Nicky Riley (born 10 May 1986) is a professional Scottish

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 ...

. He began his career at

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

and then played for

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

and Dundee, spending time on loan at Peterhead while with Dundee then ended his time with Linlithgow Rose.

Career

Riley signed for

after spending time with the Brazilian Soccer School in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. Upon signing for the club he was involved with their under-21 side. After suffering with injuries throughout his time at Celtic, he was released in January 2010, having never played in a competitive match for the club. After leaving Celtic, Riley trained with

and on 19 February 2010, signed a contract until the end of the season. He left Hamilton at the end of the season, again without making an appearance. Riley then joined

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

for pre season training and after two weeks at the club signed an initial six-month contract on 16 July 2010. In October 2010, Dundee entered administration, but Riley was one of the players kept by the club and in December 2010, extended his contract until the end of the season. In the 2011–12 season Riley was named as Scottish Football League Player of the Month for November 2011, and at the end of the season was voted into the PFA Scotland First Division Team of the Year. On 22 May 2012, he signed a new one-year contract. At the end of the 2013–14 season, with Dundee having won the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

title and promotion to the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

, Riley was one of a number of players reported to have been told by manager

Paul Hartley Paul Hartley (born 19 October 1976) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of Scottish League One side Cove Rangers. As a player, Hartley won trophies with both Hearts and C ...

that they could leave the club. In September 2014,

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the , the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is The Honest Men, fro ...

manager Mark Roberts said that he was interested in signing Riley, with Hartley saying that Riley needed to go somewhere and play first team football. On 3 October 2014, Riley signed for

Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...

on a one-month loan. After his loan had come to an end, he left Dundee by mutual consent on 4 November 2014. On 9 January 2015, Riley returned to Peterhead, signing until the end of the 2014–15 season. Riley last played for Linlithgow Rose in 2022.

Career statistics

He has hair that can come in useful because it keeps his head warm in the winter

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Riley, Nicky 1986 births Living people Celtic F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Peterhead F.C. players Linlithgow Rose F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Footballers from Edinburgh Scottish Professional Football League players Men's association football midfielders Scottish men's footballers 21st-century Scottish sportsmen