fullname years clubs caps goals birth_place totalcaps position birth_date totalgoals article_title name
neil geoffrey pointon 1981 1992 -- 1995 1995 -- 1998 1998 -- 2000 2000 -- 2000 -- 2001 2002 -- 2003 1985 1985 -- 1990 1990 -- 1992 scunthorpe midlothian walsall chesterfield hednesford town mossley united everton manchester city oldham athletic heart of 159 102 74 95 67 61 10 21 15 2 5 2 3 3 0 0 0 1 church warsop , mansfield , england 604 full-back 28 november 1964 16 neil pointon
 neil pointon
neil pointon

neil geoffrey `` dissa '' pointon , born 28 november 1964 in church warsop , mansfield , nottinghamshire , england , is a former professional footballer .
pointon was a left-back who is perhaps best remembered for playing for everton , manchester city and oldham athletic .
pointon began his career at lower-league scunthorpe united and quickly established himself as a regular first-teamer and a consistent and reliable performer in defence .
in the autumn of 1985 , after four years at scunthorpe , pointon was bought by the reigning english league champions everton for # 75,000 , manager howard kendall hoping pointon could provide squad cover for regular left-back pat van den hauwe .
ultimately pointon ended up featuring in the majority of everton 's games during the remainder of the 1985/86 season as a result of van den hauwe moving to central defence to cover for the injured centre-back derek mountfield .
everton finished that season as runners-up to local rivals liverpool in both the league championship and the fa cup , though pointon played no part in the fa cup final due to mountfield 's return to fitness .
in the following season , pointon struggled with injury and had to compete with not only van den hauwe but also veteran defender paul power , signed from manchester city , for the left-back spot at goodison .
pointon did however play enough games that year to qualify for a championship winners medal as everton won their second title in three years .
over the next couple of years pointon was a consistent performer in the everton defence when called up to the first team , although kendall 's departure to athletic bilbao and the break-up of the championship winning side saw a decline in the club 's fortunes .
during 1989/90 , pointon became everton 's first choice left-back following the sale of van den hauwe to tottenham hotspur .
in the summer of 1990 , pointon left everton to rejoin howard kendall at his new club manchester city , with kendall receiving pointon and # 300,000 in exchange for andy hinchcliffe .
pointon spent two years at city as a first-team regular before moving on to joe royle 's oldham athletic , then a top-flight club .
pointon spent three years at boundary park , during which time the club were relegated from the premiership .
on 10 april 1994 , pointon put the latics ahead in the 106th minute -lrb- extra time -rrb- of the fa cup semi final at wembley stadium against manchester united , only for mark hughes to equalise one minute before the final whistle and force a replay .
the replay at maine road saw the latics lose 4 -- 1 .
united went on to win both the premier league title and fa cup , while pointon and his colleagues had the double misery of an fa cup exit and premier league relegation in less than a month .
during this period neil made the tabloid papers following a brief liaison with television personality dani behr .
pointon joined scottish premier division outfit heart of midlothian in 1995 , enjoying a number of seasons up in scotland before later playing for walsall , chesterfield and hednesford town .
he scored for hednesford against former club oldham athletic in an fa cup tie at keys park , soon before being handed the reins as manager at hednesford .
he lasted as little as 9 games in his first managerial post before being sacked after not winning a single game .
the club later got relegated , but very few fans of the staffordshire club actually put the blame with him .
after a spell as player-manager of retford united he joined mossley as a player and helped mossley to win the worthington challenge trophy at gigg lane , bury with a 2 -- 1 win over clitheroe in his last ever professional game .
he currently works for the bolton wanderers academy team as a coach .
