Alan Blayney
Personal information
Full name	Alan Blayney
Date of birth	10 September 1981 (1981-09-10) (age 28)
Place of birth	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Linfield
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2002–2006 2002 2002–2003 2005 2005 2005 2006–2007 2007 2007 2008–2009 2009–	Southampton → Stockport County (loan) → Bournemouth (loan) → Rushden & Diamonds (loan) → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) Doncaster Rovers Oldham Athletic Bohemians Ballymena United Linfield	03 (0) 02 (0) 02 (0) 04 (0) 07 (0) 08 (0) 24 (0) 01 (0) 03 (0)
National team2
2003–2004 2006–	Northern Ireland U21 Northern Ireland	04 (0) 01 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 06:02, 26 October 2009 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 17:14, 21 September 2006 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Alan Blayney (born 10 September 1981) is a professional footballer from Belfast, Northern Ireland, currently with Linfield. Blayney plays as a goalkeeper.

[edit] Footballing career

Blayney started his career with Premiership side Southampton and was loaned out to Stockport County,^[1] but was cut short by a broken finger.^[2] He also he had a spell at Bournemouth on loan.^[3] He made his début for Southampton in May 2004, receiving a high amount of praise.^[4] Blayney also won Sky Sports save of the season after saving an Alan Shearer header in May 2004 on his Premier League début.^[5] The match at St Mary's ended in a 3-3 draw.^[6] Blayney also played in the following 2-1 defeat at Charlton. Blayney would play two more games for Southampton the following season, the 2-2 Premier League loss against West Bromwich Albion and the 5-2 League Cup loss against Watford. Blayney, who was then behind Antti Niemi and Paul Smith in the team's pecking order went on loan to Rushden & Diamonds^[7] and Brighton & Hove Albion.^[8] Brighton tried to sign Blayney on a permanent basis in 2005, but couldn't afford the transfer fee Southampton were asking.^[9] Blayney did return to Brighton & Hove Albion for a second loan spell,^[10] before returning to Southampton in mid-December.

Blayney then joined Doncaster Rovers for £50,000 from Southampton in January 2006, signing a two and half year contract, with hopes of getting the team promoted to the Championship.^[11] Blayney started off as first choice goalkeeper at Belle Vue stadium, but fell behind Ben Smith and Dane Jan Budtz in the pecking order after an ankle injury.^[12] He decided to leave the club for personal reasons.^[13]

In February 2007, Blayney joined League One side Oldham Athletic, until the end of the 2006-07 season, after impressing in a reserve team match.^[14] Blayney made his début for Oldham Athletic in a 1-2 home defeat against Bournenouth, after first choice goalkeeper Les Pogliacomi was suspended.^[15]

In 7 August, Alan Blayney joined Irish side Bohemian on a short term deal to provide cover for first choice goalkeeper Brian Murphy. He marked his debut with a clean sheet as Bohs beat Bray Wanderers 3-0 on 31 August. He failed to gain the #1 jersey from Brian Murphy though and was released at the end of the season. On 15 March 2008 it was revealed that Blayney had signed for Ballymena United^[16], although he was unable to play for the Braidmen until the 2008-09 season. In June 2009, Blayney signed a three year contract for Linfield.^[17]

[edit] International football

Blayney, a former Northern Ireland under-21 international, played his first and thus far only match for the Northern Ireland senior national side in their 2006 summer tour of the United States. Northern Ireland lost the match against Romania 2-0.^[18]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Alan Blayney career stats at Soccerbase