Alan Victor Nelmes (born 20 October 1948) is an English retired professional footballer who made over 300 appearances as a defender in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

. He was inducted into the club's

Hall of Fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

in November 2014.

Career

Chelsea

Nelmes was born in Hackney, but moved to

South London South London is the southern part of London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, London Borou ...

and attended Ingram High School, near

Selhurst Park Selhurst Park is a football stadium in Selhurst in the London Borough of Croydon which is the home ground of Premier League side Crystal Palace. The stadium was designed by Archibald Leitch and opened in 1924. It has hosted international footba ...

. Nelmes began his career at First Division club Chelsea and signed his first professional contract in October 1965. He failed to make an appearance for the first team and was released at the end of the 1966–67 season.

Brentford

Nelmes turned down offers from Aldershot and Colchester United to sign for

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

club

in July 1967. Operating initially as a right back, he went on to be a vital cog in a threadbare Brentford team, missing only three games between 1968 and 1972 and is one of a few Bees players to make 100 consecutive appearances. Manager Jimmy Sirrel assembled a small squad of versatile players and Nelmes was picked to play up front versus Notts County on 2 March 1968, scoring one of his only two goals for the club. He played in five different positions during the 1967–68 season. Adept anywhere across the

back four In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

and as a

sweeper Sweepers are small, tropical marine (occasionally brackish) perciform fish of the family Pempheridae. Found in the western Atlantic Ocean and Indo-Pacific region, the family contains about 26 species in two genera. One species (''Pempheris xanth ...

, Nelmes' performances garnered him the Brentford Players' Player of the Year award for the 1970–71 season. Known as 'Spider', he helped Brentford achieve promotion to the

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

in the 1971–72 season, though the club were relegated straight back to the Fourth Division the following year. After a succession of injuries took a toll on his body, Nelmes was released at the end of the 1975–76 season, having made 350 appearances for the club. Despite being what he described as "quite a physical player", Nelmes was never sent off during his career. He was given a

testimonial In promotion and advertising, a testimonial or show consists of a person's written or spoken statement extolling the virtue of a product. The term "testimonial" most commonly applies to the sales-pitches attributed to ordinary citizens, where ...

versus former club Chelsea in 1978, which finished 8–2 to the

Stamford Bridge Stamford Bridge may refer to: * Stamford Bridge, East Riding of Yorkshire, a village in England ** Battle of Stamford Bridge, 25 September 1066 * Stamford Bridge (bridge), a bridge in the village of Stamford Bridge * Stamford Bridge (stadium), in L ...

club. Nelmes earned a then-club record £7,000 from the match. In recognition of his performances for the club, Nelmes was inducted into the Brentford

in November 2014.

Non-League football

After his release from Brentford, Nelmes played out his career with spells at Southern League club Hillingdon Borough and

Isthmian League The Isthmian League () is a regional men's football league covering Greater London, East and South East England, featuring mostly semi-professional clubs. Founded in 1905 by amateur clubs in the London area, the league now consists of 82 tea ...

clubs

Hayes Hayes may refer to: * Hayes (surname), including a list of people with the name ** Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th president of the United States * Hayes (given name) Businesses * Hayes Brake, an American designer and manufacturer of disc brakes * Ha ...

(managed by former Brentford teammate Bobby Ross) and Southall, before retiring due to a

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck an ...

injury.

Personal life

Nelmes is married to Norma and has two sons, Martin and Stuart. Stuart has played

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

for Sussex County League club Middleton since 2005. During the 1970s, Nelmes lived in

Isleworth Isleworth ( ) is a town located within the London Borough of Hounslow in West London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane, London, River Crane. Isleworth's or ...

and worked at the

Watneys James Watney (18 December 1800–16 March 1884) was an English brewer and landowner who resided at Haling Park, Croydon, and Beddington, Surrey. He was born to Daniel Watney (1771–1831) of Mitcham, Surrey and Mary Galpin (1771–183 ...

brewery in Mortlake. He spent time running a business in Bognor Regis in the 1970s and in the 1990s and 2000s, he was worked in

security Security is protection from, or resilience against, potential harm (or other unwanted coercive change) caused by others, by restraining the freedom of others to act. Beneficiaries (technically referents) of security may be of persons and social ...

at Gatwick Airport. As of 2015, Nelmes was living in Middleton-on-Sea.

Career statistics

Honours

Brentford *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

third-place promotion: 1971–72 Individual * Brentford Players' Player of the Year: 1970–71 * Brentford Hall of Fame

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nelmes, Alan 1948 births Living people English men's footballers Chelsea F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Hillingdon Borough F.C. players Footballers from the London Borough of Hackney Hayes F.C. players Southall F.C. players Southern Football League players English Football League players Isthmian League players Men's association football defenders Men's association football wing halves