Nicky Southall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Nicky Southall | ||
 |
||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Leslie Nicholas Southall | |
| Date of birth | January 28, 1972 (age 35) | |
| Place of birth | Middlesbrough, England | |
| Height | 5 ft 10" | |
| Nickname | Trigger | |
| Playing position | Midfielder | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Gillingham | |
| Number | 11 | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1991-1995 1995-1997 1997-2001 2001-2002 2002 2002-2005 2005-2007 2007- |
Hartlepool United Grimsby Town Gillingham Bolton Wanderers Norwich City (loan) Gillingham Nottingham Forest Gillingham |
138 (30) 80 (8) 205 (21) 24 (1) 9 (0) 99 (2) 67 (13) 9(0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Leslie Nicholas "Nicky" Southall (born 28 January 1972 in Middlesbrough), is a professional football player who has played in all tiers of English league football. He currently plays for Gillingham in League One.
Contents |
[edit] Childhood and early career
A former pupil of Coulby Newham Secondary School, he has used his second given name since childhood. He started his career as a left-winger, but has played in most positions, including goalkeeper.
Southall was spotted playing Sunday football for Nunthorpe Boys and was offered a trial at Newcastle United. After realising he'd have little chance of breaking into the Newcastle team he left and joined Darlington on schoolboy terms.
[edit] Professional career
Darlington let him go but he resumed his career with Hartlepool United where he was a regular in the first team for 4 seasons. Every one of his 130 appearances for Hartlepool was as a member of the starting line-up, and he scored 28 goals.
He was transferred to Grimsby Town for £40,000 and played 55 times, scoring 9 goals. On his home debut he had to play in goal after the Grimsby keeper was sent off – allegedly, the other players forced him in because he had the same surname as legendary Everton keeper Neville Southall.
Grimsby manager Brian Laws signed the Italian Ivano Bonetti as Southall's replacement just months after Southall himself had arrived at Blundell Park, forcing Southall out of the first-team altogether for much of the mid-season. He often failed to even make the bench and at one point was even asked to do co-commentary for the local media stations.
After Bonetti had a disagreement with Laws, Southall was given a chance to re-establish himself in the first-team. After scoring an own-goal against Stoke City during Grimsby's relegation run-in the 96/97 season, Southall was frozen out of the first team in the 97/98 season.
He then moved on a free transfer to Gillingham, where he became a popular figure. He made almost 200 appearances for the Gills and scored 29 goals, including a goal nominated for Goal of the Month against then Premiership side Sheffield Wednesday to knock them out of the FA Cup.
After this spell at Gillingham he moved to the Premiership with Bolton Wanderers. He made just over 20 appearances for them and scored once, against Newcastle United. He went on loan to Norwich City for a brief spell as he looked to secure a permanent move away from the Premiership.
He caused a stir at Gillingham by making a welcome return there on a free transfer. He made a further 90 appearances but failed to recapture the form which had previously made him a cult hero there.
Gillingham were relegated to League One at the end of the 2004-05 season after being held to a draw by Nottingham Forest. He was out-of-contract and Gillingham did not retain his services, but Nottingham Forest offered the 33-year old a two year contract shortly after.
In the 2005/06 season, he came second in the club Player of the Season vote, behind Ian Breckin, with 18% of the votes. He finished the season with 8 goals as Forest narrowly missed out on a play-off place.
At the end of the 2006/07 season he was due to be out of contract. Forest fans were keen to see his contract renewed, however, on 31 January 2007 it was announced that he had rejoined Gillingham for a third spell on a 2½ year deal.
He made his third debut for Gillingham in the 3-1 away defeat to Huddersfield Town on 3 February. [1]
[edit] Other facts
- He is one of the few current footballers to have played in every division of English league football:
-
- Premiership with Bolton.
- Championship with Grimsby, Gillingham and Norwich.
- League One with Nottingham Forest, Gillingham and Grimsby.
- League Two with Hartlepool.
- He has three children, all born in Gillingham.
- He is nicknamed "Trigger" after the character in Only Fools and Horses.
[edit] Sources
| Gillingham F.C. - Current Squad |
|---|
|
1 Jack | 2 Jupp | 3 Jackman | 4 Flynn | 5 Sancho | 6 Cox | 7 Crofts | 8 Bentley | 9 Mulligan | 10 McDonald | 11 Southall | 12 Easton | 13 Larrieu | 14 Johnson | 15 Howell | 16 Clohessy | 17 Pugh | 18 Stone | 19 Collin | 20 Chorley | 21 Jarvis | 22 Spiller | 23 Bastians | 24 Ndumbu-Nsungu | 26 Tonge | Manager: Jepson |
