| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nicholas James Weaver[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1979-03-02)2 March 1979 (age 46) | ||
| Place of birth | Sheffield, England | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1995 | Sheffield Wednesday | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1995–1997 | Mansfield Town | 1 | (0) |
| 1997–2007 | Manchester City | 172 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | →Sheffield Wednesday (loan) | 14 | (0) |
| 2007–2009 | Charlton Athletic | 67 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | Dundee United | 18 | (0) |
| 2010 | Burnley | 0 | (0) |
| 2010–2013 | Sheffield Wednesday | 44 | (0) |
| 2013–2014 | Aberdeen | 2 | (0) |
| Total | 318 | (0) | |
| International career | |||
| 1996–1997 | England U18 | 3 | (0) |
| 1999–2002 | England U21 | 10 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Nicholas James Weaver (born 2 March 1979) is an English football coach and former professionalfootballer.
He began his career as agoalkeeper in 1995 withMansfield Town, before joiningManchester City in 1997. He would go on to be a part of the club that earned promotion from theSecond Division in 1999 in which he saved the decisive penalty in the play-off final shootout withGillingham atWembley Stadium. He would go on to earn promotion to thePremier League the following season and in total was promoted three times with City in a ten-year spell. By the time he left the club in 2007 he had been the club's second choice keeper for a number of years and had acted as understudy to the likes ofPeter Schmeichel,David Seaman andDavid James. He went on to appear forCharlton Athletic,Dundee United,Burnley,Sheffield Wednesday andAberdeen. He is a formerEngland under-21 international.
He worked for Sheffield Wednesday since retiring and has held a number of different roles including academy and first team goalkeeper coach.
Weaver was bought byManchester City fromMansfield Town on the recommendation of goalkeeping coachAlex Stepney. He made his competitive Manchester City debut in the first match of the 1998–99 season againstBlackpool, keeping aclean sheet.[2] Over the course of the season Weaver kept a total of 26 clean sheets, breaking the club record for clean sheets in a season. Weaver was the hero for Manchester City in the 1999Second Division Play-off final versusGillingham after his penalty save clinched promotion, prompting him to go on a 'crazy run' around the Wembley pitch. Around this time, Weaver was tipped to receive full international honours forEngland by Jon McGinty after becoming anEngland under 21 international.[3][4]
Weaver remained first choice goalkeeper in1999–2000, as City secured a second consecutive promotion by finishing in second place in theFirst Division.[5] He then tastedPremier League football for the first time in the2000–01 season,[6] as the club was relegated in its first top flight campaign since 1996.[7] Weaver missed almost half of City's league matches in2001–02 through injury, as the club was again promoted back to the Premier League.[7] Weaver's growing injury problems lead to Keegan signing veteranPeter Schmeichel for the2002–03 season, with Weaver dropping to second choice.
Weaver did not start any games in the 2002–03, 2003–04 and 2004–05 seasons.[8][9][10] However, he did play the last fifteen minutes of the 2004–05 season, whenStuart Pearce surprisingly substitutedClaudio Reyna for Weaver so the regular City goalkeeperDavid James could play in attack againstMiddlesbrough.[11]
Weaver's return to fitness resulted in injury once again during the close season of 2005, ruling him out of the start of the season. In Autumn 2005 Weaver went on loan toSheffield Wednesday, the team he had supported since childhood and for whom he had played as a schoolboy,[12][13] in an attempt to return to full fitness.
