Nigel Worthington (born 4 November 1961) is a Northern Irish 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 was most recently the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

of York City. He played a defender and a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

, playing his club football for Ballymena United, Notts County,

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 ...

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

, Stoke City and

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 ...

. With Sheffield Wednesday he won the League Cup in

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 ...

. As an international player, he was capped 66 times for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, and appeared for them at the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial Association football, football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-tea ...

. Worthington began his managerial career as

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

of Blackpool in 1997 before he took over as manager of Norwich City in 2000. He guided Norwich into 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 ...

in the 2003–04 season as First Division title winners. He left just over two years afterwards, having failed to keep them in the top-flight in 2005. He was briefly

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

of Leicester City in 2007 prior to starting as manager of Northern Ireland, from which he stepped down in 2011.

Club career

Born in

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, County Antrim, Antrim, ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, located within the historic Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the c ...

, Worthington played as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

and a

and started his career with hometown team Ballymena United in 1979, where he was Ulster Football Writers Young Player of the Year in 1981. He moved into English football with Notts County on 1 July 1981 for a £100,000 fee. Worthington signed for

on 6 February 1984 for a £125,000 fee, and he stayed at the club for over 10 years. He earned promotion into the First Division with Wednesday in the 1983–84 season as Second Division runners-up. He was a member of the team that won the League Cup as well as a return into the First Division after finishing in third place in the Second Division in 1990–91. Two years later, Worthington and his teammates were losing finalists in the 1993 FA Cup Final. Worthington left Wednesday to sign for

on 4 July 1994 for a £325,000 fee, spending two seasons at the club and one season at Stoke City, after signing on a free transfer on 18 July 1996.

International career

Worthington was capped 14 times by the Northern Ireland national under-18 team before making his debut for the senior national team in a 1–1 draw away to

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in the 1983–84 British Home Championship on 22 May 1984. This was notable for being Northern Ireland's final match in the last ever British Home Championship, the point gained being enough for Northern Ireland to win, and keep in perpetuity, the trophy. In Northern Ireland's subsequent successful qualifying campaign for the

, Worthington started one qualifying match and came on as a substitute in three more. In the Finals tournament itself, Worthington started two of Northern Ireland's three matches, against

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. He served as Northern Ireland

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

from 1995 to 1996. Worthington's 66th and final cap was gained in Northern Ireland's 3–0 victory in a home friendly against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

on 11 February 1997.

Managerial career

Blackpool

Worthington's managerial career started as the

on 8 July 1997. He soon retired from playing to take on sole managerial duties, but two and a half seasons in charge ended with his resignation on 23 December 1999 following a dip in form that saw the club lying in the Second Division relegation battle. "I have taken the club as far as I can," he stated.

Norwich City

After acting as assistant to Howard Wilkinson with the England under-21 team, Worthington moved to Norwich City on 27 June 2000 as assistant to Bryan Hamilton. He was given the role of assistant manager for the Northern Ireland national under-21 team on 22 August, which he shared with his duties at Norwich. He was appointed

at Norwich on 4 December after Hamilton resigned, and on 2 January 2001 was appointed as permanent manager. He later saved the club from relegation into the Second Division. The 2001–02 season, Worthington's first full season, saw Norwich reach the 2002 First Division play-off final, in which they lost to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

in a

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. In his third full season in charge, 2003–04, Worthington took Norwich into the

after winning the First Division championship with a club record 94 points. With one match remaining in 2004–05, Norwich were one point above the relegation zone, but after a 6–0 defeat by

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

were relegated in 19th place. Norwich were tipped to make an instant return into the Premier League in 2005–06 having retained the majority of their squad. The team failed to mount the expected promotion challenge, which led to some supporters calling for Worthington to leave the club, with Norwich finishing the season ninth in the

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

table. After a defeat to Plymouth Argyle early in September 2006, Norwich's majority shareholders, Delia Smith and Michael Wynn-Jones, released a statement expecting Worthington to improve the team's performance in the following matches. Worthington was sacked by Norwich almost immediately after a 4–1 defeat to

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

on 1 October, a result that left the team 17th in the table.

Leicester City

Worthington was appointed

of relegation threatened Championship club Leicester City for the rest of 2006–07 on 11 April 2007. Despite losing his first match to former club Norwich, he was able to steer Leicester to safety and stated his desire to become Leicester's permanent manager. He lost out on the position to Martin Allen.

Northern Ireland

Worthington was appointed as manager of Northern Ireland on 1 June 2007, initially on a short-term contract until the end of the

UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying Qualifying for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals tournament took place between August 2006 and November 2007. Fifty teams were divided into seven groups. In a Round-robin tournament, double round-robin system, each team played against each of the others ...

campaign in November. At the time of his appointment, Northern Ireland led their qualification group. Although Northern Ireland eventually finished third in their qualification group, the

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became t ...

gave Worthington a two-year contract in January 2008. This was subsequently renewed in January 2010, lasting until the end of the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. However, after a poor UEFA Euro 2012 qualification campaign he stepped down on 11 October 2011 after the final qualifier against

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

York City

Worthington was appointed manager of League Two club York City on 4 March 2013, after Gary Mills was sacked two days earlier. His first match in charge was a 3–2 defeat away to AFC Wimbledon on 9 March. On the last day of the season, York won 1–0 away to Dagenham & Redbridge, which secured the club's League Two status, finishing the season in 17th place. He signed a new one-year rolling contract on 3 May. Worthington managed the team that reached the League Two play-offs in 2013–14, in which York were beaten 1–0 on aggregate in the semi-final by Fleetwood Town. He resigned as manager on 13 October 2014 with the team one place above the relegation zone, and was quoted as saying "In recent weeks, performances have not been up to my high standards and I take full responsibility for this".

Personal life

Worthington married Sandra Hopkins in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

in 1983. His cousin is fellow manager Brendan Rodgers.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Ballymena United *

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Clearer Water Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary Association football, football single elimination, knockout cup compet ...

: 1980–81 * Ulster Cup: 1980–81 Sheffield Wednesday *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third tier ...

runner-up: 1983–84 *Second Division third-place promotion: 1990–91 *

Football League Cup The English Football League Cup, often referred to as the League Cup and currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in men's domestic football in England. Orga ...

: 1990–91 Leeds United *Football League Cup runner-up: 1995–96

As a manager

Norwich City * First Division: 2003–04 Individual * Football League Two Manager of the Month: April 2013, March 2014

References

External links

BUFC History
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Worthington, Nigel 1961 births Living people Association footballers from Ballymena Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's youth international footballers Northern Ireland men's international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football midfielders Ballymena United F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players NIFL Premiership players English Football League players Premier League players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Association football managers from Northern Ireland Blackpool F.C. managers Norwich City F.C. managers Leicester City F.C. managers Northern Ireland national football team managers York City F.C. managers English Football League managers Premier League managers Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff