Garry Paul Nelson (born 16 January 1961) is an English former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

left winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

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

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

and

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

(as player/assistant manager) between 1979 and 1997.. He was voted into Plymouth Argyle's Team of the Century.

Background and Writing

Nelson passed eight 'O' Levels and 3 'A' Levels (French, Geography and Geology) and had the chance to attend Loughborough University but accepted the offer of a professional contract at Southend instead. Nelson also wrote two memoirs about his professional career, ''Left Foot Forward'' and ''Left Foot in the Grave''. The books are written in diary form, chronicling a season with Charlton (1994–95) and Torquay (1996–97) respectively. The books have been generally well received, and noted as showing the real life of "ordinary" professional footballers, became best-sellers, and each was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award.

Career after retirement

After retiring from the game in 1997, Nelson became commercial executive of the

Professional Footballers' Association The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) is the trade union for professional association footballers in England and Wales. Founded in 1907, it is the world's oldest professional sport trade union, and has over 5,000 members. The aims of ...

. In 2018, he was still playing football, regularly turning out for Chapel United in the Southend Borough Combination Veterans League and Charlton Athletic veterans.

References

External links

* *
Interview with Garry Nelson
at ''The Ball is Round'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Garry 1961 births Living people People from Braintree, Essex English footballers Association football forwards Southend United F.C. players Swindon Town F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players English Football League players English non-fiction writers English male non-fiction writers