Nigel Spink

Nigel Spink

Nigel Spink (1982)
Personal information
Full name	Nigel Philip Spink
Date of birth	(1958-08-08) 8 August 1958 (age 65)
Place of birth	Chelmsford, England
Height	6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Youth career
0000–1976	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)
Total		448	(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

He played as a goalkeeper from 1976 until 2001. 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, and at non-league level for Chelmsford City and Forest Green Rovers, the latter he would go on to manage between 2000 and 2002. Spink later worked as a goalkeeping coach for Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic, Sunderland and Bristol City.

Spink began his career with Writtle Minors F.C. at junior level before going as a school boy 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. By curious coincidence, Spink and Rimmer are two of the four England goalkeepers with the shortest international career (45 minutes).

He went on to make 460 appearances for Villa, making his last appearance as an outfielder against QPR in December 1995, having replaced the injured Ian Taylor in the final minute. He then moved to neighbouring club West Bromwich Albion in 1996, almost two decades after first joining Villa. Spink made 24 appearances in all for Albion, and became the oldest goalkeeper to appear for the club 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, a record since broken by Dean Kiely at 39 years, 189 days.

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.

After retiring as a player, Spink had a two-year spell as manager of Forest Green Rovers in the Conference National. He led Forest Green to the 2001 FA Trophy final but they lost 1–0 against Canvey Island at Villa Park. He was eventually sacked in September 2002.

He then 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. Spink was goalkeeping coach at Bristol City from February 2012

After the end of the 2012–13 season, Spink left the game and started his own courier business.

Aston Villa

• Football League Cup: 1993–94
• European Cup: 1981–82
• European Super Cup: 1982

Individual

• PFA Team of the Year: 1987–88 Second Division