Northern Ireland v Netherlands

MAKING THEIRMARK IN THE NETHERLANDS

Andy Greeves looks back on the careers of four Northern Ireland international strikers who plied their trade in the Netherlands’ top football league, the Eredivisie, during their playing days.

In the late 1950s the Express newspaper described Londonderry-born striker Johnny Crossan as “the 19-year-old wonder boy of Irish soccer… Ireland’s Jimmy Greaves”. Many of England’s leading clubs of the time, including Arsenal, Sheffield United and Sunderland, made attempts to sign the inside forward, who eventually moved from Coleraine to Bristol City in October 1958. Alas a dispute between Crossan and his former club Derry City saw then Football League secretary Alan Hardaker deny his registration to play. The conflict saw the player banned from playing all forms of football in January 1959 prior to a partial lifting of that ban some five months later enabling him to sign for Dutch champions Sparta Rotterdam. Crossan scored five goals in 20 league appearances for Sparta and featured for them in the European Cup prior to a transfer to Belgian side Standard Liege in 1961. The striker netted six times in 33 league matches for Liege during the 1961-62 campaign and lined up against Real Madrid in a European Cup semi-final. Crossan’s ‘lifetime’ ban was fully lifted in 1962 when he moved to Sunderland, while he also played for Manchester City, Middlesbrough and KSK Tongeren during a career in which he netted 10 times in 24 appearances for Northern Ireland between 1959 and 1967. Sammy Morgan followed in Crossan’s footsteps in 1978 when he too signed for Sparta Rotterdam. The Belfast-born forward scored five goals in 23 Eredivisie appearances for De Kasteelheren before joining FC Groningen a year later, helping them win the Eerste Divisie title in 1979-80 as he netted twice in 17 league appearances. The former Port Vale, Aston Villa, Brighton and Hove Albion and Cambridge United player won 18 caps for Northern Ireland between 1972 and 1978, scoring three times.

Striker James Quinn, who earned 50 caps for Northern Ireland, had a successful spell with Eredivisie side Willem II

Phil Gray spent a season of his well-travelled career with Eredivisie club Fortuna Sittard in 1996-97. Fortunezen finished 11th in the table that campaign, with Grey scoring once in 15 league appearances. The striker, who scored six goals in 26 matches for Northern Ireland between 1992 and 2001, turned out for 11 different professional clubs during his playing days, including Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland and French side AS Nancy Lorraine. James Quinn - who featured in 50 senior Northern Ireland internationals and scored four times between 1996 and 2007– enjoyed a successful spell with Eredivisie side Willem II, whom he represented from 2002 to 2005. The Coventry-born frontman scored 15 goals in 62 Dutch league matches for the Tricolores following his release from West Bromwich Albion. He also turned out for the likes of Birmingham City, Blackpool, Sheffield Wednesday, Peterborough United and Northampton Town during his career before retiring from playing in 2007.

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