Pat Nevin

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Pat Nevin
Personal information
Full name Patrick Kevin Francis Michael Nevin
Date of birth (1963-09-06) 6 September 1963 (age 60)
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Winger
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1983 Clyde 73 (17)
1983–1988 Chelsea 193 (36)
1988–1992 Everton 109 (16)
1992–1997 Tranmere Rovers 193 (30)
1997–1998 Kilmarnock 34 (6)
1998–2000 Motherwell 58 (2)
Total 660 (107)
International career
1986–1996 Scotland 28 (5)
1987–1996 Scotland B[1] 4 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Patrick Kevin Francis Michael "Pat" Nevin (born 6 September 1963 in Glasgow, Scotland)[2] is a retired Scottish footballer. In a 20-year career, he played for Clyde, Chelsea, Everton, Tranmere Rovers, Kilmarnock and Motherwell as a winger.[3] Nevin was a fans' favourite at Chelsea during the 1980s. He also won 28 caps for Scotland, scattered across a ten-year international career, and he was selected for the UEFA Euro 1992 finals squad.[3] Since retiring as a player, Nevin has worked as a chief executive of Motherwell and as a football writer and broadcaster. He has also made some appearances on Match of the Day 2 in the 2012/13 season, alongside presenter Colin Murray.

Professional career

Clyde

Nevin trained with Celtic as a youngster, but was rejected for being too small.[4] He was signed by Clyde in 1981. In his first season, the club were promoted as Scottish Second Division champions; Nevin scored fourteen goals in thirty starts and was voted SPFA Second Division Player of the Year. He scored six goals in forty-four starts in his second season with the club.

He was inducted into the inaugural Clyde FC Hall of Fame in 2011.[5]

Chelsea

'Wee Pat' as the Chelsea fans still affectionately call him, arrived at Stamford Bridge in mid-1983 for £95,000, joining fellow new recruits Kerry Dixon, Nigel Spackman, David Speedie and Eddie Niedzwiecki in manager John Neal's new-look Chelsea side. Nevin's skill and pace made him a pivotal player at Chelsea and he very soon became firm favourite with the fans.

In 1983–84, he scored 14 goals, created numerous others for the likes of Dixon and Speedie and put in some dazzling performances – during a 4–0 win over Newcastle United, he tormented the opposition defence, leaving five defenders trailing in his wake – as Chelsea won promotion as Second Division champions. In the same season he was voted Chelsea's player of the year. Chelsea finished a respectable sixth in the First Division the following year and reached the Milk Cup (League Cup) semi-final, where Nevin was once again the star turn, setting up three goals in the quarter-final against Sheffield Wednesday as Chelsea came back from 3–0 down to draw 4–4; he also set up the winner for Speedie in the replay. The club were in the title race for much of the next season, with Nevin scoring a late equaliser against Liverpool at Anfield and a crucial header against West Ham United to seal a 2–1 win, though a late collapse saw Chelsea finish sixth after being in the title race for most of the 1985-86 season. A year later, the club's performances dropped and they finished 14th, though Nevin was again voted Chelsea player of the year. They were relegated a year later.

Everton

Chelsea were relegated in 1988 and Nevin was sold to Everton for £925,000. He scored 20 goals in 138 appearances for the club, but struggled to re-capture his previous form with manager Colin Harvey adopting a far more rigid system. He helped the side reach the FA Cup final in 1989, scoring the winner against Norwich City in the semi-final, but they lost 3–2 in the final to arch-rivals Liverpool.

Howard Kendall returned to the club as manager in November 1990; he and Nevin openly disagreed with each other, which reduced Nevin's playing opportunities, as did the arrival of new wingers Robert Warzycha and Mark Ward.

Nevin was unfortunate to arrive at Everton just after one of the finest spells in their history, when they had collected two league titles, an FA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. In contrast, Nevin's four seasons at the club saw a runners-up medal in the FA Cup (1989) being the closest he came to being part of a trophy winning side, and they never finished higher than sixth in the league (1990).

Tranmere Rovers

Nevin spent time on loan with fellow Merseyside club Tranmere Rovers, then in the second tier of English football, before signing permanently in 1992. The club competed in the Division One play-offs in three consecutive seasons (1992–1993, 1993–1994 and 1994–1995) but on each occasion they were eliminated in the semi-final.

