Nigel Spink
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nigel Philip Spink | ||
| Date of birth | 8 August 1958 | ||
| Place of birth | Chelmsford, England | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1976 | West Ham United | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1976–1977 | Chelmsford City | 10 | (0) |
| 1977–1996 | Aston Villa | 361 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | West Bromwich Albion | 19 | (0) |
| 1997–2000 | Millwall | 44 | (0) |
| 2000–2001 | Forest Green Rovers | 14 | (0) |
| Total | 448 | (0) | |
| National team | |||
| 1983 | England | 1 | (0) |
| 1991 | England B | 2 | (0) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2000–2002 | Forest Green Rovers | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Nigel Philip Spink (born 8 August 1958) is an English former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper from 1976 until 2001.
He made his name at Aston Villa and also made one appearance for England at international level on the tour of Australia in 1983. He also played in the Football League for West Bromwich Albion and Millwall, as well as playing in Non-league for both Chelmsford City and Forest Green Rovers.
Spink began his career with Writtle Minors F.C. at junior and senior level before going as an apprentice to West Ham United, but soon moved to Chelmsford City and then, at the age of just 18, to Aston Villa. It was almost five years before his big break in the first team came along, and it came on the biggest stage of all – the European Cup Final. Ten minutes into the 1982 final against Bayern Munich, Villa's first choice goalkeeper, Jimmy Rimmer, was injured and substitute keeper Spink was called into action, having only made one previous appearance in the first team. Spink performed superbly, keeping a clean sheet, and Villa won the game 1–0. By curious coincidence, Spink and Rimmer are two of the four England goalkeepers with the shortest international career (45 minutes).
He went on to make 460 appearances for Villa before moving to neighbouring club West Bromwich Albion in 1996, almost two decades after first joining Villa. Spink made 24 appearances in all for Albion, and became the oldest goalkeeper to appear for the club when, at the age of 39 years and 19 days, he kept goal in a League Cup tie against Cambridge United on 27 August 1997, a record since broken by Dean Kiely at 39 years, 189 days.
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