Nigel Winterburn

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Nigel Winterburn
1 nigel winterburn 2017.jpg
Nigel Winterburn (2017)
Personnel
birthday December 11, 1963
place of birth Nuneaton , Warwickshire ,  England
size 173 cm
position Full-back (left)
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1981-1982 Birmingham City 0 (0)
1982-1983 Oxford United 0 (0)
1983-1987 Wimbledon FC 165 (8)
1987-2000 Arsenal FC 440 (8)
2000-2003 West Ham United 82 (1)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1986 England U-21 1 (0)
1990-1991 England B 3 (0)
1989-1993 England 2 (0)
1 Only league games are given.

Nigel Winterburn (born December 11, 1963 in Nuneaton , Warwickshire ) is a retired English football player . At 1.73 meters tall and very agile, the left full-back was best known for his long association with Arsenal FC in the late 1980s and 1990s, and formed with Tony Adams , David O'Leary (later replaced by Martin Keown ) and Lee Dixon one of the most famous defensive ranks in English football and won three national championships ( 1989 , 1991 , 1998 ), two FA Cup trophies ( 1993 , 1998 ), once the League Cup (1993) and the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1994 .

Professional career

In the club

Beginnings: Birmingham, Oxford, Wimbledon (1981–1987)

Winterburn began his career at Birmingham City , but where he was as little in the first team to play as in the following year at Oxford United . The coach Dave Bassett, who was responsible for the then third division FC Wimbledon , finally signed him in 1983 without a transfer . As part of the "Crazy Gang", as the team was called due to their robust nature, he was extremely successful there as a left full-back and rose in 1986 to the first-class First Division . There he established himself on the side of players like John Fashanu and Lawrie Sanchez surprisingly in the upper half of the table and reached the quarter-finals in the FA Cup . He had long since attracted the focus of larger clubs with his consistent performance, which had brought him the club's internal award for "best player of the past season" in all four years, and as an English U-21 international player, and so in 1987 he became George Graham the coach of Arsenal FC , looking for a long-term alternative to the aging Kenny Sansom .

Arsenal FC (1987-2000)

For 407,000 British pounds, Winterburn finally moved to " Highbury ", as the then Arsenal venue was called. Although Sansom, who was also a regular in the English national team , was still preferred as a left-back, he was an "emergency solution" on the right side of the defense - there was a gap after the departure of Viv Anderson , the Graham was initially unable to close otherwise. The "left foot" was involved in two widely noticed incidents in his first season for the "Gunners". First, he loudly mocked opposing striker Brian McClair in an FA Cup game against Manchester United after he missed a penalty shortly before the end of the game. Winterburn was heavily criticized in public for this unsportsmanlike behavior and when Arsenal were later in the final of the League Cup 1987/88 , it was Winterburn of all people who missed a penalty 15 minutes before the end of regular time against Luton Town when the score was 2-1 and thus inadvertently initiated the turning point, which resulted in a 2-3 defeat against the outsider.

When Sansom left the club in the summer of 1988, Winterburn moved to the usual left-wing position, which he was to hold for Arsenal for more than a decade. Together with Lee Dixon , the "counterpart" on the right, he formed a successful back four with the two central defenders Tony Adams - at the same time team captain - and the veteran David O'Leary . Often this was supplemented by Steve Bould , who joined Arsenal during the 1988/89 season, to form a five-man defense network. Characteristic of his style of play were, in addition to his strong defensive behavior, his offensive advances over the flank, which were mostly initiated with a one- two . In addition, there were precise crossings into the opponent's penalty area, which also included long throw-ins. The first sporting highlight was the last championship game in the English league in 1989 at defending champions Liverpool FC in Anfield , in which the "Gunners" needed a win by two goals to overtake Liverpool and win the title . Winterburn prepared Alan Smith's opening goal with a free kick shortly after the start of the second half , which was then extended to the unexpected 2-0 with the last attack of the game by Michael Thomas . The defensive formation expanded in 1990 by goalkeeper David Seaman won another English championship in 1991 and lost only a single game during the season. Two years later, Winterburn expanded his personal trophy collection and won the two domestic cup competitions for the first time. In both the FA Cup and the League Cup, Arsenal won 2-1 against Sheffield Wednesday - in the case of the FA Cup, a replay was necessary. This qualified the club for the European Cup Winners' Cup , which Winterburn finally won in 1994 after a 1-0 final victory over AC Parma, which was equipped with the highly decorated attacking trio of Faustino Asprilla , Tomas Brolin and Gianfranco Zola . This triumph was also the first European success for Arsenal in 24 years. In the following year, the club reached the final of the same competition again with a Nigel Winterburn represented in all games . In this, however, the "Gunners" lost to Real Zaragoza shortly before the end of extra time at the score of 1: 1 through a long shot by Nayim , who ironically had previously played at Tottenham Hotspur , local rivals of Arsenal FC. From the 1995/96 season, Winterburn slipped more often into the role of "wingback" as an attacking full-back and was unusually accurate with two league goals from the current game - one of them against the ex-club from Wimbledon.

