Eric Walter Nixon (born 4 October 1962)
is an English 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 lea ...
who played as
goalkeeper
In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...
. His career spanned 22 years, thirteen of which were spent at
Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...
. He played for thirteen different clubs and made over 500 league appearances before his retirement in 2004.
Career
Playing career
Early career, Manchester City and loans
Born in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
, Nixon began his career in August 1982 at
Non-League
Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...
club
Curzon Ashton
Curzon Ashton Football Club is an association football club based in Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. Founded in 1963 and nicknamed "The Nash", the club is affiliated to the Manchester Football Association and currently compete ...
from
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 48,604 at the 2021 census. Historic counties of England, Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, Greater Manchester, ...
in
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...
. Nixon then walked into Manchester City's stadium, Maine Road and asked for a trial.
[
][
] On 10 December 1983, he signed for
Manchester City
Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...
for a transfer fee of £1,000. He made 84 appearances in five years at the club, and was sent out on loan five times.
And it was with four of those loan spells in the
1986–87 season that he achieved the rare distinction of playing for clubs in all four divisions of the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...
in a single season- in fact, in only nine weeks. In August 1986 he went on loan to
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...
, who were then in the
Fourth Division, making sixteen league appearances. This was followed by a short spell on loan at
Bradford City
Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander.
The club was founded in 1903 and ...
, who were then in the
Second Division, in November 1986. In December 1986 he briefly replaced an injured
Peter Shilton
Peter Leslie Shilton (born 18 September 1949) is an English former professional association football, footballer who played as a goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper.
His 31-year career included spells at 11 clubs and he has the uni ...
at
Southampton
Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
, who were then in the
First Division. The following month he went out on loan again, this time to
Carlisle United
Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team currently compete in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system.
They have played their ...
, who were then in the
Third Division, where he made sixteen league appearances.
[
] He finished the 1986–87 season back at Manchester City, playing five more games in the First Division.
Nixon's final loan move while at Manchester City came in March 1988, when he was sent to
Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...
, for whom he made eight league appearances.
Tranmere Rovers
Nixon signed for Tranmere Rovers permanently for a fee of £60,000 on 26 July 1988. In nine years at
Prenton Park
Prenton Park is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Prenton, Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. It is the home ground of Tranmere Rovers F.C., Tranmere Rovers Football Club since opening in 1912, and formerly the home ground ...
Nixon made 432 appearances, including 333 league appearances,
and was with the club during their rise from the Fourth Division to the First Division play-offs
in
1992–93. In the
1988–89 season he kept 25
clean sheet
In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which the losing team fails to score. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usually seen as a result of ...
s, which still stands as a club record for the most clean sheets in a season.
He was also a part of the Tranmere team that won the
Associate Members' Cup in 1989–90, beating
Bristol Rovers
Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...
2–1 in the final at
Wembley
Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...
with goals by forwards
Ian Muir and
Jim Steel. In 1996, towards the end of his time at Tranmere, Nixon found himself again being sent out on loan three times. In January, he joined
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of symbols, often specifically those of a written language, by means of Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifacete ...
; the following month he was loaned to
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...
, for whom he made 20 league appearances; and in September he spent a second loan spell at Bradford City, making twelve league appearances.
Stockport County, Wigan Athletic and back to Tranmere Rovers
On 27 August 1997, Nixon was signed by
Stockport County
Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...
for £100,000. In 19 months at
Edgeley Park
Edgeley Park is a association football, football stadium in Edgeley, Stockport, England. Built for Stockport RFC, a rugby league club, in 1891, by 1903 the rugby club was defunct and Stockport County F.C., Stockport County Football Club moved i ...
, he made 42 league appearances, and he was also sent on loan again, this time to
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, they have p ...
in August 1998, before signing for them permanently in March 1999 on a free transfer. However, his time at Wigan was short-lived, and on 4 July he was back at Tranmere Rovers for a third time, on another free transfer, where he stayed for a further four years, becoming a part-time goalkeeping coach.
After focussing on coaching rather than playing, Nixon spent one short loan spell at
Kidderminster Harriers
Kidderminster Harriers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team competes in the National League North, the sixth level of the English football league system.
Formed in ...
in October 2001,
[
] for whom he kept three clean sheets in three games.
[
][
] On his return, he signed non-contract terms with Tranmere.
[
] On 8 August 2002, he again signed as a non-contract player with the club to provide cover for
Keith Welch, who Tranmere had just signed.
