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.jpg) Winterburn during a friendly match in 2017 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nigel Winterburn[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1963-12-11)11 December 1963 (age 62)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Arley, Warwickshire, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Left back | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1981–1982 | Birmingham City | 0 | (0) |
| 1982–1983 | Oxford United | 0 | (0) |
| 1983–1987 | Wimbledon | 165 | (8) |
| 1987–2000 | Arsenal | 440 | (8) |
| 2000–2003 | West Ham United | 82 | (1) |
| Total | 687 | (17) | |
| International career | |||
| 1982 | England Youth[3] | 1 | (0) |
| 1986 | England U21 | 1 | (0) |
| 1990–1991 | England B | 3 | (0) |
| 1989–1993 | England | 2 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Nigel Winterburn (born 11 December 1963) is an English former professionalfootballer who made 687 appearances in theFootball League andPremier League. He was capped twice byEngland, in 1989 and 1993.
Winterburn played primarily as aleft back from 1981 to 2003. He is best known for his role alongsideTony Adams,Steve Bould,Martin Keown andLee Dixon, forming the defensive line forArsenal in thePremier League and European football during the 1990s. He also played forWimbledon andWest Ham United, and was contracted toBirmingham City andOxford United.
After his playing career ended, he went into media work. He was briefly a part of the coaching staff atBlackburn Rovers.
Winterburn was born inArley, Warwickshire. He became an apprentice atBirmingham City in May 1980 before turning professional in 1981 after he had played forNuneaton schoolboys. While at Birmingham City, Winterburn won anEngland Youth Cap but failed to make the Birmingham first team. After an unsuccessful trial atOxford United, he was signed byDave Bassett to joinWimbledon on a free transfer in August 1983.[4]
Winterburn contributed to Wimbledon's promotion fromDivision Three toDivision Two in1983–84, and from Division Two toDivision One two years later. Winterburn was voted Wimbledon's Player of the Year in each of his four seasons with the club. He missed only 7 out of 172 league games, was ever-present in1986–87 when Wimbledon finished sixth in the First Division, and was capped by theEngland under-21 team. In May 1987 he was transferred for £350,000 toArsenal, whose manager,George Graham, was seeking a long-term replacement forKenny Sansom.[4]
Winterburn began his Arsenal career at right-back, an emergency measure employed by Graham after he had been unsuccessful in finding a replacement forViv Anderson. Winterburn made his Arsenal league debut as a substitute at Highbury againstSouthampton on 21 November 1987, playing in 17 league games that season.[4]
Though primarily left-footed, Winterburn settled into the right-back role and became quickly involved in two controversial incidents in his first season. First, he was seen to openly goadBrian McClair after theManchester United striker had missed a late penalty in an FA Cup tie on 20 February 1988 at Highbury.[5][6] The second incident came in theLeague Cup final later that same season. Despite having fallen behind in the early stages, Arsenal, the holders, were leadingLuton Town 2–1 atWembley with less than quarter of an hour to go when Arsenal were awarded a penalty afterDavid Rocastle was fouled.Michael Thomas had been Arsenal's designated penalty taker all season but after spot-kick failures from Thomas and two subsequent successors, it was Winterburn – who had never taken a penalty for Arsenal before – who stepped up to take the kick. He struck powerfully towards to the bottom right-hand corner as he viewed it, but Luton goalkeeperAndy Dibble guessed correctly and pushed the ball round the post. A newly inspired Luton then scored twice in the final ten minutes and won the final 3–2.
Sansom, demoted to reserve team football, left Arsenal for Newcastle United in December 1988 and Winterburn settled into his more familiar left back role as a result, staying in it for more than a decade. He and fellow full backLee Dixon flanked two superb central defenders in captainTony Adams and veteranDavid O'Leary, joined during the 1989 season bySteve Bould. Often the manager would play all five of them as Arsenal took holdersLiverpool to alast-game showdown atAnfield for the First Division title, which would have been Arsenal's first title since the Double year of 1971. Arsenal's situation meant they needed to win by at least two clear goals to clinch the championship. Winterburn's free kick set up a first for Alan Smith shortly after half-time, but the second looked as though it would elude them until Thomas scored in injury time. This victory was the culmination of the filmFever Pitch.
