Nigel Worthington (born 4 November 1961) is a Northern Irish 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 was most recently the

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

of York City. He played a defender and a midfielder, playing his club football for Ballymena United, Notts County, Sheffield Wednesday, Leeds United,

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

and

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. With Sheffield Wednesday he won the League Cup in

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

. As an international player, he was capped 66 times for Northern Ireland, and appeared for them at the

1986 FIFA World Cup The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...

. Worthington began his managerial career as player-manager of Blackpool in 1997 before he took over as manager of Norwich City in 2000. He guided Norwich into the Premier League in the 2003–04 season as First Division title winners. He left just over two years afterwards, having failed to keep them in the top-flight in 2005. He was briefly

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

of Leicester City in 2007 prior to starting as manager of Northern Ireland, from which he stepped down in 2011.

Club career

Born in

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from ga, an Baile Meánach , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It is part of the Borough of Mid and East Antrim. The town is built on land given to the Adair family by King Charles I i ...

, County Antrim, Worthington played as a left-back and a midfielder and started his career with hometown team Ballymena United in 1979, where he was Ulster Football Writers Young Player of the Year in 1981. He moved into English football with Notts County on 1 July 1981 for a £100,000 fee. Worthington signed for Sheffield Wednesday on 6 February 1984 for a £125,000 fee, and he stayed at the club for over 10 years. He earned promotion into the First Division with Wednesday in the 1983–84 season as Second Division runners-up. He was a member of the team that won the League Cup as well as a return into the First Division after finishing in third place in the Second Division in 1990–91. Two years later, Worthington and his teammates were losing finalists in the

1993 FA Cup Final The 1993 FA Cup Final was contested by Arsenal F.C., Arsenal and Sheffield Wednesday F.C., Sheffield Wednesday at Wembley Stadium (1923), Wembley. The original match, played on 15 May 1993, finished 1–1. Arsenal won the replay on 20 May, 2–1 ...

. Worthington left Wednesday to sign for Leeds United on 4 July 1994 for a £325,000 fee, spending two seasons at the club and one season at

, after signing on a free transfer on 18 July 1996.

International career

Worthington was capped 14 times by the Northern Ireland national under-18 team before making his debut for the senior national team in a 1–1 draw away to Wales in the

1983–84 British Home Championship The 1983–84 British Home Championship was the 100th anniversary of the British Home Championship and the final football tournament between the Home Nations to be held, with both England and Scotland announcing their withdrawal from future compe ...

on 22 May 1984. This was notable for being Northern Ireland's final match in the last ever

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

, the point gained being enough for Northern Ireland to win, and keep in perpetuity, the trophy. In Northern Ireland's subsequent successful

qualifying Qualification is either the process of qualifying for an achievement, or a credential attesting to that achievement, and may refer to: * Professional qualification, attributes developed by obtaining academic degrees or through professional exper ...

campaign for the

, Worthington started one qualifying match and came on as a substitute in three more. In the Finals tournament itself, Worthington started two of Northern Ireland's three matches, against Algeria and Spain. He served as Northern Ireland

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

from 1995 to 1996. Worthington's 66th and final cap was gained in Northern Ireland's 3–0 victory in a home

friendly Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

against Belgium on 11 February 1997.

Managerial career

Blackpool

Worthington's managerial career started as the player-manager at

on 8 July 1997. He soon retired from playing to take on sole managerial duties, but two and a half seasons in charge ended with his resignation on 23 December 1999 following a dip in form that saw the club lying in the Second Division relegation battle. "I have taken the club as far as I can," he stated.

Norwich City

After acting as assistant to Howard Wilkinson with the England under-21 team, Worthington moved to Norwich City on 27 June 2000 as assistant to

Bryan Hamilton Bryan Hamilton (born 21 December 1946) is a Northern Irish former professional football player and manager. He gained 50 caps for Northern Ireland between 1969 and 1980, and later managed the national team for four years. He later became Techn ...

