Back home in Western Sydney after six years coaching in Europe, Stephen Neligan finally has the chance to reflect on a whirlwind adventure that ‘doesn’t seem real’.
It wasn’t that long ago that the 43-year-old was working in factories and sewage treatment plants dreaming of a life in football, the game that helped him connect with his dad, kicking a ball every day at the park down the road from his childhood home.
As his playing career reached a natural ceiling at NPL level, Neligan turned his attention to coaching and has carved out a CV with stops few other Australians can match.
It began at Under-11s division three level and went from there, until he found himself as assistant coach at English giants Everton, having a BBQ with Frank Lampard and playing a role in taking points off some of the biggest clubs on the planet.
As he plots his next move following his departure from the Toffees, Neligan speaks to football360.com.au about his rise, how he turned a dream into reality and what comes next.
Photo: Everton FC.
This story should be fuel for any Australian aspiring to quit their day job and go all in on football: Neligan is proof that it is possible.
After picking up coaching at just 21 years old and thinking ‘yeah I don’t mind this’, he began gathering experience in any way he could.
From local sides to Under-11 rep teams and holiday camps, he soon moved to the Gold Coast to play for a side there, immediately getting involved coaching their junior teams and slotting into a role as third assistant for the Under-14s boys outfit.
At this point, Neligan had ‘never thought about’ a role in women’s football.
A connection with Gary French, a prominent coach in the Queensland NPL space, saw Neligan head to the state titles with a Gold Coast Women’s side, before taking on a role as head coach of Palm Beach Women, with his name put forward by French.
He soon moved back to New South Wales, getting his first introduction to elite development for kids with Football NSW’s Project 22 initiative to identify young talent, before stints in the NPL as Macarthur Rams’ reserves head coach and a variety of roles with Marconi Stallions.
“I just started to feel like there wasn’t really a career path forward for me here in Australia,” he told football360.com.au.
“I wasn’t an ex-player and I didn’t know how to bridge the gap to that next level, where I wanted to be. So then I started coaching individually.”
Neligan opened an individual training facility and began working with professional players for the first time. One became two, two became three and “it spiralled that we were working with over a hundred in the two and a bit years we were there”.
He coached Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney FC players, with Matildas superstar Caitlin Foord one of the earliest players to join up.
“I worked with her heavily. And then from there, she brought loads of players in,” he recalled.
“US women’s national team players, a lot of the Matildas. And then I worked with most of the Wanderers boys at that time.”
Simultaneously, Neligan was coaching at Hills Sports High School, taking over their program from Alen Stajcic when he departed to become head coach of the Matildas.
What happened next feels like something out of a movie.
A late night Google search led to a connection with Brian Sorensen, the current Aston Villa Women’s technical director, and a surreal new chapter, beginning at Danish outfit FC Nordsjaelland.
“I was sitting in my room one night and was just Googling for female teams, having a look at what was out there across the world,” he explained.
“Europe was always intriguing. And then I came across this team. I can’t even remember the name now, but they ran camps. So I went over and visited.
Neligan during his time at FC Nordsjaelland. Photo: Supplied.
“The person that ran the camp was business partners with Brian (Sorensen).
“He had developed this thing called Goal Station, which was an individual training (platform) and we ended up bringing it to Sydney.
“He’d come and visited Australia a couple of times just for a holiday. So I spent time with him and I think he’d seen the level of player that I was working with then at the factory.
“He needed an assistant, it was really as an individual coach – that’s what I was brought over there to do.
“Originally it was just a three-month contract. I started working with the women’s first team, doing individual sessions across the club at FC Nordsjaelland. Working with not only the girls academy, the girls first team, but also the boys academy.”
Neligan wasn’t just working at a club that is renowned in Europe for player development – he was literally living there, staying in the hotel attached to the stadium.
“All day I was just around football and this methodology of Nordsjaelland … I’ve never seen anything (like it),” he said.
He was watching Champions League players blossom in front of his eyes, recalling Andreas Schjelderup (Benfica), Daniel Svensson (Borussia Dortmund), Simon Adingra (Monaco) and Mohamed Kudus (Tottenham) taking steps at the Danish club in his time there.
Nordsjaelland’s women’s team was new and the Aussie was tasked with building out a women’s academy for the club, appointed Head of Coaching. “That was a big job,” he says.
“Nordsjaelland has an 80-something page playbook, so it was about learning that firstly, but then how does this translate for the women, for the academy?” he explained.
“… They have their style of play for the first team and that’s split down into learning outcomes for each year and it builds up from under-9s… so once they get to the first team, they should be well versed in the style of play.”
The girls Neligan coached in the Under-13s and Under-14s are now in the club’s first team, who won the league in 2024 and earned a spot in the Champions League with one of the youngest starting XIs in Europe.
After a couple of seasons with Nordsjaelland, a big decision presented itself.
Sorensen had been headhunted to become head coach of Danish giants Fortuna Hjorring on the back of their worst season ever.
Photo: Supplied.
He had two options: “Do I stay at Nordsjaelland or do I follow Brian?”
The hierarchy pushed for him to stay and the setup was second to none, but Fortuna was a club with a big Aussie connection (there were four Australian players on the books at the time plus former Matilda Alison Foreman on the club’s board) and Sorensen, his only friend outside of football, was moving to the other side of the country.
