Steve Nicol

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Steve Nicol
Personnel
birthday December 11, 1961
place of birth IrvineScotland
position defender
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1979-1981 Ayr United 70 0(0)
1981-1995 Liverpool FC 343 (36)
1995 Notts County 32 0(2)
1995-1998 Sheffield Wednesday 49 0(0)
1998 West Bromwich Albion 9 0(0)
1998-1999 Doncaster Rovers 30 0(0)
1999 Boston Bulldogs
1999 New England Revolution 0 0(0)
2000-2001 Boston Bulldogs
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1984-1992 Scotland 27 0(0)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1995 Notts County
1999 New England Revolution (interim)
2000-2001 Boston Bulldogs
2002-2011 New England Revolution
1 Only league games are given.

Stephen "Steve" Nicol (born December 11, 1961 in Irvine , Scotland ) is a former Scottish soccer player and until 2011 was the coach of the US professional league club New England Revolution . In his playing time was defense and defensive midfield player for many years for Liverpool active, counted in the 1980s, the most powerful clubs in Europe.

Player career

Nicol began his career in 1979 with the Scottish club Ayr United . In October 1981 he moved to the top English club Liverpool FC for two years. The transfer fee that Liverpool coach Bob Paisley negotiated with the management of Ayr United was £ 300,000 and should prove to be a worthwhile investment later on.

Initially, however, in the following two years Nicol was mostly in the reserve team and only played very sporadically in the professional game. It was only under the new coach Joe Fagan that Nicol was able to work out a regular place in 1983 and won his first English championship in his first full season. In the league cup final, in which Liverpool was able to defeat local rivals Everton , he did not play, but was substituted on in the final of the European Cup against AS Roma . After a good performance in the match after regular time with a 1: 1-ended draw, he missed the penalty shoot a penalty. However, since two players from AS Roma were unable to convert their penalties, Liverpool FC won the most prestigious European club title.

Nicol established from then on in the team, won in 1986, the double of FA Cup and English League and was also in the meantime in the Scottish national team to a fixed size. The total of 27 games lasting career for Scotland also led him to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, where he was used in all three preliminary round matches.

As a versatile player, after Phil Neal's departure in 1986 , Nicol mostly played the position of the right defender, but often switched to the left, to the center of the defensive or even took part in midfield play. Nevertheless, he always preferred the jersey with the number 4, which is often the number of a central defender or pre-stopper and at this point in time was not yet permanently assigned to a player before the start of the season.

In 1988 Nicol developed a high degree of scoring danger and began an unusual series of hits - given his positions, which were more defensively oriented. These included three goals in a game against Newcastle United and a spectacular long-range header against Arsenal . This phase subsided a little during the season in which Liverpool tried to win the cup and championship double again, which did not change the fact that he was one of the best team players in Liverpool at the time due to his defensive performance was true. After winning the championship, Liverpool sensationally lost 1-0 to Wimbledon FC at Wembley Stadium . It was Nicol who missed the last chance to equalize in stoppage time with a diving header that landed just above the opposing goal, which would have resulted in extra time .

In the following year - the season when the Hillsborough disaster struck - Nicol attended numerous funerals and condolence visits with numerous club mates. From a sporting point of view, his club won the FA Cup final against Everton, but lost the championship against Arsenal after a goal in the decisive final game in the last minute by Michael Thomas . The turbulent season ended with a personal climax, when Nicol was named England's Footballer of the Year by football journalists in 1989 .

When Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 9-0 the following season, the biggest win in a championship game in club history, Nicol was the only player to score two goals (the first and last goal). Liverpool won another - and so far the last - English championship in the 1989/90 season. Under Graeme Souness , Nicol finally won his last major trophy with the FA Cup in 1992.

Nicol stayed in Liverpool until 1995 before taking on the role of player-coach at Notts County . He then slowly let his career run out at Sheffield Wednesday , West Bromwich Albion (on loan) and the Doncaster Rovers and then moved to the United States in 1999 for the Boston Bulldogs in the A-League , where he also worked as a player-coach. In September of the same year he took over the same function on an interim basis at the club New England Revolution for the last two games of the season in Major League Soccer (MLS), which he won both. He then returned to the Boston Bulldogs in 2000 and 2001, before finally joining the New England Revolution club as a cotrainer in 2002 .

Career as a coach

At New England Revolution he took over the coaching post only temporarily, but was then employed permanently after 21 games. In his first season, Nicol led the team into the final of the MLS Cup and was voted MLS Coach of the Year. In the further years of his coaching activity there he reached the MLS Eastern Conference Final (corresponds to the semi-finals of the championship round) and in 2005 and 2006 even reached the final again. However, all three mentioned finals were lost and in none of the encounters New England Revolution could score in regular time. In his coaching staff, the former center forward Paul Mariner is currently a former England international and player from Ipswich Town and Arsenal. At the end of the 2011 season, Nicol was sacked as coach after New England failed to reach the playoffs for the first time in 9 years.

Nicol currently lives with his wife and two children in Hopkinton , Massachusetts .

Club stations as a player

  • Ayr United (1979-1981)
  • Liverpool FC (1981–1995)
  • Notts County (1995, player-manager)
  • Sheffield Wednesday (1995-1998)
    • West Bromwich Albion (1998, on loan)
  • Doncaster Rovers (1998-1999)
  • Boston Bulldogs (1999-2001, player-coach)
    • New England Revolution (1999)

Club stations as a coach

  • New England Revolution (2002-2011)

successes

  • European champion cup: 1984
  • English champion: 1984, 1986, 1988, 1990
  • FA Cup winners: 1986, 1989, 1992
  • English League Cup Winner: 1984
  • Community Shield winner: 1986 *, 1989, 1990 * * (shared title)
  • England's Footballer of the Year: 1989
  • MLS Trainer of the Year: 2002
  • (as coach) Lamar Hunt US Open Cup Winner: 2007