Nicholas Lee Banger (born 25 February 1971) 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 ...

. He notably played in the Premier League for Southampton at the beginning of his career, and later went on to feature in the Scottish Premiership for

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

and 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 Oldham Athletic,

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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, ...

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 ...

. He also played non-league football for

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Andover Andover may refer to: Places Australia * Andover, Tasmania Canada * Andover Parish, New Brunswick * Perth-Andover, New Brunswick United Kingdom * Andover, Hampshire, England ** RAF Andover, a former Royal Air Force station United States * Ando ...

Woking Woking ( ) is a town and borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in northwest Surrey, England, around from central London. It appears in Domesday Book as ''Wochinges'' and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement o ...

, Eastleigh, Newbury, Brockenhurst and Lymington & New Milton. Since retiring, Banger has remained in football but has worked in the commercial and corporate side of the game. He has held a variety of different positions in this sector for Romsey Town, Havant & Waterlooville, Aldershot Town and

Playing career

Banger was born in Southampton and started his football career as a trainee with Southampton, turning professional in April 1989. He scored a hat-trick on his first team debut for the Saints, in a League Cup tie against Rochdale in 1990. He moved to Oldham Athletic for a fee of £250,000 in October 1994 and remained at Boundary Park for almost three years, moving to

on a free transfer in August 1997. Banger then moved to

, again on a free transfer in October 1999, but was transfer listed by manager

Ivano Bonetti Ivano Bonetti (born 1 August 1964) is an Italian Association football, football Association football manager, manager, club director and former professional footballer, the current CEO and president & owner of Mobisafe. As a player he was a mid ...

in July 2000. He returned to England with a loan spell at

in November 2000, finally leaving Dundee in August 2001 when he joined

on a short-term contract. He scored on his Plymouth debut, in a 3–1 win at home to

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

. However, he struggled with injuries and left Home Park in November the same year. After time out with a back injury, he joined

on trial in January 2002, but left requiring further treatment. In February 2002 he joined

Leroy Rosenior Leroy De Graft Rosenior (born 24 August 1964) is a football coach and pundit. He is a former footballer whose clubs included Fulham, Queens Park Rangers (for whom he appeared as a substitute in the 1986 League Cup Final), Bristol City and Wes ...

, before finally signing for Torquay a month later, making his Gulls debut in 0–0 draw with

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

. This was his only appearance for Torquay as he asked to be released from his contract just a few days later due to his lack of fitness. After leaving the Gulls, he briefly joined non-league

, playing in the final game of the season as Andover drew 1–1 away to Fleet Town to clinch the Wessex League title and promotion to the Southern League. Banger joined

in August 2002, moving to Eastleigh in February 2003 and again scoring on his club debut. In April 2004 he was appointed as full-time corporate manager and coach at Eastleigh, continuing as a player until his retirement in February 2005. He quit his coaching role at Eastleigh, although remained corporate manager until late February 2006, when he resigned after falling out with the team manager, in August 2005 when he joined AFC Newbury as a player. In November 2005 Banger joined Brockenhurst as player-coach, but left the same month to take a similar role with Lymington & New Milton. He resigned from his post in June 2006, claiming that he felt restricted in a head coach role and wanted a managerial post.

Commercial career

In December 2006, Banger was appointed as commercial manager at Romsey Town, but was sacked after just seventeen days in the post, amid rumours that he was announcing himself as the future team manager while allegedly tapping up players in readiness for next season. However, he was not out of work for long and on 19 February 2007 he began work as the new corporate sales manager with Havant & Waterlooville. In 2008, he joined Aldershot Town as Corporate Sales Manager as they prepared for promotion to the

. He was head of commercial operations with

Woking F.C. Woking Football Club is a professional association football club, based in Woking, Surrey, England. Founded in 1887, the club plays its home matches at The Laithwaite Community Stadium and is nicknamed the Cardinals, often shortened to the Card ...

until May 2016.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Banger, Nicky 1971 births Living people Footballers from Southampton English footballers Association football forwards Southampton F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Merthyr Tydfil F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Andover F.C. players Woking F.C. players Eastleigh F.C. players A.F.C. Newbury players Brockenhurst F.C. players New Milton Town F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Aldershot Town F.C. non-playing staff