Return to Scotland

In 1997, Nevin returned to Scotland and played for Kilmarnock and later Motherwell before retiring in 2000.

International career

In 1982 while playing for Clyde, he travelled to Finland to play for the Scotland U18 team at the UEFA European Youth Championship and was named player of the tournament after helping Scotland win it. The following year, he starred for the Scotland U20 team that reached the quarter-finals of the FIFA World Youth Championship.

Nevin won 28 caps for the Scottish national side, making his debut against Romania in 1986. He scored five goals in a ten-year international career and played at Euro 92, but was not selected in the final squads for the 1986 or 1990 World Cups. He made his final appearance for Scotland in 1996 but did not appear at the Euro 96 finals.

Retirement

After retiring as a player, Nevin had a stint as chief executive of Motherwell. He resigned from the position in April 2002 after chairman John Boyle decided to place the club in administration due to serious financial problems.[6]

He now works as a football pundit for BBC Scotland's Sportscene, Channel Five and BBC Radio Five Live.[3] Nevin co-wrote a book, In Ma Head, Son, with psychologist Dr George Sik that was published in 1997. The book covers his experiences at Tranmere Rovers during the 1996–97 season and eschews the typical footballer's autobiography being a dialogue with Sik which explores his worries, motivation and troubles as he comes to the end of his playing career.

He has an arts degree from Glasgow Caledonian University. He was noted during his playing days for being somewhat different from the stereotypical footballer, especially through his interest in literature and the arts, and in his musical tastes, preferring The Fall and Joy Division to Phil Collins or Lionel Richie. As such, he was interviewed by the NME and was a guest presenter on Radio City during his Everton and Tranmere career. Nevin now lives in Duns,[7] with his wife and two children. At the second Bowlie Weekender, hosted by ATP he played a DJ set,[8] playing Belle & Sebastian, Orange Juice and "My New House" by The Fall while wearing a The Pains of Being Pure at Heart t-shirt. The following day he slipped an indiepop reference onto 5 Live while talking about the Man Utd vs Arsenal match.[9] He has also appeared as a guest DJ at Scared To Dance[10] and How Does It Feel To Be Loved?, which are both indiepop club nights in London.[11] He makes a guest appearance on the 1986 Ted Chippington / Vindaloo Summer Special (with Robert Lloyd & The Nightingales and Fuzzbox) video of "Rockin With Rita".[12]

In 2010 Nevin signed as a non-playing substitute for new club Chester FC after Colin Murray of BBC Radio 5 live offered the new club £2,000 if they named Nevin and Perry Groves as unused substitutes at every game in the 2010-11 season. This was live on 'Kicking off with Colin Murray', a show Nevin has appeared on every week since the start of the 2009/10 season. Nevin is usually beaten by ex-Arsenal player Perry Groves in the weekly quiz.[13]

Personal life

Nevin grew up supporting Celtic,[4] but has more recently supported Hibernian.[14] He has been reported to have switched allegiances for, among other things, feeling that his boyhood heroes had become a large corporate organisation and that Celtic Park no longer felt like home.[14] Another reason for his switch was reported to be the IRA chanting from Celtic fans in front of his son.[15] He also supports his former club Chelsea, and writes a weekly column for the Chelsea website.[16] Nevin lives in Duns, a small town in the Scottish Borders with his wife and two children.[17] His daughter, also a keen sports player, was a Scottish champion in badminton.[17][18]

Honours

Club

Clyde
Chelsea
Everton

Individual

References

  1. ↑ Scotland B Player Pat Nevin Details
  2. ↑ PAT NEVIN, Newcastle Fans.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Pat Nevin Internet Interview, ToffeeWeb.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Bowlie DJ Times / Downloadable Timecards / Twitter - Events - All Tomorrow's Parties
  9. ↑ Pat Nevin slips indiepop reference onto Radio 5 Live - YouTube
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Nevin on Hibernian, Hibernian F.C. official website, 15 October 2009.
  15. ↑ Celtic fans' IRA chants drove me away from the club I love, says Pat Nevin, The Scotsman, 7 September 2011.
  16. ↑ PAT NEVIN: ALL HANDS TO THE PUMP, Chelsea F.C. official website.
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Herald Scotland
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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