Nigel Spink
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| Nigel Spink | ||
 |
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nigel Philip Spink | |
| Date of birth | 8 August 1958 | |
| Place of birth | Chelmsford, England | |
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | Retired | |
| Youth clubs | ||
| 1976 1976-1977 |
West Ham United Chelmsford City |
|
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1977-1996 1996-1997 1997-2000 2000-2001 |
Aston Villa West Bromwich Albion Millwall Forest Green Rovers |
361 (0) 19 (0) 44 (0) 14 (0) |
| National team | ||
| 1989-1997 1991 |
England England B |
1 (0) 2 (0) |
| Teams managed | ||
| Forest Green Rovers | ||
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Nigel Philip Spink[1] (born Chelmsford, England, 8 August 1958) is a former football goalkeeper who made his name at Aston Villa and also made one appearance for England at international level.
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[edit] Career
Spink began his career as an apprentice at 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.
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, is now the goalkeeping coach of Wigan Athletic after leaving Birmingham. His legacy continues on with his son Aaron, who also keeps goal, has recently lifted the Intra Mural Cup, a competition open to teams all around the world.
[edit] Honours
- European Cup: 1982
- European Super Cup: 1982
- Football League Cup: 1994
[edit] References
- ^ a b Matthews, Tony (2005). The Who's Who of West Bromwich Albion. Breedon Books, p. 220–221. ISBN 1-85983-474-4.
