Neil Jason Shipperley (born 30 October 1974 in Chatham, Kent) is a retired English professional footballer, who played as a centre forward. He is currently manager of Bedfont of the Combined Counties League

A large, powerful, courageous, honest and brave forward who was surprisingly mobile for a big man and was particular good with his back to goal, Shipperley lived in Hillingdon, Middlesex and attended Bishopshalt School. He is the son of Dave Shipperley, who played for many years at centre back for Charlton Athletic and Gillingham.

[edit] Career

Shipperley began his career as a trainee at Chelsea on leaving school in 1991 and was an occasional member of the first team. He was loaned out to Watford during the autumn of 1994, and soon after returning to Stamford Bridge, he was transferred to Southampton, in January 1995.

He was signed for the Saints by Alan Ball for a record fee of £1.5 million.^[1]He seemed to be fairly settled in the first team but, following Ball's departure, new manager Graeme Souness recruited Norwegian Egil Østenstad and, after two years at The Dell, Shipperley left the Premiership club for Division One promotion chasers Crystal Palace in October 1996, for a fee of £1 million. During his time with the Saints he won his first England under-21 cap, earning seven in all.

He helped Palace win promotion to the Premiership at the end of the 1996-97 season, but was unable to save them from going straight back after just one season. Next stop was at newly promoted Nottingham Forest, who also went down within a year of promotion.

The following season, 1999-00, Shipperley was playing for Barnsley, scoring 31 goals from 88 appearances in two seasons before moving to Wimbledon and forming a strong partnership with David Connolly during 2002-03, which produced nearly 50 second level goals. When Wimbledon went into receivership, Shipperley chose to remain at Selhurst Park, transferring back to Crystal Palace (Wimbledon had been groundsharing with the Eagles), and during the 2003-04 season he captained them to promotion to the top level, scoring in the play-off semi-final home win over Sunderland, and the winning goal in the final victory over West Ham United.

However, Shipperley rarely featured in the subsequent campaign, with England international Andy Johnson preferred. After Palace were relegated, Shipperley moved to Sheffield United on a free transfer in July 2005, scoring 11 goals in 39 appearances in his debut season, helping them to promotion to the Premiership. Injuries made it difficult for an individual impact in the top flight season, and he was one of several United players transfer-listed in December 2006.

On 15 January 2007,^[2] his contract with Sheffield United was terminated by mutual consent. He then signed a four-month contract with Brentford, eight days later.^[3]Despite a promising start, Shipperley failed to score in his eleven appearances for Brentford, and on 25 April 2007 announced his retirement from professional football.

On 20 May 2009, it was announced that Shipperley had become manager of Bedfont in the Combined Counties League.^[4]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Neil Shipperley career stats at Soccerbase