Nicholas James Weaver (born 2 March 1979) is an English football coach and former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
who is head of academy goalkeeping at
EFL League One side
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...
.
As as a player he was a
goalkeeper
In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...
who began his career with
Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...
in 1995. He joined
Manchester City in 1997 and would go on to be a part of the club that earned promotion from the
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
in 1999 in which he saved the decisive penalty in the play-off final shootout with
Gillingham at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
. He would go on to earn promotion to the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
the following season and in total was promoted three times with City in a ten-year spell. By the time he left the club in 2007 he had been the club's second choice keeper for a number of years and had acted as understudy to the likes of
Peter Schmeichel
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
,
David Seaman
David Andrew Seaman (born 19 September 1963) is an English former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. In a career lasting from 1981 to 2004, he is best known for his time playing for Arsenal. He won 75 caps for England, and is the country's ...
and
David James. He went on to appear for
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...
,
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...
,
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
,
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...
and
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
. He is a former
England under-21 international.
He has worked for Sheffield Wednesday since retiring and has held a number of different of different roles including academy goalkeeping coach and first team coach.
Club career
Manchester City
Weaver was bought by
Manchester City from
Mansfield Town
Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...
on the recommendation of goalkeeping coach
Alex Stepney. He made his competitive Manchester City debut in the first match of the 1998–99 season against
Blackpool, keeping a
clean sheet.
Over the course of the season Weaver kept a total of 26 clean sheets, breaking the club record for clean sheets in a season. Weaver was the hero for Manchester City in the 1999
Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
Play-off final versus
Gillingham after his penalty save clinched promotion, prompting him to go on a 'crazy run' around the Wembley pitch. Around this time, Weaver was tipped to receive full international honours for
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
by Jon McGinty after becoming an
England under 21 international.
Weaver remained first choice goalkeeper in
1999–2000, as City secured a second consecutive promotion by finishing in second place in the
First Division.
He then tasted
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
football for the first time in the
2000–01 season,
as the club was relegated in its first top flight campaign since 1996.
Weaver missed almost half of City's league matches in
2001–02 through injury, as the club was again promoted back to the Premier League.
Weaver's growing injury problems lead to Keegan signing veteran
Peter Schmeichel
Peter may refer to:
People
* List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* Peter (given name)
** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church
* Peter (surname), a su ...
for the
2002–03 season, with Weaver dropping to second choice.
Weaver did not start any games in the 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons. However, he did play the last fifteen minutes of the 2004–05 season, when
Stuart Pearce surprisingly substituted
Claudio Reyna
Claudio Reyna (born July 20, 1973) is an American former professional soccer player and current executive. He most recently served as sporting director of Austin FC.
A former midfielder, he spent most of his professional career in Europe, pla ...
for Weaver so the regular City goalkeeper
David James could play in attack against
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
.
Weaver's return to fitness resulted in injury once again during the close season of 2005, ruling him out of the start of the season. In Autumn 2005 Weaver went on loan to
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...
, the team he had supported since childhood and for whom he had played as a schoolboy,
in an attempt to return to full fitness.
While at Wednesday, Weaver made 14 appearances, beginning with a 2–1 victory at home to
Derby County
Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group.
Founded in 188 ...
and ending with a 3–0 defeat away at
Leeds United
Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...
.
He also played in the
Steel City derby
The Steel City Derby (also known as the Sheffield Derby) is a local derby that takes place between Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday, the two professional football league teams based in the city of Sheffield, England. It is widely consi ...
away at
Bramall Lane against
Sheffield United
Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...
, where Wednesday were beaten 1–0.
He was the only Sheffield born player in the entire fixture.
Before the 2006–07 season, Manchester City sold James to
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
, bought
Andreas Isaksson
Jan Andreas Isaksson (; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
Isaksson began his career at local Trelleborgs FF, before briefly representing Juventus. He would later return to Sweden, where ...
as a replacement and gave Isaksson the number 1 shirt. However, an injury to Isaksson meant Weaver played the first game of the season on 20 August 2006, his first senior start for the club in nearly three years and Weaver's improved form led to him starting all but one of the Manchester City games in the rest of 2006.
Charlton Athletic and Dundee United
On 4 July 2007, out-of-contract Weaver signed for
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...
on a free transfer. On 5 April 2008, Weaver was sent off after three minutes for handball in a match against
Plymouth Argyle. The incident marked the quickest ever dismissal of a Charlton player, a record that would remain until 2018. Following his release from Charlton, Weaver signed for
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...
on 5 August 2009 on a short-term contract. The United fans took to him instantly and – although he was pelted by snowballs by Aberdeen fans in his final home match at Tannadice as the ground staff thought it was a good idea not to clear all the snow – he played in every league match before his contract expired in January 2010.
Burnley
On 27 January 2010, Weaver signed an initial six-month contract with
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
on a free transfer subject to international clearance. However, he was released on 11 May 2010 without making a single appearance.
Sheffield Wednesday
With Lee Grant's departure from Sheffield Wednesday to Burnley in the close season, Weaver the ex-Owl loanee and Wednesday fan signed as a replacement after the club's transfer embargo was lifted. On 4 October 2010, Weaver was awarded the Handley Brown player of the month for September after a number of impressive performances in an underachieving Wednesday team. Weaver was awarded man of the match against
Chesterfield in a
Football League Trophy
The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...
second round match after scoring the decisive penalty and saving three spot kicks, two of which were vital sudden death saves to keep Wednesday in the competition.
Weaver received his second successive Player of The Month award off the club for his performances in October. His consistent performances led to him signing a new two-and-a-half-year deal on 14 February 2011, which due to an oversight by the press office was not announced until 4 April. Weaver fell out of favour at Sheffield Wednesday following the signing of
Chris Kirkland
Christopher Edmund Kirkland (born 2 May 1981) is an English football coach and former professional goalkeeper who is now the head goalkeeping coach at Colne. As a player, he made 321 league and cup appearances in an 18-year professional career ...
, with Kirkland inheriting Weaver's no.1 shirt. After failing to appear in any matchday squad since Kirkland's arrival, he was released at the end of the season.
Aberdeen
On 15 July 2013, Weaver signed for
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
on a six-month contract. This was extended for a further six months in January 2014.
Coaching career
In September 2014, Weaver returned to Sheffield Wednesday as academy goalkeeping coach. He replaced
Andy Rhodes as first team goalkeeping coach in July 2018.
On 14 August 2020, it was confirmed as part of a coaching staff restructure, Weaver would switch roles and become Head of Academy Goalkeeping, the position he originally had when joining the club as staff.
Career statistics
Honours
;Sheffield Wednesday
*
Football League One second-place promotion:
2010–11
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...
;Manchester City
*
Football League First Division:
2001–02
*Football League First Division second-place promotion:
1999–00
*
Football League Second Division play-offs:
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...
;Aberdeen
*
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...
:
2013–14
References
External links
*
Nicky Weaverat
The Football Association
The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weaver, Nicky
1979 births
Living people
Footballers from Sheffield
English footballers
England under-21 international footballers
Association football goalkeepers
Mansfield Town F.C. players
Manchester City F.C. players
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players
Charlton Athletic F.C. players
Dundee United F.C. players
Burnley F.C. players
Aberdeen F.C. players
Premier League players
English Football League players
Scottish Premier League players
Scottish Professional Football League players
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. non-playing staff
England youth international footballers