Theo Snelders

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

Club career

Snelders was born in Westervoort, Gelderland. He started his career with 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.

After fracturing a cheekbone in a collision with Ally McCoist of Rangers in 1991, editions and in the 1993 Scottish Cup Final, and was the regular goalkeeper as the Dons finished runners-up to Rangers in five of his seven full league campaigns. 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. He made 290 appearances for the club in all competitions.

Having fallen behind Watt in the Aberdeen order, Snelders moved on to rivals Rangers for £300,000 in early 1996. 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. He didn't make any appearances for Rangers after December 1997. He played two seasons at MVV before he retired from playing and became a goalkeeping coach in his native Netherlands with Twente.

Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals

1980–81

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

34 0 – – – – – – 34+ 0+ 1985–86 35 0 – – – – – – 35+ 0+ 1986–87 34 0 – – – – – – 34+ 0+ 1987–88 28 0 – – – – – – 28+ 0+

199 0 199+ 0+

1988–89

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

228 0 20 0 29 0 14 0 291 0

1995–96

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

13 0 0 0 2 0 3 0 18 0

1999-00 Eredivisie 27 0 – – – – – – 27+ 0+ 2000–01 Eerste Divisie 11 0 – – – – – – 11+ 0+

38 0 38+ 0+

478 0 20+ 0+ 31+ 0+ 17+ 0+ 546+ 0+

International

Honours Aberdeen 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