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Alan Fettis

A rarity in football as a goalkeeper with Football League goals to his name, Alan Fettis had an interesting, but up-and-down career...

Name: Alan William Fettis
Born: 1 February 1971, Belfast
Height: 6.01ft
Weight: 13.09 st
Position: Goalkeeper

Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: 25 Full Caps (1991-1998), 3 B Caps (1994-1998), 1 Under-18 Cap, 1 Under-17 Cap, 1 Under-16 Cap; Schoolboy Caps.
Club Honours: (with Ards) Irish League Cup Runner-Up 1990/91.
Awards: York City Clubman of the Year 2000/01, 2001/02

Club Career:
Teams
Seasons
Signed
Fee
League
FA Cup
FL Cup
Other
Glentoran
-
-
Youth
0(0)/0
-
-
-
Ards
88/89-90/91
1988
-
42(0)/0
-
-
23(0)/0
Hull City
91/92-95/96
Aug-91
£50k
131(4)/2
5(0)/0
7(1)/0
7(0)/0
West Brom. Alb.
95/96
Nov-95
Loan
3(0)/0
-
-
-
Nott'm Forest
95/96-97/98
Jan-96
£250k
4(0)/0
0(1)/0
1(0)/0
-
Blackburn Rvrs
97/98-99/00
Sep-97
£300k
9(2)/0
1(0)/0
-
-
Leicester City
99/00
Sep-99
Loan
0(0)/0
-
-
-
York City
99/00-02/03
Mar-00
Free
125(0)/0
12(0)/0
3(0)/0
-
Hull City
02/03-03/04
Jan-03
Free
20(0)/0
1(0)/0
-
1(0)/0
Sheffield United
03/04
Dec-03
Loan
2(1)/0
-
-
-
Grimsby Town
03/04
Mar-04
Loan
11(0)/0
-
-
-
Macclesfield T.
04/05-06/07
Jul-04
Free
61(0)/0
3(0)/0
2(0)/0
9(0)/0
Bury
06/07
Jun-06
Free
9(0)/0
1(0)/0
2(0)/0
-
Manchester U.
10/11-11/12
Jan-11
Free
0(0)/0
-
-
-
TOTALS
-
£600k
417(7)/2
23(1)/0
15(1)/0
40(0)/0
..
Biography:
A former Youth international, Alan Fettis made his name in the Irish League with Ards before a £50,000 move to Hull City. He established himself in the Northern Ireland squad through the early 1990s, taking advantage of the long-spells of injury that ruled out Tommy Wright.

Spells in the top-flight with Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers both offered little in the way of first-team opportunities, and both saw relegation. Fettis' international career was ended with the emergence of Maik Taylor, though Sammy McIlroy did include him in the international squad as late as 2003.

One of the most experienced goalkeepers in the lower English Leagues, Fettis never wanted for a club. Aside from his international caps, claims to fame include two goals for Hull City (scored during a striker injury crisis at the club), and being named as Ards' greatest 'keeper of all time.

After retiring as a player in 2007, Fettis was appointed assistant goalkeeping coach at Derby County where he worked with Roy Carroll. In 2008 he was appointed goalkeeping coach at Cheltenham Town, and was also given the role of chief scout at the club. After working with the Northern Ireland Under-18 squad, Nigel Worthington appointed Fettis as goalkeeping coach for the a B international match against Scotland in May 2009. In July 2009 he joined the coaching staff at Sunderland and continued his role with the Northern Ireland set-up.

In January 2011 Fettis joined the coaching staff at Manchester United and he made a brief return to playing when he turned out for the reserves during a goalkeeper shortage.

Full bio to follow.

Official Bury Site
Football Heroes Forest, Sheffield United
Wikipedia Article

Northern Ireland Cap Details:
13-11-1991 Denmark...... A L 1-2 ECQ
28-04-1992 Lithuania.... H D 2-2 WCQ
18-11-1992 Denmark...... H L 0-1 WCQ
11-06-1994 Mexico....... N L 0-3 FR
07-09-1994 Portugal..... H L 1-2 ECQ
29-03-1995 Rep. Ireland. A D 1-1 ECQ
26-04-1995 Latvia....... A W 1-0 ECQ
22-05-1995 Canada....... A L 0-2 FR
25-05-1995 Chile........ N L 1-2 FR
07-06-1995 Latvia....... H L 1-2 ECQ
03-09-1995 Portugal..... A D 1-1 ECQ
11-10-1995 Liechtenstein A W 4-0 ECQ
15-11-1995 Austria...... H W 5-3 ECQ
27-03-1996 Norway....... H L 0-2 FR
29-05-1996 Germany...... H D 1-1 FR
31-08-1996 Ukraine...... H L 0-1 WCQ
05-10-1996 Armenia...... H D 1-1 WCQ
30-04-1997 Armenia...... A D 0-0 WCQ
11-10-1997 Portugal..... A L 0-1 WCQ
25-03-1998 Slovakia..... H W 1-0 FR
22-04-1998 Switzerland.. H W 1-0 FR
03-06-1998 Spain........ A L 1-4 FR
15-09-1998 Turkey....... A L 0-3 ECQ
10-10-1998 Finland...... H W 1-0 ECQ
18-11-1998 Moldova...... H D 2-2 ECQ

Summary: 25/0. Won 6, Drew 7, Lost 12.


Northern Ireland B Cap Details:
10-05-1994 England...... A L 2-4 FR
21-02-1995 Scotland..... A L 0-3 FR
11-02-1998 Rep. Ireland. A W 1-0 FR

Summary: 3/0. Won 1, Drew 0, Lost 1.


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