Nicholas Summerbee (born 26 August 1971) 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 ...

, sports television pundit and commentator. He notably played in the

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 ...

for

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team, known as the "Robins", currently compete in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded as Swindon A ...

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 ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

, as well as in 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 ...

for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

before finishing his career with Non-league Tamworth. He was capped by both the

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is the national under-21 association football team of England, under the control of the Football Association. It is considered to be the feeder team ...

and England B sides.

Club career

Swindon Town

Born in

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

, he had trials at

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 ...

, and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

, before joining

; where his father, former England international

Mike Summerbee Michael George Summerbee (born 15 December 1942) is an English former association football, footballer, who played as a Forward (association football), forward in the successful Manchester City F.C., Manchester City side of the late 1960s and ...

, had connections. Summerbee played 112 games in seven years for the Robins, scoring six goals and helping them get promoted to the

in 1993 before

paid £1.3million for his services a year later.

Manchester City

Summerbee joined

in 1994. His father Mike had become a household name at the club being part of the successful City team of the late 1960s and early 1970s and also being part of the star trio of

, Francis Lee and Colin Bell. Summerbee joined the team at a time when manager

Brian Horton Brian "Nobby" Horton (born 4 February 1949) is an English former footballer and manager. He spent 16 years as a professional player and 22 years as a manager, making 689 appearances and managing 1,098 matches. In addition to this, he spent four ...

also brought in Peter Beagrie, Uwe Rosler and

Paul Walsh Paul Anthony Walsh (born 1 October 1962) is an English former professional footballer who now works as a television pundit. A pacey and skilful forward, he scored a total of 127 goals in 521 league games in a 17-year career in the English Fo ...

. In his first season Manchester City finished towards the bottom end of the Premiership table. Then chairman Francis Lee replaced manager

with Alan Ball who failed to manage the team to increased success. The team were relegated to the first division. In the summer of 1997 he was offered a trial by the French club

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( ; ; Gascon language, Gascon ; ) is a city on the river Garonne in the Gironde Departments of France, department, southwestern France. A port city, it is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the Prefectures in F ...

. In November 1997, Summerbee joined

in a £1million-rated swap deal involving Craig Russell.

Sunderland

Summerbee made his Sunderland debut on 15 November 1997, against

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a association football, football ground in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England, and is the home of Portsmouth F.C., Portsmouth Football Club. Fratton Park's location on Portsea Island is unique in English professional football, as it ...

, as a second-half substitute for Martin Smith. With trademark un-tucked shirt and orange edged boots, Summerbee capped his debut by notching the final goal in a 4–1 victory, scoring with a satisfying low drive. He played out the rest of the season on the right hand side of midfield and enjoyed some of the finest moments of his career after Sunderland won promotion to the Premiership in 1999. During that season, an injured Summerbee enjoyed a well-publicised liaison with TV presenter,

Melanie Sykes Melanie Ann Sykes (born 1970) is an English former television and radio presenter. She is best known for co-hosting '' Today with Des and Mel'' with Des O'Connor and '' Let's Do Lunch'' with Gino D'Acampo. She also co-hosted ''Going Out with Ala ...

. However, it came at a cost. He lost his place in the team following his capital night out with Mel and a 4–1 defeat at

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 ...

. Whilst he returned after one match, Summerbee was substituted in both of his next two games and was relegated to the bench for the next four. He returned triumphantly to the starting eleven by scoring his first goal of the season against Everton. It turned out to be his last as a

player. After this goal, Summerbee was in and out of the side. He finished the season on a high note though, starting in – and starring in – the final three games. Summerbee was left in the wilderness by boss

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

the following season. He sat on the sidelines for six months until he was given a game for the reserves against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

. He was clearly unfit and unhappy, he lashed out at Newcastle United defender Andy Griffin and was immediately substituted before he could be sent off.

Later career

Free transfers and quick stays at the likes of

(where he scored once against Crystal Palace),

and

were followed by a two-and-a-half-year stay at

, which included loan spells at

and

. In 2001 he even signed a rolling contract back at Manchester City but never added to his 94 City appearances under Kevin Keegan. Summerbee latterly played for

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

side Tamworth, but was released at the end of the 2005–06 season.

International career

On 10 May 1994, Summerbee won an England 'B' cap in a match against Northern Ireland 'B' at Hillsborough.

Personal life

He is the son of

cult hero

. His grandfather, George Summerbee, and great uncle, Gordon Summerbee, had also been professional footballers. Nick is married and has three children.

Media career

Since retirement Summerbee has worked as a Radio co-commentator for BBC Radio Five, as well as being a local pundit for

games. As of September 20, 2020 Summerbee is a pundit for

beIN Sports beIN Sports ( ) is a Qatari multinational network of sports channels owned and operated by the media group beIN. The network has played a major role in the increased commercialization of Qatari sports. Its chairman is Nasser Al-Khelaifi, and its ...

Honours

;Sunderland *

Football League Division 1 The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

winner: 1998–99 ;Individual *Sunderland Solid Gold XI

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Summerbee, Nicky 1971 births Living people Footballers from Altrincham English men's footballers Swindon Town F.C. players England men's B international footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Manchester City F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Tranmere Rovers F.C. players Tamworth F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players Men's association football midfielders Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players People educated at Hillcrest Grammar School