Theo Snelders

Theo Snelders

Personal information
Full name	Theodorus Antonius Gerardus Snelders
Date of birth	(1963-12-07) 7 December 1963 (age 60)
Place of birth	Westervoort, Netherlands
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1980–1988	FC Twente	199	(0)
1988–1996	Aberdeen	227	(0)
1996–1999	Rangers	13	(0)
1999–2001	MVV	38	(0)
Total		478	(0)
International career
1989	Netherlands	1	(0)
1990	Scottish League XI	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Theodorus Antonius Gerardus Snelders (born 7 December 1963) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Club career

18-year-old Snelders (left) blocking a shot in a match between Ajax and FC Twente, 1982

Snelders was born in Westervoort, Gelderland. He started his career with FC Twente but is mostly remembered in Scotland, especially for his spell at Aberdeen following his move for £300,000 in summer 1988. A successful replacement for Jim Leighton, he had a very good first season at Pittodrie, winning the Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year in 1989. He saved Anton Rogan's penalty in Aberdeen's penalty shootout win over Celtic in the 1990 Scottish Cup Final. ^[1]

After fracturing a cheekbone in a collision with Ally McCoist of Rangers in 1991, ^[2] he was unavailable for the club's vital winner-takes-all match against the Gers in May of that year, with inexperienced understudy Michael Watt unable to prevent a 2–0 defeat. ^{[3] [2]} Snelders had also played in the Aberdeen side that beat Rangers to win the 1989 Scottish League Cup Final, ^{[4] [2]} but tasted defeat against the same opponents in that tournament's 1988 and 1992 ^[5] editions and in the 1993 Scottish Cup Final, ^[6] and was the regular goalkeeper as the Dons finished runners-up to Rangers in five of his seven full league campaigns. ^[7]

Midway through the one of the campaigns in which the team was not challenging for honours (1991–92), Snelders was sent off for an incident of violent conduct on the pitch; his reaction to a penalty being awarded to Keith Wright of Hibernian was to strike the forward to the head, followed by kicking the ball over the stand and out of the stadium. His makeshift replacement, defender Brian Irvine, saved the spot-kick, only for Aberdeen to miss a penalty of their own and concede the winning goal in the last minute. ^[8] The other unsuccessful year (1994–95) concluded with a play-off to prevent the club being relegated for the first time in their history, which was averted. ^[9] He made 290 appearances for the club in all competitions. ^[7]

Having fallen behind Watt in the Aberdeen order, Snelders moved on to rivals Rangers for £300,000 in early 1996. ^[2] As a confirmed backup player, initially to Andy Goram followed by Lionel Charbonnier then Stefan Klos, he made just 18 appearances for the Glasgow club (two in the UEFA Champions League against Dutch side Ajax) before he was released in 1999. ^[10] He didn't make any appearances for Rangers after December 1997. ^[11] He played two seasons at MVV before he retired from playing and became a goalkeeping coach in his native Netherlands with FC Twente. ^[2]

International career

Snelders was a member of the Dutch squad at the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship. He made his only full international appearance on 22 March 1989, against the Soviet Union. He kept a clean sheet as the Dutch won 2–0, with the goals coming from a Marco van Basten diving header and a Ronald Koeman penalty. Snelders was an unused substitute with the Dutch team at the 1994 World Cup.

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition ^{[12] [13] [14]}

Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Europe		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
FC Twente	1980-81	Eredivisie	4	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	4+	0+
	1981-82		15	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	15+	0+
	1982-83		17	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	17+	0+
	1983-84	Eerste Divisie	32	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	32+	0+
	1984-85	Eredivisie	34	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	34+	0+
	1985-86		35	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	35+	0+
	1986-87		34	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	34+	0+
	1987-88		28	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	28+	0+
	Total		199	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	199+	0+
Aberdeen	1988-89	Scottish Premier Division	36	0	5	0	5	0	2	0	48	0
	1989–90		23	0	2	0	5	0	2	0	32	0
	1990–91		20	0	1	0	4	0	2	0	27	0
	1991–92		42	0	1	0	2	0	2	0	47	0
	1992–93		41	0	6	0	5	0	0	0	52	0
	1993–94		33	0	3	0	3	0	4	0	43	0
	1994–95		26	0	2	0	3	0	2	0	33	0
	1995–96		7	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	9	0
	Total		228	0	20	0	29	0	14	0	291	0
Rangers	1995-96	Scottish Premier Division	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
	1996-97		4	0	0	0	1	0	2	0	7	0
	1997-98		7	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	9	0
	1998-99	SPL	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Total		13	0	0	0	2	0	3	0	18	0
MVV	1999-00	Eredivisie	27	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	27+	0+
	2000-01	Eerste Divisie	11	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	11+	0+
	Total		38	0	-	-	-	-	-	-	38+	0+
Career total			478	0	20+	0+	31+	0+	17+	0+	546+	0+

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Netherlands	1989	1	0
Total		1	0

Honours

Aberdeen ^[7]

• Scottish Premier Division: Runners-up 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94
• Scottish Cup: 1989–90; runners-up 1992–93
• Scottish League Cup: 1989–90; runners-up 1988–89

Rangers

• Scottish League Cup: 1996–97

References

1. Don Morrison (13 May 1990). "Cheers and tears". Sunday Mail. The Celtic Wiki. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
2. Silverware, smashed bones and soaps: Theo Snelders reflects on a decade spent in Scottish football, The Herald, 25 September 2016
3. "Flashback: 1991, Mark Walters and Scott Booth recall their part in Smith's maiden final-day triumph". The Herald. 14 May 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
4. "Bett the light of bold Aberdeen (page 19)". The Herald. 23 October 1989. Retrieved 4 November 2018– via Google News Archive.
5. McKinney, David (26 October 1992). "Football: Smith's slip gives Rangers the prize" . The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
6. "Football: Hateley cleans up for Rangers" . The Independent . 29 May 1993. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 26 October 2018.
7. "Theo Snelders". AFC Heritage Trust. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
8. "Snelders hits a bad note". The Herald. 25 November 1991. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
9. David McKinney (26 May 1995). "Aberdeen find form to preserve Premier status" . The Independent . Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
10. "Rangers player Theo Snelders". FitbaStats. Retrieved 4 November 2018.
11. "Games played by Theo Snelders in 1997/1998". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
12. "Aberdeen Football Club Heritage Trust - Player Profile". afcheritage.org. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
13. "Rangers Player Theo Snelders Details". www.fitbastats.com. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
14. Strack-Zimmermann, Benjamin. "Theo Snelders". www.national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 14 March 2023.

External links

Media related to Theo Snelders at Wikimedia Commons

• Theo Snelders at Soccerbase
• Theo Snelders at Wereld van Oranje (archived) (in Dutch)
• Season by season appearances
• Profile at Sporting Heroes