| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Theodorus Antonius Gerardus Snelders | ||
| Date of birth | (1963-12-07)7 December 1963 (age 62) | ||
| Place of birth | Westervoort, Netherlands | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1980–1988 | 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 professionalfootballer who played as agoalkeeper.
Snelders was born inWestervoort,Gelderland. He started his career withTwente, but is mostly remembered in Scotland, especially for his spell atAberdeen following his move for £300,000 in summer 1988. A successful replacement forJim Leighton, he had a very good first season atPittodrie, winning theScottish PFA Players' Player of the Year in 1989. He saved Anton Rogan's penalty in Aberdeen's penalty shootout win overCeltic in the1990 Scottish Cup Final.[1]
After fracturing a cheekbone in a collision withAlly McCoist ofRangers in 1991,[2] he was unavailable for the club's vital winner-takes-all match against theGers in May of that year, with inexperienced understudyMichael Watt unable to prevent a 2–0 defeat.[3][2] Snelders had also played in the Aberdeen side that beat Rangers to win the1989 Scottish League Cup Final,[4][2] but tasted defeat against the same opponents in that tournament's1988 and1992[5] editions and in the1993 Scottish Cup Final,[6] and was the regular goalkeeper as theDons finished runners-up to Rangers in five of his seven full league campaigns.[7]
Midway through 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 toKeith Wright ofHibernian was to strike the forward to the head, followed by kicking the ball over the stand and out of the stadium. His makeshift replacement, defenderBrian 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 torivals Rangers for £300,000 in early 1996.[2] As a confirmed backup player, initially toAndy Goram followed byLionel Charbonnier thenStefan Klos, he made just 18 appearances for theGlasgow club (two in theUEFA Champions League against Dutch sideAjax) before he was released in 1999.[10] He didn't make any appearances for Rangers after December 1997.[11] He played two seasons atMVV before he retired from playing and became a goalkeeping coach in his nativeNetherlands with Twente.[2]
Snelders was a member of the Dutch squad at the1983 FIFA World Youth Championship. He made his only full international appearance on 22 March 1989, against theSoviet Union. He kept a clean sheet as the Dutch won 2–0, with the goals coming from aMarco van Basten diving header and aRonald Koeman penalty. Snelders was an unused substitute with the Dutch team at the1994 World Cup.
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| 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+ | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands | 1989 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 1 | 0 | |
Aberdeen[7]
Rangers
Media related toTheo Snelders at Wikimedia Commons
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