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Neil Banfield
Personal information
Full name	Neil Anthony Banfield
Date of birth	20 January 1962 (age 62)
Place of birth	Poplar, London, England
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Stevenage; (assistant manager/first-team coach)
Youth career
1978–1980	Crystal Palace
Senior career*
Years	Team
1979–1981	Crystal Palace
1981–1983	Adelaide City
1983–1985	Leyton Orient
International career
1977	England Schoolboys
1979–1980	England U18
1981	England U20
Managerial career
1992–1997	Charlton Athletic (head youth coach)
1997–2004	Arsenal Academy
2004–2012	Arsenal Reserves
2012–2018	Arsenal (first-team coach)
2019–2022	Queens Park Rangers (first-team coach)
2022–2023	Rangers (assistant coach)
2024	Wealdstone (assistant manager)
2024–	Stevenage (assistant manager)
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Neil Banfield (born 20 January 1962) is an English professional football coach and former player.

Banfield played in the Football League for Crystal Palace and Leyton Orient. He became a coach at Charlton Athletic before moving to Arsenal as a youth coach in 1997. From 2012, Banfield spent six years as first-team coach under Arsène Wenger at Arsenal before taking up coaching roles at Queens Park Rangers, Rangers, Wealdstone, and since May 2024 as assistant manager and first-team coach at Stevenage.

Playing career

Club

Banfield was born on 20 January 1962 in Poplar, London.^[3] He played district and England schoolboy and youth football and joined Crystal Palace as an apprentice in August 1979, with whom he won the 1978 FA Youth Cup in a 1–0 victory over Aston Villa.^[3]^[4] He made only three first-team appearances for Palace and in 1981, joined Australian side Adelaide City for two seasons.^[3] In December 1983, he moved to Leyton Orient, making 31 league appearances in two seasons before joining Dagenham and Redbridge in May 1985.^[3]^[5]

International

Banfield was an England schoolboy international,^[6] and was a member of the England team that won the 1980 UEFA European Under-18 Championship.^[2]^[7]

Managerial career

After his retirement as a player, Banfield became a coach. He started his coaching career with Charlton Athletic with whom he spent five years as the head coach at the club's academy.^[8] He then joined Arsenal in 1997. Banfield went on to coach Arsenal's academy teams with whom he won two FA Youth Cups, an FA Premier Academy League U17 title in 1999–2000 and an U19 League title in 2001–02. He then succeeded Eddie Niedzwiecki as the coach of Arsenal Reserves after the former's departure for Blackburn Rovers in September 2004.^[9]

Banfield also served under Don Givens as the assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland U21 team. He held this post from April 2004 to May of the following year. On 24 May 2012, Banfield took up the position of first-team coach at Arsenal,^[10]^[5] a role he held until 2018.

On 14 May 2019, Banfield was appointed first-team coach at Queens Park Rangers^[11] On 28 November 2022, Banfield joined Michael Beale in moving to Rangers.^[12]

In January 2024, Banfield was appointed assistant manager of National League club Wealdstone.^[13] He left the club in April when manager David Noble was dismissed,^[14] and was appointed assistant manager/first-team coach under Alex Revell at League One club Stevenage on 9 May.^[15]

Honours

Club

Crystal Palace^[4]

FA Youth Cup: 1978

Country

England U18

UEFA Under-18 Championship: 1980^[2]

Managerial career

Arsenal Youth^[9]

FA Youth Cup: 2000, 2001
Premier Academy League U17: 1999–2000
Premier Academy League U19: 2001–02

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Hugman, Barry J. (November 2015). The PFA Premier & Football League players' records 1946–2015 (First ed.). G2 Entertainment. p. 52. ISBN 978-1-7828-1167-1.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Sometimes I have to pinch myself". Arsenal F.C. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Kaufman, Neilson N; Ravenhill, Alan E (2002). The Men Who Made Leyton Orient Football Club. Tempus Publishing. p. 27. ISBN 0752424122.
^ ^a ^b Purkiss, Mike; Sands, Nigel (1990). Crystal Palace: A Complete Record 1905–1989. p. 72. ISBN 0907969542.
^ ^a ^b "Neil Banfield". Arsenal F.C. 2014. Archived from the original on 1 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2014.
^ "Match results schoolboys (under 15) 1970–1979". England Football Online. Chris Goodwin & Glen Isherwood. 11 October 2024. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
^ "Match results under 18 1971–1980". England Football Online. Chris Goodwin & Glen Isherwood. 2 October 2024. Retrieved 12 October 2024.
^ McIntyre, David (19 March 2020). "Banfield: The Rangers can thrive even after star players move on". West London Sport. Retrieved 2 October 2020. Banfield, who spent five years as Charlton's head youth coach before joining Arsenal in 1997...
^ ^a ^b Greenwood, Mark (11 February 2010). "Football's unsung heroes – Arsenal's Neil Banfield". Football Fancast.com. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
^ "Bould and Banfield join first-team staff". Arsenal F.C. 24 May 2012. Archived from the original on 26 May 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
^ Morrissey, Paul (14 May 2019). "Mark Warburton adds Neil Banfield to backroom team". Queens Park Rangers F.C. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
^ "Rangers confirm Michael Beale as manager". Rangers F.C. 28 November 2022. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
^ "New Manager: David Noble". Wealdstone F.C. 26 January 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
^ Phillips, Chris (7 April 2024). "National League club part company with manager". Southend Echo. Retrieved 9 May 2024.
^ "Stevenage appoint Revell". Stevenage F.C. 9 May 2024. Retrieved 9 May 2024.