Neil Andy Image 3 Arsenal 1924

Description

Crosshouse, Ayrshire born inside forward Andy Neil joined Kilmarnock in 1912 from Ardeer Thistle and played for Galston and Clydebank on loan before briefly joining Third Lanark in 1915, returning to Kilmarnock the same year. He rejoined Galston in 1919 and also had a spell at Stevenston United before moving South to join Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer of 1920, for whom he made his Football League debut against Crystal Palace on Christmas Day 1920. He soon established himself as a first team regular and scored 24 goals in 144 games for Brighton before Leslie Knighton, then manager of Woolwich Arsenal, paid £3,000 for Neil in March 1924.

He made his debut against Nottingham Forest on 15th March 1924 but struggled to gain a regular first team place, however he played 26 times as Arsenal finished League runners up in 1925-26 under Herbert Chapman. Andy Neil returned to Brighton & Hove Albion in March 1926 after 10 goals in 57 appearances for The Gunners. After scoring 6 more goals in 41 more games for The Seagulls he joined Queen’s Park Rangers in the summer of 1927. Over the next three seasons he scored once in 112 games for QPR before retiring.