Snodin: Ian

1985-1987 (Leeds Player Details)(Player Details)

Midfield

Born: Thryburgh Nr Rotherham: 15-08-1963

Debut v Fulham (a): 17-08-1985

5’7” 8st 11 1/2lb (1987)

#50 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Like his brother Glynn, he joined Doncaster Rovers, in August 1980 as a teenager and was capped for England Youth in in a 0-1 loss to Sotland on 23rd February 1982. He had made his first team debut, as a substitute, at the age of seventeen on 29th March 1980 in a 1-0 home win over Bournemouth, his starting debut coming in a 1-1 home draw with Walsall on 5th April 1980. The younger brother of Glynn, he ran the midfield for a few seasons with Alan Little and David Harle and was made club captain at only nineteen, by Billy Bremner, when Rovers were hit by an injury crisis. Although he was with an unfashionable club Snodin’s displays won him four Under-Twenty-One caps in the 1984-85 season. His first cap came in the UEFA Under-Twenty-One Championship 1986 preliminaries (group three) on 13th November 1984 in a 0-0 draw with Turkey at the Bursa Ataturk Stadium, Bursa, when he played a full game. His second came in a Friendly on 27th February 1985 in a 2-1 win over Israel at the Ramat Gan Stadium, Tel Aviv when he started but was replaced by Simon Barker of Blackburn Rovers. The Third was also in the UEFA Under-Twenty-One Championship 1986 preliminaries (group three) on 30th April 1985 in a 0-0 draw with Romania at the Stadionul Tineretului, Brasov when he played a full game. His fourth and final cap came in a Friendly on 21st May 1985 in a 1-3 loss to Finland at Urheilupuisto in Mikkeli in which he started but was replaced by Louie Donowa of Norwich City. He soon caught the interest of the Leeds Manager Eddie Gray and was transferred to the club in the summer of 1985 for £200,000. While at Belle Vue he had scored twenty-five goals and made one hundred and eighty-one starts in League games and another seven as substitute, and had also scored one goal in eleven starts and one game as a substitute in the F.A. Cup and onr goal in ten starts in the League Cup. He had been transferred to Leeds by Billy Bremner and when Bremner took over at Elland Road his first job was to relieve Peter Lorimer of the Leeds captaincy and give it to Snodin. Snodin added class and bite to United’s midfield and became the key player in the side. In the 1985-86 season it seemed that Leeds in Snodin and Sheridan had a midfield that would see them achieve their promotion dream as after some injuries they became the Leeds midfield duo. It wasn’t long before Division One’s bigger clubs approached Leeds for Snodin's services. As the 1986-87 season started Snodin picked up a succession of injuries but when he had overcome them the larger clubs in Division One started to view him with envy. Everton and Liverpool both initially offered £650,000 and this was followed by matching bids of £750,000 and finally both offered £840,000 in early 1987, and this time cash-strapped Leeds accepted. Snodin chose Everton as his next team, even though he had agreed terms with Liverpool, and moved there on 6th January 1987. His boss at Doncaster had been Billy Bremner and when he joined Leeds as Manager, he again sold him and United received a club record fee when he went to Everton, as Snodin joined one of the most successful side of the period, with whom he would hope to collect further honours. He made his Everton debut on 17th January 1987 in a 2-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Goodison Park, in a fixture that saw his brother Glynn line up for the opposition. He added impetus to Everton’s midfield and just qualified to win a First Division Championship medal in 1986-87. He gained his first England "B" cap on 14th October 1987 in a 2-0 win over Malta "A" at the National Stadium, Ta'Qali, when he played a full game in midfield. Although his never-say-die attitude was warmly received by the Goodison public it was not until Snodin was pressed into service as an emergency right-back that he truly began to flourish. Bought as a tough-tackling midfielder, the England Under-Twenty-One player proved to have made the right decision as he became an important addition to a squad. His versatility was to prove a key factor in the title run-in but it also prevented him establishing himself as a first-team regular before making a positional switch to the defence. This was partly due to an injury to skipper Kevin Ratcliffe, which saw him impress in the 1988-89 season, firstly at centre-half, and then at right-back. His transformation from midfielder to defender was accomplished with such speed and in such style that he was called up into the full England squad for a friendly international at the Olympic Stadium in Athens against Greece on 8th February 1989. Unfortunately, Snodin was forced to withdraw because of injury and his problems were compounded a matter of only a few weeks later when he was carried off during a game against Sheffield Wednesday with a serious hamstring problem, which ruled him out for much of the next three-and-a-half years. He did receive a second England "B" cap on 27th March 1990 at Turners Cross, Cork, when England were routed 1-4 by the Republic of Ireland and he came on as a replacement for Lee Dixon at right back. However, injuries had continued to blight his career and he never received the honours he deserved. Despite lengthy periods of rest and several operations, Snodin struggled to regain his fitness and spent the whole of the 1991-92 season on the sidelines. He went on loan to Sunderland in October 1994. There he played six League games, without scoring before moving to Oldham Athletic, where he was sent-off on his debut in January 1995. He had started one hundred and forty-two League games for Everton and made another six appearances from the bench while scoring three goals. He also scored twice in twenty-six starts in the F.A. Cup and twice in the League Cup in twenty-three games, of which four were from the bench. At Boundary Park he made fifty-five League starts and another two from the bench and also played in one F.A. Cup tie and one other game, without scoring. He later played at Scarborough in the 1997-98 season, playing thirty-five times in the League, of which two were from the bench, and also made one appearance in the F.A. Cup, League Cup and one other game, without scoring. He then returned to Doncaster Rovers in 1998 to manage the club where he started his career, making thirteen appearances in the Conference League and two in the F.A.Cup, without scoring. He managed the club for eighteen months and then moved in to radio and television commentary and newspaper columnist and after-dinner speaker. He became a television football pundit for Sky Sports coverage of the Conference division before continuing in the same role for Setanta Sports when they bought the rights from Sky. He was also a co-presenter on Merseyside radio station Radio City 96.7 and City Talk 105.9.