Background
Linighan was born in Hartlepool into a footballing family – his brothers David and Brian were also professional football players.
Linighan was born in Hartlepool into a footballing family – his brothers David and Brian were also professional football players.
He also played in the Football League for Hartlepool United, Leeds United, Oldham Athletic, Norwich City, Queens Park Rangers and Oxford United before finishing his career with Non-league Street Albans City. He first played for his local side, Hartlepool United, before spells at Leeds United (1984–1986), Oldham Athletic (1986–1988) and Norwich City (1988–1990). A tall, imposing centre back, Linighan became notable for his calm performances in defence for Norwich, and was snapped up by George Graham"s Arsenal for £1.2 million in the summer of 1990 (despite Arsenal already having England international defenders Tony Adams and Steve Bould in the side).
Linighan had been very reluctant to leave Norwich, but was told by then-chairman Robert Chase that he was being sold.
Linighan mainly played as backup to Adams and Bould at Arsenal. Fittingly, it was Bright who Linighan outjumped to score.
By then, Linighan"s place in the Arsenal side was further in doubt, as the club had signed Martin Keown earlier that year (Linighan had only played in the cup finals because Keown was cup-tied). Despite this, he stayed on at the club as fourth-choice centre-back.
A highlight in his later years at Arsenal was scoring a late equaliser in a 2-2 draw away at Aston Villa in September 1996.
He was sold to Crystal Palace in January 1997. He stuck with Palace during the club"s financial problems, even after they were forced to loan him to Queens Park Rangers for part of 1998-1999 to reduce the wage bill. Linighan returned to the club after his loan spell, and was voted the fans" player of the year in 1999–2000, but after falling out with new owner Simon Jordan, he was given a free transfer in the autumn of 2000.
Linighan saw out the rest of the season with Oxford United, which ended in disappointment – United were relegated to the Third Division.
Afterwards he briefly played for non-league Street Albans, before retiring completely from the game. Linighan now owns his own plumbing business.