Gordon Neilson (footballer)
Scottish footballer
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Gordon Neilson (born 28 May 1947) is a Scottish retired professional footballer who played in the Football League for Arsenal and Brentford as a right winger.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gordon Neilson[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 28 May 1947 | ||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Position | Right winger | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Glasgow United | |||
| 1964–1966 | Arsenal | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1966–1968 | Arsenal | 14 | (2) |
| 1968–1972 | Brentford | 92 | (15) |
| 1972–1973 | Hillingdon Borough | 31 | (9) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Playing career
Arsenal
A right winger, Neilson joined First Division club Arsenal from amateur club Glasgow United in April 1964.[2][1] He signed a professional contract in June 1964 and featured for the youth team which lost to Everton in the 1965 FA Youth Cup Final.[2] He also played for the reserve and 'A' teams and had to wait until 12 March 1966 to make his first team debut, which came in a 1–0 league defeat to Everton.[3] He made just one further appearance during the 1965–66 season, in a 1–0 victory over Leicester City on the final day.[3]
Neilson had to wait until 19 November 1966 to make his next appearance, which came in a 1–0 victory over Fulham.[3] He scored his first goal for the club in the following game, a 2–1 defeat to Nottingham Forest.[3] He made a breakthrough into the first team and scored his second goal for the club in a 3–0 victory over Blackpool on 21 January 1967 and his third in the following game, a 3–0 FA Cup third round victory over Bristol Rovers.[3] Neilson's run in the team came to an end in late February 1967 and failed to make any further appearances.[3] He departed Highbury in October 1968, having made 17 appearances and scored three goals for the Gunners.[2]
Brentford
Neilson signed for Fourth Division club Brentford for a £10,000 fee in October 1968.[4] In a time of financial uncertainty for the Griffin Park club, Neilson's £10,000 fee represented a major gamble.[1] After making 29 appearances during the 1968–69 season, he made 39 appearances during the 1969–70 season and helped the Bees to a fifth-place finish.[5] His appearances tailed away during the early 1970s and he made just 13 appearances during the 1971–72 season, in which Brentford secured promotion back to Third Division.[5] Neilson was released after the season and made 104 appearances and scored 15 goals during his time with the Bees.[1]
Hillingdon Borough
Neilson ended his career with a spell at Southern League Premier Division club Hillingdon Borough during the 1972–73 season.[1]
Personal life
After his retirement from football, Neilson worked as a computer programmer later for the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi in the City of London.[6]
Honours
Brentford
- Football League Fourth Division third-place promotion: 1971–72[5]
Career statistics
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Arsenal | 1965–66[3] | First Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 1966–67[3] | 12 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3 | ||
| Total | 14 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 3 | ||
| Brentford | 1968–69[5] | Fourth Division | 27 | 6 | 2 | 0 | — | 29 | 6 | |
| 1969–70[5] | 34 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 39 | 3 | ||
| 1970–71[5] | 19 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 4 | ||
| 1971–72[5] | 12 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 2 | ||
| Total | 92 | 15 | 7 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 104 | 15 | ||
| Career total | 106 | 17 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 121 | 18 | ||