3434 TheThe Official Official Fulham FC Matchday Programme Fulham FC Matchday Programme
The EX-Files
Alan
Neilson
Born: 26.09.1972
Nationality: Welsh
Years At SFC: 1995-1997
League Apps: 55 | League Goals: 0
Years At FFC: 1997-2001
League Apps: 29 | League Goals: 2
I
n the late 90s, Division Two
Fulham were anything but
‘plucky’. Mohamed Al Fayed was
bankrolling a flurry of seven-figure
purchases that tempted Premier League-
calibre players to the Cottage. Alan
Neilson was one of the players to drop
down the leagues to join the revolution
in SW6. And he was let in on the Whites’
interest by a close pal.
“I’m really good friends with Maik
Taylor, who moved to Fulham a couple
of weeks before me,” Alan recalls. “We
have a really good relationship; we were
at Southampton at the same time and we
were neighbours.”
Our keeper wasn’t Alan’s only link to
his new club. “Kevin Keegan sold me
from Newcastle to Southampton and was
director of operations at Fulham when
I came to the Club,” continues Alan. “He
knew what I was about and knew I’d be
the right fit. The players already here
were superb; Chris Coleman, Kit Symons,
Maik. The Club’s plan worked - we went
from Division Two to the Premier League
in the four-and-a-half years I was there.”
At the turn of 1999 Fulham were drawn
away at today’s visitors Southampton in
the FA Cup. The teams had already met
a couple of months earlier, when Dirk
Lehmann sent the Premier League side
Drew Heatley catches up with a former Whites player with a link to
today’s opponents. This afternoon, ex-Whites and Southampton defender
Alan Neilson remembers Fulham’s FA Cup giant-killing in 1999...
were superb; Chris Coleman, Kit Symons,
Maik. The Club’s plan worked - we went
from Division Two to the Premier League
in the four-and-a-half years I was there.”
At the turn of 1999 Fulham were drawn
away at today’s visitors Southampton in
the FA Cup. The teams had already met
a couple of months earlier, when Dirk
Lehmann sent the Premier League side
FFC-034-Ex-File-Southampton.indd 34 04/01/2018 12:13