When Arsène Wenger took over as coach at Arsenal at the end of 1996 and subjected the club to fundamental reforms in terms of fitness, nutrition and discipline issues, it quickly became apparent that Winterburn would be among the beneficiaries. Contrary to the fear that he is now 33 years old and would not meet the requirements of the French due to the lack of technical finesse, Winterburn was a regular in the left wingback role - also thanks to the comparatively short break from injuries Team that only conceded 32 league goals and at the same time managed to jump to third place . After smashing rumors in the summer of 1997, which speculated that Winterburn should be replaced by Graeme Le Saux from the Blackburn Rovers , Winterburn continued to be a top performer for the Gunners in the 1997/98 season, which ultimately even won the double from the English championship and FA Cup won. The "old master" on the left harmonized very well with the winger Marc Overmars and made a 3-2 victory against Chelsea with a spectacular long-range goal shortly before the end.

The last two Arsenal years were without any further sporting highlights for Winterburn. The end was initially initiated by a thigh injury in November 1998, which caused him to miss a few games. The contract, which originally expired in the summer of 1999, was extended again, but after a few appearances at the beginning of the 1999/2000 season, another injury ensured that the Brazilian Sylvinho gradually ousted him - in addition, there was further competition from Ashley Cole from his own youth department. Also in the 2000 UEFA Cup final , in which Arsenal lost to Galatasaray Istanbul , Sylvinho was instead of Winterburn and just a few weeks later the 36-year-old moved to London's East End for league rivals West Ham United for £ 250,000 .

West Ham United (2000-2003)

With 31 Premier League games in his first year at Upton Park , Winterburn fitted in well with the "Hammers" without much time to get used to, developed on the left side both in the defense area and in the midfield to a crowd favorite, secured with a diving header a 1-0 away win at Leeds United and harmonized particularly well with the Italian Paolo Di Canio . Also in the 2001/02 season there was little evidence of age-related decline in performance at Winterburn and so he extended the initially two-year contract for another twelve months. In his last professional season, however, he was unlucky in several ways. He first broke his wrist in February 2003, which required surgery and a break until the end of the season. In addition, he had to watch idly as he overtook a first division relegation for the first time in his career . In July 2003 he announced the end of his active career, although this decision was also based on the death of his father at the beginning of the year.

English national team

Winterburn made his debut for England's senior team in 1989 and was substituted on in a 0-0 win against Italy . Although large parts of the media landscape and Arsenal's coach emphasized the advantages of Winterburn for England's left-wing defense, it was only the third choice for national coach Bobby Robson in the run-up to the 1990 World Cup in Italy , after Stuart Pearce and Tony Dorigo had injured his favorite player when he was nominated for the tournament, Robson did without Winterburn, who was only used for international matches for the B national team.

After the double success from the FA Cup and League Cup in 1993, he worked out another chance in the team now coached by Graham Taylor . In a mini-tournament in the United States, he came on a substitute for winger Lee Sharpe against Germany to his second and last appearance for the English national team. The English (interim) national coach Howard Wilkinson appointed him for a last time in 1999 for a friendly against France . There he was not used in the 2-0 defeat as the only Arsenal player from the well-known defensive row and was replaced by Graeme Le Saux in the position of left-back.

After the active career

In addition to occasional appearances as a football expert in various English media formats, Winterburn gained his first coaching experience as an assistant to Paul Ince at Blackburn Rovers . As a "defensive specialist" he looked after the defenders of the "Rovers" between July and December 2008, before he had to vacate his place after Ince's dismissal, as his successor Sam Allardyce no longer had any use for him.

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ "England - U-21 International Results 1986-1995 - Details" (RSSSF)
  2. ^ "England - International Results B-Team - Details" (RSSSF)
  3. ↑ According to Hugman's annual chronicles, Nuneaton is always the place of birth. Other (online) sources speak of the city of Coventry, about twelve kilometers to the south .
  4. ↑ "Happy Birthday to Arsenal legend Nigel Winterburn"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Arsenal Pies)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.arsenalpies.com  
  5. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1995-96 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1995, ISBN 978-0-09-180854-9 , pp. 238 .
  6. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1996, ISBN 978-1-85291-571-1 , pp. 265 .
  7. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1997-98 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1997, ISBN 978-1-85291-581-0 , pp. 296 .
  8. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1998-99 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1998, ISBN 978-1-85291-588-9 , pp. 331 .
  9. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 1999-2000 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 1999, ISBN 978-1-85291-607-7 , pp. 325 .
  10. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2000-2001 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2000, ISBN 978-1-85291-626-8 , pp. 348 .
  11. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The 2001-2002 Official PFA Footballers Factfile . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2001, ISBN 978-0-946531-34-9 , pp. 331 .
  12. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2002/2003 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2002, ISBN 978-1-85291-648-0 , pp. 443 .
  13. ↑ Barry J. Hugman (Ed.): The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2003/2004 . Lennard Queen Anne Press, 2003, ISBN 978-1-85291-651-0 , pp. 459 .
  14. ^ "Winterburn calls time" (BBC Sport)
  15. ^ "Blackburn release veteran Fowler" (BBC Sport)
personal data
SURNAME Winterburn, Nigel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH December 11, 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Nuneaton , Warwickshire