Niall Quinn

Niall John Quinn (honorary MBE; born 6 October 1966) is an Irish former professional footballer, manager, businessman and sports television pundit.

As a player, he was a striker who played top flight football for Arsenal, Manchester City and Sunderland, with spells in the Premier League for both City and the Black Cats.

Quinn also received 92 caps for the Republic of Ireland national football team, scoring 21 times, which makes him Ireland's second highest goalscorer of all time.

In July 1983, Quinn captained a Dublin Colleges GAA party on a one-month tour of Australia.

Aged 16, he played in the 1983 All-Ireland Minor Hurling Championship Final, and was offered a contract to play professional Australian rules football before settling on a career in association football.

After an unsuccessful trial at Fulham, he signed professional forms with English club Arsenal in 1983.

He was signed as a centre-forward, but also had a brief spell as a centre-half for the Arsenal third team.

After scoring 18 goals in 18 reserve matches in the first half of the 1985–86 season, Quinn was included in the first-team squad for a match against Liverpool.

Quinn scored in the match as Arsenal recorded a 2–0 win.

He made a further 11 league appearances for Arsenal that season, but failed to score as they finished seventh in the league.

The end of the season brought Quinn his first call-up to the Republic of Ireland national team.

Quinn found himself playing under a new manager for the following season, as George Graham was appointed in place of Don Howe.

Quinn had a regular place in the side that season, appearing in 35 league games and scoring eight goals.

He also collected a Football League Cup winner's medal as Arsenal triumphed 2–1 over Liverpool.

However, after Arsenal signed another target man, Alan Smith, in the 1987 close season, Quinn struggled to get into the team.

He also appeared with the Irish team at the UEFA European Football Championship of 1988 and two FIFA World Cups in 1990 and 2002.

He later was part of a consortium to buy Sunderland and became the club's chairman.

He also had a spell as manager before stepping down to a role of club director.

Over the next three seasons he managed a total of just 20 league appearances and five goals – his three appearances in 1988–89 not being enough for a title medal.

Quinn's lack of opportunities led him to submit a written transfer request at the start of the 1989–90 season.

In total he scored 20 goals in 94 appearances for Arsenal, of which 81 were starts.

Manchester City manager Howard Kendall signed Quinn for £800,000 in March 1990, shortly before the transfer deadline.

He marked his debut with a goal, in a 1–1 draw against Chelsea at Maine Road.

His most notable game for City was 20 April 1991 when he scored early on and saved a penalty as City beat Derby County 2–1, relegating Derby in the process.

City goalkeeper Tony Coton had been sent off before half time for fouling Dean Saunders to concede the penalty.

At this time teams rarely named goalkeepers as substitutes, so Quinn replaced Coton in goal.

He scored 22 times in his first full season, and he went on to spend six years at the club, scoring 78 goals in 245 appearances; his time at City was hampered by a cruciate ligament injury in 1993–94.

Although he returned to the side the following season, he managed just eight goals from 35 games.

Other notable games included the Manchester derby on 7 November 1993, in which he scored twice in the first half to put City 2–0 up against United by half time, although a remarkable United comeback saw City lose 3–2.

In the 1993 close season, Everton made a bid to sign Quinn and a further bid was made early in the 1993–94 season, but both bids were rejected and Quinn remained at Maine Road for a further three seasons.

A cruciate ligament injury sustained in a match against Sheffield Wednesday in November 1993 caused Quinn to miss the majority of the 1993–94 season, and prevented him from playing in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

He returned at the start of the 1994–95 season, but the partnership forged by Uwe Rösler and Paul Walsh in his absence meant he was not always a starter.

In an attempt to reduce the wage bill, Manchester City tried to sell Quinn in the 1995 close season, but a proposed move to Lisbon club Sporting fell through after failure to agree contractual terms.

He managed a total of 193 league appearances in over six years at Maine Road, and scored a total of 64 goals for them.

He played Gaelic football for County Kildare club Eadestown after his retirement, winning a junior C county title in 2008.

He started his career in association football as a youth for Irish club Manortown United and then Lourdes Celtic in Crumlin, Dublin 12.

He left the club in February 2012 and has since worked as a pundit namely on Sky Sports.

"'I learned my trade at Arsenal, became a footballer at Manchester City, but Sunderland got under my skin. I love Sunderland.'"

Quinn played Gaelic football for the Perrystown, Dublin 12, club Robert Emmets.

He also played underage football and hurling for Dublin.