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

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 played as 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 ...

Career

Born in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

, North Yorkshire, Culkin signed for

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 Foo ...

club

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

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. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

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 in the future if ...

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

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 s ...

at half-time in their game against Norwegian side

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann (commonly known as Brann, and less often as SK Brann) is a Norwegian professional football club, founded 26 September 1908, from Bergen. Brann had been in the Eliteserien, Norway's Premier Division of Football, since 1987, bar ...

; 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 Raimundus Johannes Hendrikus van der Gouw (, born 24 March 1963) is a Dutch former professional footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. After a successful career with Vitesse in his native Netherlands, and well into his 30s, he moved to Manche ...

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 a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

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 frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

and 1999 Charity Shields. He was also loaned to

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's ...

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been ...

and

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

. After leaving

, he signed for

QPR Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. Overall, he played 93 league matches, three

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

matches, and seven

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

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. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division ...

Division One North team

Radcliffe Borough Radcliffe Football Club (formerly Radcliffe Borough) is an English football club based in Radcliffe, Greater Manchester where they play their games at Stainton Park. The club was formed on 24 May 1949 and currently plays in the Northern Premier L ...

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 Prescot Cables Football Club is a supporter-owned football club based in Prescot, Merseyside. It was established in 1884 and has also been known as Prescot and Prescot Town. They compete in the and play their home games at Valerie Park. They ...

in November. In March 2014 he joined

FC United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester 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 matches at Broadhurst Park. Founded ...

. 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

*
Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Culkin, Nick 1978 births Living people Footballers from York English 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 Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Premier League players Northern Premier League players Prescot Cables F.C. players F.C. United of Manchester players