[
] The
2002–03 season was his testimonial season and his testimonial match was played at Prenton Park on 6 August against the club he supported as a youngster, and for whom he first played professionally – Manchester City.
[
]
When he played in goal against
Crewe Alexandra
Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...
on 21 September 2002, Nixon, at 39 years and 352 days old, became the oldest player to ever play for the club: his record was subsequently broken by
Ian Goodison.
[
][
]
Nixon's final club was
Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
Formed in 1867 as an off ...
, for whom he signed on a free transfer on 1 July 2003, and where he was used as a goalkeeping coach,
[
] making one league appearance – on 27 September 2003 against
Grimsby Town
Grimsby Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England, that competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system.
Nicknamed "the Mariners", the club was f ...
.
[
] His spell with the club was spent coaching three days a week, and spending two days back at Tranmere Rovers coaching.
[
]
Coaching
While he was still playing, Nixon had started working towards gaining his goalkeeping coach licence, and in August 2004 he became a full-time goalkeeping coach with Tranmere Rovers.
Nixon now holds both a
UEFA goalkeeping coaching A licence and a UEFA football coaching A licence.
[
][
] On 10 February 2006, Nixon gave up his coaching responsibilities with Tranmere Rovers because of knee problems
and also to attend a personal-fitness coaching course before opening a health and fitness studio in
Prenton
Prenton is a suburb of Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. Administratively, it is also a ward of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral. Before local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974, it was part of the County Borough of Birkenhead, withi ...
,
[
] before moving to
Dubai
Dubai (Help:IPA/English, /duːˈbaɪ/ Help:Pronunciation respelling key, ''doo-BYE''; Modern Standard Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic: ; Emirati Arabic, Emirati Arabic: , Romanization of Arabic, romanized: Help:IPA/English, /diˈbej/) is the Lis ...
, where he worked as a personal fitness trainer.
On 5 February 2007, Nixon was honoured for his outstanding service to Tranmere Rovers as the winner of the
Dave Russell Award at the annual Sports Personality Awards in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
.
[
]
Nixon has also written a regular column for the ''
Liverpool Echo
The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St. Paul's Square, Liverpool, England. It is published Monday through Sunday, and is Liverpool's da ...
'' newspaper.
In October 2008, Nixon was appointed goalkeeping coach at
Conference North
The National League North, officially known as Vanarama National League North for sponsorship reasons, is a professional Association football league in England. National League North is the second division of the National Leagues and step 2 o ...
club
Fleetwood Town by manager
Micky Mellon
Michael Joseph Mellon (born 18 March 1972) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who is the manager of club Oldham Athletic. As a player, he was a midfielder for clubs including Bristol City, West Bromwich Albion, Blackp ...
.
[
] The two were teammates at Tranmere Rovers and during Nixon's spell on loan at Blackpool in 1996.
He left the club in May 2011 by mutual consent.
In 2012, Nixon released his autobiography ''Big Hands, Big Heart''. He continues to play charity games for his former clubs, coach youngsters at a local leisure centre and provide match commentary and analysis for the media. In Summer 2012 he gave an exclusive interview to SKY TV's ''Holiday and Cruise Channel'' talking about his life and career. In February 2013 he opened a new sports centre for youngsters on the Wirral.
On 17 May 2013, Nixon was named new goalkeeping coach with Chesterfield F.C. joining ex-teammate Paul Cook who now manages the Spireites. Both previously played together at Tranmere and Stockport in the late nineties. In summer 2017, Nixon was reunited with Mellon, becoming the
Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club are a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ...
goalkeeping coach.
Honours
Tranmere Rovers
*
Football League Division Three
The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the Third Division become the fourth tier of English football. In 2 ...
play-offs:
1991
It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...
*
Associate Members' Cup:
1989–90
Individual
*
PFA Team of the Year
The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's Football in England, En ...
:
1988–89 Fourth Division,
1989–90 Third Division,
1990–91 Third Division
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nixon, Eric
1962 births
Living people
Footballers from Manchester
English men's footballers
Men's association football goalkeepers
English Football League players
Manchester City F.C. players
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players
Bradford City A.F.C. players
Southampton F.C. players
Carlisle United F.C. players
Tranmere Rovers F.C. players
Reading F.C. players
Blackpool F.C. players
Stockport County F.C. players
Wigan Athletic F.C. players
Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players
Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players
Tranmere Rovers F.C. non-playing staff
Curzon Ashton F.C. players