Paul McVeigh

Football player infobox
playername = Paul McVeigh


fullname = Paul Michael McVeigh
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1977|12|6
cityofbirth = Belfast
countryofbirth = Northern Ireland
height = height|ft=5|in=6
currentclub = Luton Town
clubnumber = 28
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1996–2000
2000–2007
2007
2007–
clubs = Tottenham Hotspur
Norwich City
→ Burnley (loan)
Luton Town
caps(goals) = 003 0(1)
215 (36)
008 0(3)
025 0(0)
nationalyears = 1998–1999
1999–2004
nationalteam = Northern Ireland U21
Northern Ireland
nationalcaps(goals) = 011 0(0)
020 0(0)
pcupdate = 11:23, 21 August 2008 (UTC)
ntupdate = 11:23, 21 August 2008 (UTC)

Paul Michael McVeigh (born December 6 1977 in Belfast) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who currently plays as a striker for Luton Town.

McVeigh started his career at Tottenham Hotspur where he made 3 appearances scoring 1 goal against Coventry City. He joined Norwich City in March 2000 on a free transfer. The following season he made 6 starts and 6 substitute appearances. He also scored his first goal for the club in a 1-0 home win against Wolverhampton Wanderers.

The following season he scored 9 goals as Norwich reached the final of the division one play-offs. In the 2002-03 campaign he was the club's top scorer with 15 goals. Most of those goals came when he was partnering Iwan Roberts upfront, although later in the season swapped to left midfield. The following season he scored just 5 goals, but helped Norwich win promotion to the Premiership. During the 2004-05 season in the Premiership McVeigh made few first team appearances, although he did get on the scoresheet at Old Trafford.

Mcveigh was made available for transfer by manager Nigel Worthington at the start of the 2005-06 season and was on the bench mostly. Although towards the end of 2005 injuries forced Worthington to start Mcveigh. Mcveigh played very well for the remainder of the season scoring vital goals at Leeds, Leicester and Sheffield United. This got him the player of the month award in December and January and he signed a one year contract extension. he once again started off the 2006-07 season from the bench but got a run in the team when Darren Huckerby got injured. Mcveigh made a bad first impression on new manager Peter Grant when he was sent off for headbutting Cardiffs Karea Gilbert in injury time during the 1-0 win during Cardiff. Mcveigh got very few opportunities under Grant and was loaned out to Burnley for the last few months of the season where he scored 3 goals helping them to survive in the championship. Mcveigh was released by Norwich at the end of the 2006-07 season.

Between 1999 and 2004 he was capped by Northern Ireland 20 times, first by Lawrie McMenemy in the 1-1 home draw with Canada on 27 April 1999 whilst a youngster at Tottenham, then on 11 occasions by Sammy McIlroy after McVeigh moved to Norwich and finally on eight more occasions by Lawrie Sanchez. He had previously won 11 caps for the under-21 side. [ [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2007/04/paul-mcveigh.html Northern Ireland's Footballing Greats: Paul McVeigh ] ] McVeigh effectively retired from international football ("I'm putting my Northern Ireland career on hold") in order to concentrate on reviving his club career.In his international career, McVeigh only made 6 starts. By the time he opted out of international football, it seemed that opportunities would in any case have been limited and with Northern Ireland's later success (still managed by Sanchez, under whom McVeigh said he would not play again)fact|date=January 2008 there seemed little chance that McVeigh would revive his international career.

In July 2007 McVeigh trained with the Italian Serie B side Pisa [ [http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/mcveigh.htm Flown From the Nest - Paul McVeigh ] ] before Plymouth Argyle manager Ian Holloway gave a trial to the former Norwich striker with a view to signing him. A deal was not concluded, however, and the following month he signed for Luton Town, the ninth player Luton manager Kevin Blackwell had signed in the summer.

After Blackwell was sacked and Mick Harford took over as Luton manager, McVeigh has played little, and did not feature in Luton's 2008-2009 campaign until the game against Bradford City on October 4. McVeigh has been linked with a loan spell at Mansfield Town.

References

External links

* [http://www.soccerbase.com/players_details.sd?playerid=10557 Paul Mcveigh career statistics at Soccerbase]
* [http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/mcveigh.htm Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk]
* [http://nifootball.blogspot.com/2007/04/paul-mcveigh.html Information re Mcveigh's international career]