“There were big positives for both. Ultimately, I chose to go with Brian and take that opportunity at Fortuna.“
That move brought new challenges.
At Nordsjaelland, the model is built on developing players. At Fortuna, it’s all about winning.
Sorensen and Neligan weighed style and pragmatism as they plotted a course for the nation’s most successful side to return to the top.
After a strong recruitment drive, they led Fortuna to the League Cup and finished second on the ladder to earn qualification for the Champions League.
Throughout this time, Sorensen was being approached by a range of foreign clubs.
Neligan was settled at Fortuna and enjoying his time there, but when an opportunity to join a club like Everton came up, ‘it was hard to say no’.
“I was given the opportunity to be the head coach (at Fortuna),” he revealed.
“You’re then put in a conundrum that I can move from assistant to a head coach or I can go to England – and you’ve only ever seen it on TV, right?
“The Premier League, all these clubs. It wasn’t as tough a decision as what the Nordsjaelland one was, but it was still a decision that I had to reflect on … but when Everton comes calling in that league, it was hard to say no.”
Neligan, the boy from Western Sydney who had worked ‘every job under the sun’ as he dreamed of exactly this, arrived at Everton and ‘it was crazy’.
It only really hit him when he arrived at the training ground for the first time.
“You’re in the same facility as the men’s first team,” he explained.
“Frank Lampard was the manager of the men. He was big on connecting the club together, so we would have joint barbecues with the men’s first team and families.
“It’s just surreal, but the whole journey was.
Photo: Supplied.
“Michael Essien was at FC Nordsjaelland when I was there. At one point he was living next door to me in the academy. So I walk out, stand there and there’s Michael Essien just standing next to me.
“Where I’ve come from here in Western Sydney… the whole thing’s been a blur and just doesn’t seem real.”
He added: “You’d see the players, (who) were obviously friendly and they would say hello.
“Even that’s surreal… you’ve only ever seen Jordan Pickford on TV and then all of a sudden (he’s) right there, Jack Grealish (too).
“It was a different world, but it became a world that became normal. You get used to it, but it’s when you reflect back on it, it’s pretty crazy.”
Each time Sorensen and Neligan took a step up, they wondered whether they would be good enough to succeed.
To make matters more difficult, they walked into Everton at a moment where the club didn’t have owners, lacked direction and was facing significant off-field fan turmoil.
Amid that backdrop, they steered the Women’s Super League side through choppy waters.
“We developed a style of play that was respected across the league,” Neligan said with pride.
“We designed a tactical system that coaches didn’t like playing against. The common factor in every press conference that you’d hear playing us is they don’t know what to expect because we’re so adaptable in how we play and then we will change in game.
“We finished sixth, we finished eighth, and then last season we finished eighth.
“We drew our last game. If we’d have won our last game, we would have finished sixth. (That) puts you in the top half of the WSL; (for) the resources that we had (that) was a massive achievement.
“When I look back on our time at Everton… it was a great opportunity that we were given, but I think we did well … and we learned a lot.”
In four seasons in charge at the English club, the Toffees beat powerhouses Manchester City and Chelsea, ending the Blues’ 34-game unbeaten run earlier this year, and also took points off Arsenal and Manchester United.
In February, Everton decided to part ways with Sorensen – who was quickly snapped up by Aston Villa – which also saw Neligan depart the club.
“Ultimately football happens and clubs decide to move in different directions,” he said.
“I walk away from that time grateful for the experience, but proud of what we were able to build there and that we were able to steady the ship for the club, hopefully moving into better times for Everton now with stable owners. There’s not too much more than that.”
Neligan has now returned to Australia to plot his next move.
“It’s the first time I’ve been home in six years that I don’t have a date that I need to be out of here again,” he explained.
“It’s actually been really refreshing.
“… As great as the last six seasons (have been) … six seasons without a break is a very long time. So it’s mentally draining that you never have that time to switch off.
“Now being at home, it’s been great to see the family again. I’ve got my kids, my wife, back around our extended family and just taking some time off to enjoy it, but also use it to develop myself. [embedded content]
“(To) refine my processes, the style of play, keep watching football.
“I’ve been to a couple of (A-League Women) games. I still know a lot of players that I’ve worked with that are still in that space that are doing well. So I’ve tried to watch as much over there as I could, but it’s nice just to be home.”
Asked what the future could hold, Neligan hinted he could be set to stay in Australia and contribute to the football scene at home, with the benefit of his experiences abroad.
“At the minute it’s finding what the next project looks like,” he said.
“There’s still opportunities overseas and some I was discussing before even the departure at Everton. But ultimately six years overseas, there’s a lot of sacrifice that comes with that.
“… While I wouldn’t say no to the right opportunity overseas at the minute, I think potentially the short term looks like I might stay here for a bit and put down some roots back home and contribute back into the game.
“I’ve worked across different environments and have the experiences now that I can come in, add to a different level, whether that’s as an assistant at a high level or whether that is as a head coach. I think I’ve now got the experience to do both.”
After six years and a truly unbelievable rise, Neligan could be coming to a team near you.