About Chris Neal
Christopher Michael Neal (born 23 October 1985) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper and is now goalkeeping coach at National League club AFC Fylde. Neal began his career at Preston North End, making his English Football League debut in February 2005, having previously impressed in a brief loan spell at Conference club Tamworth. He had short loan spells at Shrewsbury Town and Morecambe in the 2006–07 season as a covering player before he was signed by Shrewsbury Town permanently in July 2009. He was the club's regular custodian as promotion to League One was achieved in 2011–12. He joined Port Vale in July 2012 and helped the club to secure promotion out of League Two in 2012–13. He joined Doncaster Rovers on loan in February 2016 and then Bury the following month. He joined Fleetwood Town on a free transfer in May 2016 before joining Salford City in May 2018. He dropped down to the National League North to sign with AFC Fylde in August 2020 and helped the club to the league title at the end of the 2022–23 season. He began coaching at AFC Fylde in July 2024 and became joint-caretaker manager two months later, and again in February 2025. He kept a clean sheet on his debut at The Lamb Ground 16 days later, as Tamworth recorded a 1–0 win over Accrington Stanley; during the game he was credited with making a "brilliant" save.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.