While at Wednesday, Weaver made 14 appearances, beginning with a 2–1 victory at home toDerby County and ending with a 3–0 defeat away atLeeds United.[14] He also played in theSteel City derby away atBramall Lane againstSheffield United, where Wednesday were beaten 1–0.[14] He was the only Sheffield born player in the entire fixture.[15]
Before the 2006–07 season, Manchester City sold James toPortsmouth, boughtAndreas Isaksson as a replacement and gave Isaksson the number 1 shirt. However, an injury to Isaksson meant Weaver played the first game of the season on 20 August 2006, his first senior start for the club in nearly three years and Weaver's improved form led to him starting all but one of the Manchester City games in the rest of 2006.[16]
On 4 July 2007, out-of-contract Weaver signed forCharlton Athletic on a free transfer.[17] On 5 April 2008, Weaver was sent off after three minutes for handball in a match againstPlymouth Argyle.[18] The incident marked the quickest ever dismissal of a Charlton player, a record that would remain until 2018.[19][20] Following his release from Charlton, Weaver signed forDundee United on 5 August 2009 on a short-term contract.[21] The United fans took to him instantly and – although he was pelted by snowballs by Aberdeen fans in his final home match at Tannadice as the ground staff thought it was a good idea not to clear all the snow[22] – he played in every league match before his contract expired in January 2010.
On 27 January 2010, Weaver signed an initial six-month contract withBurnley on a free transfer subject to international clearance. However, he was released on 11 May 2010 without making a single appearance.[23]
With Lee Grant's departure from Sheffield Wednesday to Burnley in the close season,[24] Weaver the ex-Owl loanee and Wednesday fan signed as a replacement after the club's transfer embargo was lifted.[25] On 4 October 2010, Weaver was awarded the Handley Brown player of the month for September after a number of impressive performances in an underachieving Wednesday team.[26] Weaver was awarded man of the match againstChesterfield in aFootball League Trophy second round match after scoring the decisive penalty and saving three spot kicks, two of which were vital sudden death saves to keep Wednesday in the competition.
Weaver received his second successive Player of The Month award off the club for his performances in October. His consistent performances led to him signing a new two-and-a-half-year deal on 14 February 2011, which due to an oversight by the press office was not announced until 4 April. Weaver fell out of favour at Sheffield Wednesday following the signing ofChris Kirkland, with Kirkland inheriting Weaver's no.1 shirt. After failing to appear in any matchday squad since Kirkland's arrival, he was released at the end of the season.
On 15 July 2013, Weaver signed forAberdeen on a six-month contract.[27][28] This was extended for a further six months in January 2014.[29]
In September 2014, Weaver returned to Sheffield Wednesday as academy goalkeeping coach. He replacedAndy Rhodes as first team goalkeeping coach in July 2018.[13] On 14 August 2020, it was confirmed as part of a coaching staff restructure, Weaver would switch roles and become Head of Academy Goalkeeping, the position he originally had when joining the club as staff.[30] On 11 April 2024, Weaver confirmed he would be leaving Sheffield Wednesday at the end of the2023–24 season, saying "I don't see myself coaching again but you never say never".[31]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Mansfield Town | 1995–96[32] | Third Division | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1996–97[32] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |||
| Manchester City | 1998–99[2] | Second Division | 45 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 3[a] | 0 | 55 | 0 | |
| 1999–00[5] | First Division | 45 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | — | — | 51 | 0 | |||
| 2000–01[6] | Premier League | 31 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | — | — | 39 | 0 | |||
| 2001–02[33] | First Division | 25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 29 | 0 | |||
| 2002–03[34] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2003–04[35] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[b] | 0 | — | 1 | 0 | |||
| 2004–05[11] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 2005–06[14] | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | ||||
| 2006–07[16] | 25 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 31 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 172 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 207 | 0 | ||
| Sheffield Wednesday (loan) | 2005–06[14] | Championship | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | 14 | 0 | |||
| Charlton Athletic | 2007–08[36] | Championship | 45 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 48 | 0 | ||
| 2008–09[37] | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 22 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 67 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 70 | 0 | ||||
| Dundee United | 2009–10[38] | Scottish Premier League | 18 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | — | 18 | 0 | |||
| Burnley | 2009–10[38] | Premier League | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||||
| Sheffield Wednesday | 2010–11[39] | League One | 36 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 4[c] | 0 | 47 | 0 | |
| 2011–12[40] | League One | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 1[c] | 0 | 10 | 0 | ||
| Sheffield Wednesday total | 58 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 71 | 0 | |||
| Aberdeen | 2013–14[41] | Scottish Premiership | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 318 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 359 | 0 | ||
