall at his new club Manchester City, with Kendall receiving Pointon and £300,000 in exchange for Andy Hinchcliffe. Pointon spent two years at City as a first-team regular before moving on to

Joe Royle Joseph Royle (born 8 April 1949) is an English football manager and former footballer. In his playing career as a striker, he debuted for Everton at the age of 16 and went on to play for Manchester City, Bristol City, Norwich City, and the E ...

, then a top-flight club. Pointon spent three years at

Boundary Park Boundary Park is a football stadium in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. Its name originates from the fact that it lies at the northwestern extremity of Oldham, with Royton and Chadderton lying immediately north and west respectively. Bound ...

, during which time the club were relegated from the Premiership. On 10 April 1994, Pointon put the Latics ahead in the 106th minute (extra time) of the

semi final at

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium, currently branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE Limited, EE for sponsorship reasons, is an association football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Sta ...

against

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 ...

, only for

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh association football, football coach and former player who is the head coach of club Carlisle United F.C., Carlisle United. During his playing career he usually operated as a Forward (asso ...

to equalise one minute before the final whistle and force a replay. The replay at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

saw the Latics lose 4–1, with Pointon scoring Oldham's consolation goal. United went on to win both the Premier League title and FA Cup, while Pointon and his colleagues had the double misery of an FA Cup exit and Premier League relegation in less than a month. During this period Neil made the tabloid papers following a brief liaison with television personality Dani Behr. Pointon joined

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) ...

outfit Heart of Midlothian in 1995, enjoying a number of seasons up in Scotland before later playing for

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 ...

, Chesterfield and

Hednesford Town Hednesford Town Football Club is a football club based in Hednesford, Staffordshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Keys Park. They won the FA Trophy in 2004. History The club was established in 1880 as a merger of t ...

. He scored for Hednesford against former club Oldham Athletic in an FA Cup tie at Keys Park, soon before being handed the reins as Manager at Hednesford. He lasted as little as 9 games in his first Managerial post before being sacked after not winning a single game. The club were later relegated. After a spell as player-manager of Retford United he joined Mossley as a player and helped Mossley to win the Worthington Challenge Trophy at Gigg Lane, Bury with a 2–1 win over Clitheroe in his last ever professional game. He currently works for Higher Lane Primary School as a sports coach. On 30 May 2025, he retired as a coach at the

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

academy after fifteen years service with the club.https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/25202076.bolton-wanderers-academy-coach-neil-pointon-retire/, Bolton Wanderers Academy coach Neil Pointon to retire, The Bolton News, 30 May 2025

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pointon, Neil 1964 births Chesterfield F.C. players English men's footballers Everton F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Living people Manchester City F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Premier League players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from Mansfield Scottish Football League players English Football League players Men's association football fullbacks Mossley A.F.C. players Retford United F.C. managers Retford United F.C. players Hednesford Town F.C. players Hednesford Town F.C. managers English football managers