Chris Neal

Chris Neal
Neal with Port Vale in 2013
Personal information
Full name Christopher Michael Neal[1]
Date of birth (1985-10-23) 23 October 1985 (age 39)[2]
Place of birth St Albans, England[2]
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[3]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
AFC Fylde (goalkeeping coach)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2009 Preston North End 1 (0)
2005Tamworth (loan) 5 (0)
2006Shrewsbury Town (loan) 0 (0)
2007Morecambe (loan) 0 (0)
2009–2012 Shrewsbury Town 64 (0)
2012–2016 Port Vale 123 (0)
2016Doncaster Rovers (loan) 2 (0)
2016Bury (loan) 10 (0)
2016–2018 Fleetwood Town 25 (0)
2018–2020 Salford City 61 (0)
2020–2024 AFC Fylde 91 (0)
Managerial career
2024 AFC Fylde (joint-caretaker)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Christopher Michael Neal (born 23 October 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is now a goalkeeping coach at National League club AFC Fylde.

He began his career at Preston North End, making his English Football League debut in February 2005, having previously impressed in a brief loan spell at Conference club Tamworth. He had short loan spells at Shrewsbury Town and Morecambe in the 2006–07 season as a covering player before he was signed by Shrewsbury Town permanently in July 2009. He was the club's regular custodian as promotion to League One was achieved in 2011–12. He joined Port Vale in July 2012 and helped the club to secure promotion out of League Two in 2012–13. He joined Doncaster Rovers on loan in February 2016 and then Bury the following month. He joined Fleetwood Town on a free transfer in May 2016 before joining Salford City in May 2018. He dropped down to the National League North to sign with AFC Fylde in August 2020 and helped the club to the league title at the end of the 2022–23 season.

He began coaching at AFC Fylde in July 2024 and became joint-caretaker manager two months later.

  1. ^ "The Football League Limited: Club list of registered players as at 16th May 2015" (PDF). The Football League. 16 May 2015. p. 55. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2015. Retrieved 6 July 2015.
  2. ^ a b "FootballSquads - Port Vale - 2015/2016". footballsquads.co.uk. Retrieved 1 February 2021.[permanent dead link]
  3. ^ "Salford City sign goalkeeper Chris Neal". Salford City Football Club. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 18 May 2018.