Neil Pointon

Name: Neil Pointon

DOB: 28/11/1964

POB: Mansfield

Position: Left back

Clubs: Scunthorpe, Everton, Manchester
City, Oldham, Hearts, Walsall,
Cheltenham, Hednesford
Town

It was perhaps unfair to choose Neil Pointon as our mystery
player in the week when the only guessing panelist was our resident Hibs fan,
but had there been any of our Jambos in the room there is no doubt that they’d
have identified ‘Disa’ straight away.

Pointon had a good career in the English game before he
arrived at Tynecastle aged 31, part of Jim Jefferies’ remodelled defence in
1995. He made 83 appearances for the Jambos over a three year spell at the
club, and became a favourite among the fans. His two assists in Allan
Johnston’s famous Ibrox hat-trick in 1996 remain a particularly fond memory.

He played in one Scottish Cup final, the 5-1 defeat to
Rangers in 1996 and was an unused member of the squad for another, the 1998 win
over the same opposition. By that time his place in the team had been taken by
the 20 year old Gary Naysmith, and that summer Pointon left Tynecastle to join Walsall. For a man who cost the club just £50,000 he
enjoyed a fantastic time at the club and will remain highly thought of.

To reduce Pointon’s career to simply his successful time at
Tynecastle, however, would be doing him an injustice. He began at Scunthorpe
United in 1981. Back then The Iron were in the bottom tier of the English game
and Pointon, having established himself as a regular starter, helped them to
promotion in the 1982/83 season, finishing 4th behind champions Wimbledon.

His performances at the Old Show Ground were enough to
convince Everton manager Howard Kendall to pay £75,000 for his services in 1985
at a time when the club were reigning English Champions and had the previous
season lifted the Cup Winners’ Cup. Pointon played over 100 league games for
Everton, helping them to another league title in 1986/87.

He eventually left Goodison
Park to rejoin Kendall at Manchester City
in 1990 and spent two years at Maine
  Road before joining Oldham,
back in the days when they were a Premier League club, though he was a part of
the team which saw them relegated in 1994. It was after his spell at Boundary Park that Jeffereies was tempted to part
with £50,000 for the then veteran full back as he looked to reshape a defence
which had the third worst defensive record in the 1994/95 season. Alongside
Pointon, Jefferies also recruited Gilles Rousset and Pasquale Bruno, and the
rest, as the cliché goes, is history.

Where is he now? As his playing career wound down at
non-league Hednesford
Town, Pointon briefly
took the managerial reigns in 2001. His tenure lasted just nine games, however,
and he failed to record even a single victory in that time. He also had a spell
as player/manager at Retford United but has since joined the Bolton Wanderers
youth academy as a coach.

Show: Two Man Show