Nigel Spink
 |
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nigel Philip Spink | ||
| Date of birth | 8 August 1958 | ||
| Place of birth | Chelmsford, England | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team |
Bristol City (Goalkeeping Coach) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1976 | West Ham United | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1976–1977 | Chelmsford City | 10 | (0) |
| 1977–1996 | Aston Villa | 361 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | West Bromwich Albion | 19 | (0) |
| 1997–2000 | Millwall | 44 | (0) |
| 2000–2001 | Forest Green Rovers | 14 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| 1983 | England | 1 | (0) |
| 1991 | England B | 2 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2000–2002 | Forest Green Rovers | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Nigel Philip Spink[1] (born 8 August 1958) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper from 1976 until 2001. He is currently employed as a goalkeeping coach at Football League Championship side Bristol City.
He made his name at Aston Villa and also made one appearance for England at international level on the tour of Australia in 1983. He also played in the Football League for West Bromwich Albion and Millwall, as well as playing in Non-league for both Chelmsford City and Forest Green Rovers.
Playing career
Spink began his career at Writtle Minors moving up to the Senior side Writtle Football Club[2] before going as an apprentice to West Ham United, but soon moved to Chelmsford City and then, at the age of just 18, to Aston Villa. It was almost five years before his big break in the first team came along, and it came on the biggest stage of all – the European Cup Final. Ten minutes into the 1982 final against Bayern Munich, Villa's first choice goalkeeper, Jimmy Rimmer, was injured and substitute keeper Spink was called into action, having only made one previous appearance in the first team. Spink performed superbly, keeping a clean sheet, and Villa won the game 1–0.
He went on to make 460 appearances for Villa before moving to neighbouring club West Bromwich Albion in 1996, almost two decades after first joining Villa. Spink became the oldest goalkeeper to appear for Albion when, at the age of 39 years and 19 days, he kept goal in a League Cup tie against Cambridge United on 27 August 1997.[1] The record still stands as of 27 August 2007. In all he made 24 appearances for the Black Country club.
A £50,000 move in September 1997 took him down a division to Millwall in Division Two, and he continued playing at The Den for another three seasons until he finally retired in June 2000, just before his 42nd birthday.
Coaching & management career
After retiring as a player, Spink worked as a coach at West Bromwich Albion and, after a brief spell as manager of Forest Green Rovers, worked under Steve Bruce at Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic and Sunderland as a goalkeeping coach. He left Sunderland on 6 December 2011, following Bruce's dismissal a few days earlier.[3] On 23 February 2012, Spink became the goalkeeper coach at Bristol City.
Honours
- European Cup: 1982
- European Super Cup: 1983
- Football League Cup: 1994
References
- ^ a b Matthews, Tony (2005). The Who's Who of West Bromwich Albion. Breedon Books. pp. 220–221. ISBN 1-85983-474-4.
- ^ Gallacher, Eric. Writtle Football Club Centenary Book 1902/03 to 2002/03.
- ^ "O'Neill confirms backroom additions". Sunderland A.F.C. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 6 December 2011.
External links
- Nigel Spink at Soccerbase
- Use dmy dates from August 2010
- 1958 births
- Living people
- People from Chelmsford
- Aston Villa F.C. players
- West Bromwich Albion F.C. players
- Millwall F.C. players
- Forest Green Rovers F.C. players
- Forest Green Rovers F.C. managers
- Association football goalkeepers
- English footballers
- English football managers
- England international footballers
- England B international footballers
- Premier League players
- Sunderland A.F.C. non-playing staff