Neil John Webb (born 30 July 1963) is an English football manager, former footballer and television pundit. He primarily played as 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 ...

but also played as a defender between 1980 and 1997, notably in the top flight for

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 ...

and Nottingham Forest, with the latter seeing him play 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 ...

. He also played 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 ...

with

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

, Reading, Swindon Town and Grimsby Town as well as in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

for Instant-Dict and in non-league for Aldershot Town and

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

. He was capped 26 times by

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 ...

, scoring four goals. He has largely worked as a pundit since retiring, but did have two managerial spells in charge of non-league clubs Weymouth and Reading Town.

Club career

Reading

Webb joined Reading on leaving Little Heath School in 1979 and made his first-team debut in February 1980 at the age of 16. He became the youngest ever scorer for the

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

side when he found the net in a Third Division match at the beginning of the 1980-81 season.

Portsmouth

In July 1982 Webb transferred to

for £87,500. At Fratton Park he was a regular first-team player and helped them win promotion to the Second Division (as Third Division champions) in his first season, and in his third season they came close to reaching the First Division. He scored a total of 34 league goals in three seasons at Fratton Park.

Nottingham Forest

In June 1985, Nottingham Forest manager Brian Clough paid Portsmouth £250,000 for Webb, which took him into the First Division for the first time. At Forest he developed into a leading

with a strong goalscoring record. During his time at the City Ground, he won the League Cup in 1989 (scoring in the final against Luton) and became a regular member of the

national team from 1987. Webb was one of the Forest players who had to cope with the horrors of the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...

during the opening minutes of their FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool in April 1989. His goalscoring record at Forest exceeded that of many strikers at the time. He managed 14 league goals in both of his first two seasons at the club, in 1986–87 from just 32 games. This included a hat-trick against Chelsea in September 1986 that sent him to the top of the League's scoring charts. He scored 13 times in the 1987–88 league campaign, though his goalscoring totally was lower in 1988–89 (six goals from 30 games) it did nothing to diminish his reputation as a first class midfielder. He scored for Forest against Luton Town in the 1989 Football League Cup Final which they went on to win.

Manchester United

In July 1989 he joined

. The transfer fee of £1.5 million was determined by a transfer tribunal (Forest manager Brian Clough, reluctant for Webb to leave, offered to pay this to keep him). Webb scored on his league debut on 19 August 1989, when they achieved a 4–1 home win over defending league champions Arsenal on the opening day of the 1989–90 season. He joined United at a time when they were entering their fourth season under the management of Alex Ferguson, but had yet to win a major trophy under him in spite of heavy spending on new players – with Webb arriving around the same time as Danny Wallace, Mike Phelan and Gary Pallister. After just a few games at United, Webb ruptured his

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

while playing a match for England against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in September 1989. Webb made his comeback for United as a substitute against

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, ...

on 24 March 1990, and made his first start since the injury the following Saturday, at home to Coventry City. Despite positive early indications -

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide writing in 16 languages. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency ...

called him the "most influential player on the pitch" during a September 1990 clash with Luton Town - he never fully regained his pre-injury form, suffering from weight problems and other injuries. Webb was still a precise passer of the ball and was included in the England

1990 World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second ...

squad, having returned to action during the second half of the 1989–90 season. He also helped Manchester United win 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 ...

in 1990 (scoring in the semi-final against Oldham Athletic), UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1991, and Football League Cup in 1992. In the 1990 FA Cup final replay, he memorably hit a clinical 50-yard pass to Lee Martin who subsequently scored the winning goal. He played in 31 out of 42 First Division games for Manchester United in 1991–92, but missed the final few games of the season due to a rift with manager Alex Ferguson – some fans even blamed United's failure to win the league title that season on Webb. He famously dawdled off the pitch after being subbed in a 2-1 home defeat to Forest during the season's final stages. He was also faced with stiff competition for a place in the centre or on the right of midfield - as well as Bryan Robson and three midfielders who had joined United in 1989, he was now faced with competition from

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

winger Andrei Kanchelskis. Webb only played one game for United in the new

FA 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 ...

, and after months of media reports that he would be on his way out of Old Trafford, he finally left three months into the 1992–93 season.