. He was given the role of assistant manager for the Northern Ireland national under-21 team on 22 August, which he shared with his duties at Norwich. He was appointed

at Norwich on 4 December after Hamilton resigned, and on 2 January 2001 was appointed as permanent manager. He later saved the club from relegation into the Second Division. The 2001–02 season, Worthington's first full season, saw Norwich reach the 2002 First Division play-off Final, in which they lost to Birmingham City in a penalty shoot-out. In his third full season in charge, 2003–04, Worthington took Norwich into the Premier League after winning the First Division championship with a club record 94 points. With one match remaining in 2004–05, Norwich were one point above the relegation zone, but after a 6–0 defeat by

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

were relegated in 19th place. Norwich were tipped to make an instant return into the Premier League in 2005–06 having retained the majority of their squad. The team failed to mount the expected promotion challenge, which led to some supporters calling for Worthington to leave the club, with Norwich finishing the season ninth in the Championship table. After a defeat to

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, ...

early in September 2006, Norwich's majority shareholders, Delia Smith and

Michael Wynn-Jones Michael Wynn-Jones (born September 1941) is a Welsh writer, editor and publisher. He is the joint majority shareholder of Norwich City Football Club, with his wife, the former television cook Delia Smith. Early life Wynn-Jones studied at Lancin ...

, released a statement expecting Worthington to improve the team's performance in the following matches. Worthington was sacked by Norwich almost immediately after a 4–1 defeat to Burnley on 1 October, a result that left the team 17th in the table.

Leicester City

Worthington was appointed

of relegation threatened Championship club Leicester City for the rest of 2006–07 on 11 April 2007. Despite losing his first match to former club Norwich, he was able to steer Leicester to safety and stated his desire to become Leicester's permanent manager. He lost out on the position to Martin Allen.

Northern Ireland

Worthington was appointed as manager of Northern Ireland on 1 June 2007, initially on a short-term contract until the end of the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign in November. At the time of his appointment, Northern Ireland led their qualification group. Although Northern Ireland eventually finished third in their qualification group, the Irish Football Association gave Worthington a two-year contract in January 2008. This was subsequently renewed in January 2010, lasting until the end of the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying campaign. However, after a poor UEFA Euro 2012 qualification campaign he stepped down on 11 October 2011 after the final qualifier against Italy.

York City

Worthington was appointed manager of

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club York City on 4 March 2013, after Gary Mills was sacked two days earlier. His first match in charge was a 3–2 defeat away to

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

on 9 March. On the last day of the season, York won 1–0 away to

Dagenham & Redbridge Dagenham & Redbridge Football Club is a professional association football club based in Dagenham, Greater London, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Often known simply as Dag ...

, which secured the club's League Two status, finishing the season in 17th place. He signed a new one-year rolling contract on 3 May. Worthington managed the team that reached the League Two play-offs in 2013–14, in which York were beaten 1–0 on aggregate in the semi-final by

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

. He resigned as manager on 13 October 2014 with the team one place above the relegation zone, and was quoted as saying "In recent weeks, performances have not been up to my high standards and I take full responsibility for this".

Personal life

Worthington married Sandra Hopkins in Nottingham in 1983. His cousin is fellow manager Brendan Rodgers.

Career statistics

Club

International

Managerial statistics

Honours

As a player

Ballymena United * Irish Cup: 1980–81 * Ulster Cup: 1980–81 Sheffield Wednesday * Second Division runner-up: 1983–84 *Second Division third-place promotion: 1990–91 * League Cup: 1990–91

As a manager

Norwich City * First Division: 2003–04 Individual *

Football League Two Manager of the Month The EFL League Two Manager of the Month is a monthly association football award to recognise the outstanding team manager in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The recipient is chosen by a panel assembled by the League's sponsor, ...

: April 2013, March 2014

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Worthington, Nigel 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from Ballymena Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland youth international footballers Northern Ireland international footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Ballymena United F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Leeds United F.C. players Stoke City F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players NIFL Premiership players English Football League players Premier League players 1986 FIFA World Cup players Football managers from Northern Ireland Blackpool F.C. managers Norwich City F.C. managers Leicester City F.C. managers Northern Ireland national football team managers York City F.C. managers English Football League managers Premier League managers Norwich City F.C. non-playing staff FA Cup Final players