Nicholas James Culkin (born 6 July 1978) is an English former

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 a

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 ...

Career

Born in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, Culkin signed for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

in September 1995, costing £100,000 from

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

while still in the club's

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

. He made his Manchester United debut on their tour of Scandinavia prior to the 1998–99 season, coming on for

Peter Schmeichel Peter Bolesław Schmeichel (born 18 November 1963) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. During eight seasons at English club Manchester United, he won 15 trophies including five Premier League titles, three FA C ...

at half-time in their game against Norwegian side

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann is a Norwegian professional football club based in Bergen. Founded on 26 September 1908, Brann has played in the first tier of Norwegian football for 67 out of 80 seasons, the second most of any club. They play their hom ...

; Culkin kept a clean sheet as United won 4–0. He signed a new two-year contract with United in May 1999. He holds the record for the shortest debut in Premier League history, replacing Raimond van der Gouw in stoppage time against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

on 22 August 1999, the referee blew up right after Culkin took the resulting free kick. Culkin also received two Charity Shield runners-up medals as he appeared on the bench in the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and 1999 Charity Shields. He was also loaned to

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

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 ...

and Livingston. After leaving

, he signed for QPR. Overall, he played 93 league matches, three

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

matches, and seven League Cup matches. Culkin retired from professional football in April 2005 due to a long-standing knee injury. Culkin came out of retirement after signing for

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

Division One North team Radcliffe Borough in August 2010. During the 2011–12 season, Culkin was placed in the NPL First Division North team of the Year, and was nominated for the Fans Player of the Year, losing out to Cheyenne Dunkley. He has also been voted the Supporters Player of the year on two occasions and the club's Player of the Year in 2012. He remained at the club until October 2012. He joined Prescot Cables in November. In March 2014 he joined

FC United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester, more commonly known as FC United, is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home m ...

. He then joined on for the 2014–15 season. This earned him the record of becoming the first player to appear for both Manchester United and FC United.

Career statistics

References

External links

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Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Culkin, Nick 1978 births Living people Footballers from York English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers York City F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Radcliffe F.C. players Prescot Cables F.C. players F.C. United of Manchester players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players Northern Premier League players