Return to Forest

After three years with Manchester United, Webb returned to Nottingham Forest for £800,000 on 23 November 1992. His second spell at Forest was unsuccessful, as he could not win a regular first-team place because of the emergence of other players like Steve Stone and Lars Bohinen. He made just nine league appearances in 1992–93 as Forest were relegated, but when manager Brian Clough retired and was succeeded by Frank Clark, he had more first team opportunities, playing 21 league games and scoring three goals as Forest were promoted back to the Premier League as Division One runners-up. Webb never played league football for Forest again after the 1994 promotion, though he remained contracted to the club for another two years. He had a spell on loan back at Reading in the 1995–96 season before finally leaving Forest for good in the summer of 1996.

Late playing career

Webb signed for Grimsby Town before leaving shortly after the start of the 1996–97 season, ending his professional career at the age of 33. He then joined non-league Aldershot Town where he made 36 appearances and scored six goals in the Isthmian League, before joining Weymouth as player-coach in 1997. In a 2005 vote to compile the Royals' best-ever eleven, Webb was voted on the team in central midfield.

International career

Football League XI

After excelling in his first two seasons of top flight football with Nottingham Forest, Webb earned recognition from England manager Bobby Robson, who selected him in the Football League XI for an exhibition match against a Rest of the World XI, on 8 August 1987. The match was in recognition of the League's centenary. Webb started the game, and was replaced by Osvaldo Ardiles. Webb was praised by '' The Glasgow Herald'', who stated "the performance of Webb was outstanding", adding that he "frequently showed a sweet combination of close control and confidence" and predicting full England honours in the offing.

England

Robson gave Webb his full international début, against

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

on 9 September 1987 at the age of 24, becoming the 1,000th player to be capped by England. His first goal came against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

on 14 October that year, in an 8–0 victory at Wembley in a Euro 88 qualifier. He appeared in two of England's group games at Euro 88 (which all ended in defeat), but his next international appearance – against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

in a friendly on 14 September 1988 – he scored the only goal in the game at Wembley. On 3 June 1989, he scored the third international goal of his career with a 3–0 World Cup qualifier victory over

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, again at Wembley. On 24 April 1990 Webb made his first appearance with the England B team, playing in the 2–0 win over the Czechoslovakia B team at Roker Park. Despite missing the bulk of the 1989–90 season at Manchester United with injury, he was included in England's 1990 World Cup squad and made his solitary appearance of the competition in the third place playoff defeat by

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. Before the year was out he would become the first player to be sent off whilst on England duty in three years when he saw red for the England B team in a match against the full

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

team. On 12 May 1992, he scored what would be his final goal for England in a 1–0 friendly win over

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. He would make four more international appearances for England, the last coming on 17 June 1992 when England lost 2–1 to hosts

in their final Euro 92 group game. Webb was capped 26 times in five years for the England team, and scored 4 goals.

Managerial career

After having to give up playing football, from June to December 1997 Webb was player-coach of Southern League Southern Division side Weymouth, but quit after just 70 days. His next spell in management with non-league Reading Town in 2001 was also short-lived.

After football

After leaving football, Webb worked as postman and later became a delivery driver. He also worked with The Score Television Network in Canada as their English football correspondent for their "Sportsworld" and "Footy Show" programmes. He appeared every Sunday, giving his opinion on the happenings of the

and the world of football. He is also a regular guest on Talksport.

Honours

Nottingham Forest * Football League Cup: 1988–89 Manchester United *

: 1989–90 *Football League Cup: 1991–92 * European Cup Winners' Cup: 1990–91 * European Super Cup: 1991 Individual * PFA Team of the Year: 1982–83 Third Division, 1984–85 Second Division

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Neil English men's footballers English expatriate men's footballers England men's international footballers England men's B international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Aldershot Town F.C. players Grimsby Town F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Reading F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players English Football League players English Football League representative players Premier League players UEFA Euro 1988 players 1990 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1992 players English football managers Weymouth F.C. managers Footballers from Reading, Berkshire 1963 births Living people Men's association football midfielders English expatriate sportspeople in Hong Kong Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong Hong Kong First Division League players Double Flower FA players British postmen