Neil Redfearn

Neil David Redfearn (born 20 June 1965) is an English football coach and former player who is the lead professional development phase coach of Bradford City.

Redfearn, a midfielder, played 790 matches in the Football League, the sixth highest total of all time, and more than a thousand first team games overall in a career that has spanned 24 years.

He has had spells as caretaker manager of Halifax Town and York City and as manager of Scarborough, Northwich Victoria and Leeds United.

Born in Dewsbury, West Riding of Yorkshire, Redfearn began his career at Bolton Wanderers on 23 June 1982, having previously been on the books of Nottingham Forest's youth team.

He later made his name as goalscoring midfielder at lower-division sides Lincoln City and Doncaster Rovers.

In May 1985, 56 spectators were killed in a stadium fire while he was playing for Lincoln against Bradford City.

In 1987, he was signed by Crystal Palace for £100,000, and he later played for Watford, before moving again in 1989 to Oldham Athletic.

Redfearn's last season with Oldham constituted a career highlight as he was an ever-present in the team that won the Second Division title and returned the Latics to the top-flight of English football after a gap of 68 years.

Redfearn converted the injury time penalty kick in the final game of the season against Sheffield Wednesday that completed a 3–2 victory (after Oldham had trailed 2–0), and snatched the championship from West Ham United, who had prematurely been handed the trophy some 15 minutes earlier.

Despite his contribution to Oldham's promotion, he became surplus to requirements with the re-signing of former club captain Mike Milligan from Everton in the off-season and Redfearn was transferred without playing for Oldham in the top flight.

In September 1991, Redfearn joined Barnsley, and it was at this club he arguably spent his prime years.

In his seven seasons at Oakwell, he rarely missed a single game, and was named club captain and penalty taker.

In the 1996–97 season, Redfearn scored 17 goals as Barnsley won promotion to the FA Premier League for the first time in the club's history.

Redfearn missed only one game, and was Barnsley's top scorer with ten league goals in the 1997–98 season.

These included Barnsley's first ever top division goal on the opening day of the season, when he put them ahead in the ninth minute at home to West Ham United, although they ended up losing the game 2–1.

It was not enough to save them though, as Barnsley were relegated that season.

However, despite being in his thirties, Redfearn's performances had made him a wanted man in the Premier League, and he was signed by Charlton Athletic for £1 million in the summer of 1998.

He left Barnsley having played 338 first team games, scoring 83 goals.

In the 1998–99 season, his family did not settle in London, and at the end of the season, Redfearn jumped at the chance of returning to his native Yorkshire, when Bradford City paid £250,000 for his services.

Despite a very good goalscoring record, Redfearn never became first-choice at Wigan either, and he dropped down two divisions to join Halifax Town in 2001.

At Halifax, he also got his first taste of management, being appointed caretaker manager alongside Tony Parks following the resignation of Paul Bracewell on 30 August 2001.

His spell as caretaker manager came to an end on 12 October following the appointment of Alan Little.

Redfearn started a second spell in caretaker charge on 4 March 2002 due to the enforced absence of Little.

However, his contract with the club was terminated on 25 April and having been snubbed for the permanent manager's job he joined Boston United as player-coach.

Redfearn spent the better part of two years at Boston, before finishing his Football League career at Rochdale in the spring of 2004.

Rochdale did not offer him a new contract at the end of the season, meaning he finished his Football League career with 790 appearances and so being fifth in the all-time list of most Football League appearances.

His last league appearance for Rochdale took his total to.

after which Redfearn dropped down to the Conference, where he became player-coach at Scarborough, managed at the time by his former Oldham teammate Nick Henry.

He signed a new contract with Scarborough in April 2005.

When Henry was dismissed on 24 October 2005 Redfearn was named caretaker manager, before being appointed permanently on 1 November while remaining registered as a player.

Redfearn resigned on 6 July 2006 after Mark Patterson was brought in as assistant manager.

He subsequently signed with Northern Premier League First Division side Bradford Park Avenue later that month.

He made his 1,000th competitive appearance on 4 November 2006, when Bradford Park Avenue faced Solihull Borough in the second qualifying round of the FA Trophy.

Redfearn quit Bradford Park Avenue in March 2007, joining Northern Premier League First Division rivals Stocksbridge Park Steels, but left on 19 June to become manager of Conference Premier side Northwich Victoria.

He resigned on 17 September 2007, after the club only managed one point from their first nine games, leaving them bottom of the Conference Premier.

He joined Northern Premier League Premier Division club Frickley Athletic as a player in September 2007.

He left the club over a month later to join Bridlington Town on 5 November.

He left them in January 2008 after the departure of manager Ash Berry.

He was appointed as York City's youth team coach in February.

Redfearn did not make much impact at Bradford, scoring just once against Leicester City, and joined his 10th team, Wigan Athletic after just nine months in Bradford.