Nigel Worthington

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nigel Worthington
Nigel Worthington 07-09-2013 1.jpg
Personnel
birthday 4th November 1961
place of birth Ballymena ,  Northern Ireland
size 181 cm
position Left defender
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1979-1981 Ballymena United
1981-1984 Notts County 67 0(4)
1984-1994 Sheffield Wednesday 338 (12)
1994-1996 Leeds United 43 0(1)
1996-1997 Stoke City 12 0(0)
1997-1998 Blackpool FC 9 0(0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1984-1997 Northern Ireland 66 0(0)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1997-1999 Blackpool FC
2000-2006 Norwich City
2007 Leicester City
2007-2011 Northern Ireland
2013-2014 York city
1 Only league games are given.

Nigel Worthington (born November 4, 1961 in Ballymena ) is a former Northern Irish football player and current coach . He spent his most successful time as a player between 1984 and 1994 with Sheffield Wednesday . Between 2007 and 2011 he coached the Northern Irish national team .

Player career

Notts County (1981-1984)

Nigel Worthington moved in 1981 from his Northern Irish hometown club Ballymena United to the English first division promoted Notts County . After relegation in the Football League First Division in 1981/82 and 1982/83 County rose in the 1983/84 season as the table penultimate again in the second division. However, Nigel Worthington had left the club before the end of the season.

Sheffield Wednesday (1984-1994)

On February 6, 1984 he moved to the English second division club Sheffield Wednesday, trained by Howard Wilkinson . With his new club, the left-back rose to the top of the league as runner-up behind Chelsea at the end of the season . The first season for Wednesday in the First Division 1984/85 for fourteen years led the promoted team to eighth place in the table. In the 1985/86 season, the team increased this performance again and reached fifth place. Due to the international suspension of all English football teams as a result of the Heysel disaster , the club was unable to compete in the UEFA Cup . After two years in mid-table, Sheffield was in danger of relegation in 1988/89 , but ultimately managed to stay in relegation as fifteenth with three points ahead of relegated Middlesbrough FC . This did not succeed Sheffield in 1989/90 and so the club had to relegate back to the second division after six years in the first division . Tied on points with table 17. Luton Town decided only the goal difference by two goals to the disadvantage of Wednesday. However, the team quickly recovered from this setback and rose directly back to the top division in the 1990/91 season. As third in the table behind Oldham Athletic and West Ham United, Sheffield made the return and also won the League Cup title in 1990/91 that year . Opponents in the final at Wembley were Manchester United , trained by Alex Ferguson, who were defeated 1-0 by a goal from Irish international John Sheridan . The promoted team then achieved a very good placement in the First Division in 1991/92 . This success meant that the Owls were eligible to play in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup and moved into the second round after two wins (8-1 and 2-1). There the German representative 1. FC Kaiserslautern turned out to be too strong. After a 1: 3 defeat at Fritz-Walter-Stadion , the 2: 2 in Hillsborough meant the early end. In the league, Wednesday reached a seventh place in the newly introduced Premier League 1992/93 and also moved into the final of the FA Cup 1992/93 . After a 1-1 draw in their first game, Sheffield lost the replay 2-1 to Arsenal . The team had previously lost the 1992/93 League Cup final against Arsenal 2-1.

Leeds United (1994-1996)

In the summer of 1994 Worthington moved to Leeds United after more than ten years in Sheffield . Leeds had been coached by Howard Wilkinson since 1988 , who had signed him for Sheffield Wednesday ten years earlier. With his new team he reached the fifth place in the Premier League in 1994/95, the 1995/96 UEFA Cup , in which Leeds, however, failed clearly in the second round to the Dutch representative PSV Eindhoven . After another season, the 34-year-old Nigel Worthington moved to the second division Stoke City in 1996 and a year later to Blackpool FC , where he ended his playing career in 1998.

Northern Ireland National Team (1984-1997)

In his thirteen years for Northern Ireland, Nigel Worthington made sixty-six international appearances. The highlight of his career in the national team was his participation in the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. After a 1-1 draw against Algeria in the first game and two defeats against Spain and Brazil, Northern Ireland was eliminated after the preliminary round. Worthington was used in the first two games from the start.

Coaching career

Blackpool FC (1997-1999)

On July 8, 1997 Worthington took over the position of player-coach at the third division club Blackpool . After two years in mid-table, he was dismissed on December 23, 1999 during the 1999/00 season.

Norwich City (2000-2006)

Almost a year later, Worthington was the new coach of the second division Norwich City on December 4, 2000 . In the 2001/02 season he reached the first play-off round with Norwich. After a win over Wolverhampton Wanderers, Norwich lost the final against Birmingham City on penalties. Two years later , Worthington led the club to the championship in the second division and thus made promotion to the first division after nine years. The return to the Premier League 2004/05 was not permanent, rather the direct relegation followed as the table penultimate. After a ninth place in the Football League Championship 2005/06 and a false start in the 2006/07 season , Nigel Worthington was released on October 1, 2006 after just under six years in Norwich.

Northern Ireland National Team (2007-2011)

After he was on April 11, 2007 interim coach until the end of the 2006/07 season at the second division Leicester City , Nigel Worthington took over on June 1, 2007 the coaching post of the Northern Irish national team. The team, which had started well in the qualification for the 2008 European Football Championship under his predecessor Lawrie Sanchez , missed participation in the final tournament as third in the table behind Spain and Sweden. After a fourth place in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup behind Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic, the even poorer performance in qualifying for the 2012 European Football Championship resulted in the end of his tenure on October 11, 2011. Northern Ireland had in the group as Fifth only left the Faroe Islands behind.

York City (2013-)

On March 4, 2013, Worthington was introduced as the new coach of the English fourth division club York City .

titles and achievements

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Birmingham reach Premiership (BBC Sport)
  2. ↑ Fulham 6-0 Norwich (BBC Sport)
  3. ↑ Norwich sack manager Worthington (BBC Sport)
  4. ↑ Worthington takes Leicester job (BBC Sport)
  5. ↑ Worthington named N Ireland boss (BBC Sport)
  6. ↑ Nigel Worthington to step down as N Ireland manager (BBC Sport)
  7. ↑ Nigel Worthington named York City manager (BBC Sport)
personal data
SURNAME Worthington, Nigel
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Northern Irish soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH 4th November 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Ballymena , Northern Ireland