In the penultimate game, a 2–2 draw at home to Wimbledon on 17 May 1989, Winterburn scored what some consider the finest goal of his career, driving the ball diagonally into the far, top corner from 25 yards with his little-used right foot. Given both points and goal difference were identical (Arsenal winning the league on more goals scored), every single goal Arsenal scored that campaign eventually proved decisive in winning the league, but had Arsenal lost that day, then the Anfield game would have been irrelevant as the title would have already been lost.[7]
Winterburn made his England debut later the same year, 15 November 1989, coming on as asubstitute in a 0–0 draw againstItaly.[8] Though many media outlets and Winterburn's own club manager regularly extolled his virtues as an England left back, the national coach,Bobby Robson, had him as no higher than third in the pecking order.Stuart Pearce was going to the1990 World Cup as first choice, withTony Dorigo as back-up. Only injury to either would see a way open for Winterburn, and that did not happen; however, he did earn appearances for the B team.
Arsenal earned no trophies in 1990, but went on to win the league title again the next year with one loss. During a 1–0 victory away at Manchester United, there was amass brawl that was started by a Winterburn tackle onDenis Irwin.[9] Winterburn was eventually booked, and subsequently fined two weeks wages (along with 3 teammates and the manager, George Graham). Despite the two-point deduction – one more than Manchester United as Arsenal had been involved in a similar brawl againstNorwich City in 1989 – Arsenal went on to win the league comfortably.
Two years later, Winterburn was in the Arsenal team which won both cup competitions and thus completed his domestic set of medals. Arsenal defeatedSheffield Wednesday 2–1 in both the League Cup and FA Cup finals, the latter in a replay.
Winterburn's form earned him a brief England recall byGraham Taylor, who included him in a squad for a mini-tournament in the U.S. during which England lost 2–0 to theUnited States national team. Winterburn came on as a sub for Manchester United wingerLee Sharpe in the final match of the contest againstGermany. This was the last time he played for England.
In 1994, Arsenal beat Italian sideParma 1–0, to win theEuropean Cup Winners Cup, Arsenal's first success continentally for a quarter of a century. They would not be so successful the following year as they reached the final again but were beaten 2–1 byReal Zaragoza.
Arsène Wenger arrived at Arsenal at the end of 1996, bringing a new focus on self-awareness anddietary habits into the Arsenal squad.[10] This allowed the ageing defence (Adams was the youngest at 30 years of age;Martin Keown had also arrived to account for O'Leary's retirement after the 1993 FA Cup success) to thrive in and prolong the latter years of their careers. Arsenal won the "double" ofPremiership and FA Cup in 1998. During the league campaign in September 1997, as against Wimbledon in 1989, Winterburn once again scored a vital goal, driving the ball from over 25 yards diagonally into the far, top corner, this time with his favoured left foot. The 89th-minute winner, in a 3-2 Arsenal victory against Chelsea away at Stamford Bridge, moved Arsenal up to 2nd in the table. Winterburn was called up by caretaker managerHoward Wilkinson for the England squad in a friendly againstFrance in 1999 but he was the odd one out from Wilkinson's first XI – Seaman, Adams, Keown and Dixon all started but Winterburn lost out toGraeme Le Saux for the left-back slot and stayed on the bench for the 2–0 defeat.
In 1999–2000, Arsenal again failed to progress beyond the group stages of the Champions League, and therefore entered theUEFA Cup at the third round, where they were drawn againstNantes. During the first leg, which Arsenal won 3–0, Winterburn again scored with a drive into the far, top corner, though this time only from just outside the box.[11] Arsenal went on to reach the UEFA Cup final but Winterburn had been forced out of the team by the BrazilianSylvinho, although he in turn was displaced by the fledglingAshley Cole within another 12 months.
Winterburn joinedWest Ham United in June 2000 for a fee of £250,000 after making 429 league appearances and scoring eight goals for Arsenal.[12] He played 94 games in all competitions for West Ham, scoring one goal in a 1–0 away win againstLeeds United on 18 November 2000.[13] He retired in 2003, with his last game played on 2 February 2003 againstLiverpool.[14]
Winterburn made his full debut for England on 15 November 1989 againstItaly. He made his second and final appearance for the senior national side nearly four years later on 19 June 1993 againstGermany.[15] The regular England left back at this stage wasStuart Pearce.
On 14 July 2008, Winterburn joinedPaul Ince's backroom staff atBlackburn Rovers as defensive coach.[16] Following Ince's dismissal in December 2008, Winterburn was deemed surplus to requirements atEwood Park. New managerSam Allardyce stated, "I spoke to Nigel Winterburn today to say that, from my point of view, in terms of specialist defensive coaching, I think I can look after that area myself now."[17]
In 2013, Winterburn became a pundit forBT Sport at the start of their football coverage. He regularly appears on the programmeBT Sport Score.[18]
Arsenal
Individual
