Nolan Keeley (born 24 May 1951) 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 scored 40 goals from 311 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

playing for

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

and Lincoln City. He played in

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

. Keeley was born in East Barsham, Norfolk. He played

non-league football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

for Great Yarmouth Town before joining

late in the 1972–73 season, as the club were

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

to the

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Following the creation of the Premier ...

. He became a regular member of the starting eleven over six years, eventually making 259 appearances in the league, before moving on to fellow Fourth Division club Lincoln City in January 1980. He contributed to the club's second-place finish and consequent promotion to the Third Division in 1980–81, but did not play at the higher level, and returned to non-league with

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

. He later spent six years on the coaching staff of

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They currently compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed the U’s, the club h ...

References

1951 births Living people People from North Norfolk (district) English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Great Yarmouth Town F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players King's Lynn F.C. players English Football League players Northern Premier League players Footballers from Norfolk {{England-footy-midfielder-1950s-stub