Neil Redfearn - Player Profile

It was the then Bradford City manager Paul Jewell who sold Neil to the Blues for £112,500 on 17th March 2000.

Initially he was a huge success and became a crowd favourite following his knack of scoring from set pieces.

He made his Latics debut on 18th March 2000 at the JJB Stadium as the Blues beat Bury 1-0.

He added much needed strength to the midfield and Darren Sheridan certainly performed better with his ex Barnsley team mate in the side.

The following season (2000/01) saw Neil failing to get into the team on anything like a regular basis and by 10th September 2000 he was put on the transfer list by Bruce Rioch along with Alan McLoughlin, Brian McLaughlin and Andy Porter.

He left the JJB Stadium on 16th March 2001 to join Third Division strugglers Halifax Town on a free transfer until the end of the 2000/01 season.

In total he made 19+4 League appearances for Latics, scoring 7 League goals.

Redfearn is fifth in the all-time list of most Football League appearances. His last Football League appearance for Rochdale took his total to 790.

He made an historic 1000th competitive appearance on 4th November 2006 for Bradford Park Avenue when they faced Solihull Borough in the 2nd qualifying round of the FA Trophy.

Neil has written a book entitled ‘There’s Only One Neil Redfearn’ which was published in the summer of 2006.

He became the manager of Northwich Victoria prior to the start of season 2007/08 but after nine games in charge without winning a game he was sacked.

He has been a member of the Wigan Athletic Grand Masters team.