| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Nicholas Jeremy Rowland Cross[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1961-02-07)7 February 1961 (age 65)[1] | ||
| Place of birth | Birmingham, England[1] | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2] | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| West Bromwich Albion | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1980–1985 | West Bromwich Albion | 105 | (15) |
| 1985–1987 | Walsall | 109 | (45) |
| 1987–1989 | Leicester City | 58 | (15) |
| 1989–1994 | Port Vale | 144 | (39) |
| 1994–1996 | Hereford United | 65 | (14) |
| Solihull Borough | |||
| Total | 481 | (128) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| Redditch United | |||
| Studley KBL | |||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Nicholas Jeremy Rowland Cross (born 7 February 1961) is an English former professionalfootballer who played as aforward. He scored 128 goals in 481 league games in a 16-year career in theFootball League, playing for five clubs.
He began his career at top-flightWest Bromwich Albion in 1980 and played more than 100 games in five years before moving on toWalsall for a £48,000 fee. He also played over 100 games for Walsall, scoring 45 league goals, before being sold on toLeicester City for a £80,000 fee in January 1988. He was sold toPort Vale for a £125,000 fee in June 1989. He would play a total of 176 games for the club in league and cup competitions, winning theFootball League Trophy in1993 and helping the club topromotion out of theThird Division in1993–94. After this success, he spent two years withHereford United before heading intonon-League football withSolihull Borough in 1996. He later managedRedditch United and Studley KBL before heading into the financial sector.
Cross started his career atFirst Division sideWest Bromwich Albion in 1980, as the club finished fourth in the league underRon Atkinson in1980–81. The club struggled underRonnie Allen's stewardship in1981–82, avoidingrelegation by only two points. They went on to finish in mid-table in1982–83 underRon Wylie before Wylie was replaced byJohnny Giles in February 1984. At the end of the1983–84 campaign, West Brom avoided relegation by a narrow three-point margin. At the end of the1984–85 season, Cross leftThe Hawthorns to sign withWalsall, who paid a £48,000transfer fee.[3] He had played a total of 105 league games for West Brom, scoring 15 goals.
Dropping from the top-flight down toAlan Buckley'sThird Division "Saddlers", Cross finished the1985–86 season as the club's top-scorer with 21 goals. Walsall pushed forpromotion in1986–87 under newmanagerTommy Coakley, but finished three points off theplay-offs. Walsall would win promotion out ofthe play-offs in 1988, though Cross left the club before the end of the1987–88 campaign. He had played 109 league games for Walsall, scoring 45 goals.
In January 1988, Cross signed withDavid Pleat'sLeicester City for a £80,000 fee to provide support forMike Newell in attack.[4] He became a favourite of Pleat, ahead ofJimmy Quinn in the first-team pecking order.[5] The "Foxes" posted comfortable mid-table finishes in1987–88 and1988–89; Cross made a total of 58 league appearances, scoring 15 goals. He played in astrike partnership withDavid Kelly.[6]
Cross signed with Leicester's newly promotedSecond Division rivalsPort Vale for a £125,000 fee in June 1989.[1] He went straight into the first-team at Vale, and played a total of 50 games in1989–90, scoring 15 goals.[1] His first goal for the club came against former club Leicester, in a 2–1 win atVale Park on 7 October.[1] He scored braces in wins againstBarnsley,Plymouth Argyle, andBrighton & Hove Albion, and also netted the winner against top-flightDerby County in anFA Cup third roundreplay at theBaseball Ground.[1] He played 22 games in1990–91, scoring three goals, until he was sidelined for 14 months after he damaged his kneeligaments in December.[1] He had agreed to sign a newcontract, which was torn up by the club after he sustained the injury.[3] He returned to action at the end of the1991–92 campaign, playing eight games as the "Valiants" were relegated to the Third Division (which was immediately renamed the Second Division due to the creation of thePremier League).[1]
Cross was a key first-team member again in the club's1992–93 promotion push, scoring 12 goals in 47 games.[1] On 24 November, he provided threeassists during a 3–1 win overPotteries derby rivalsStoke City in aFA Cup replay.[3] He scored against former club West Brom on 27 February 1993, in a 2–1 home victory.[1] However, Vale finished third in the league, and faced the "Baggies" again in theplay-off final atWembley Stadium on 30 May; Cross was asubstitute as Vale lost 3–0 after going down to ten men.[1] Eight days earlier though, Vale had beatenStockport County at Wembley inthe final of theFootball League Trophy – Cross was an unused substitute.[1] The club went on to finish the1993–94 campaign as Second Division runners-up, and were thus promoted; Cross contributed twelve goals to the success, half of which came in the space of three consecutive October league games againstWrexham,Hull City,[7] andBlackpool – later in the season he scored another brace against Blackpool in the return fixture.[1] He scored a total of 43 goals in 176 games in all competitions forJohn Rudge's Port Vale.[1]
At age 33, he was given afree transfer toHereford United in May 1994.[1] He would play a total of 85 games for the "Bulls" in all competitions, scoring 18 goals, as they posted a 16th-place finish in1994–95, before missing out on promotion out of the Third Division under the stewardship ofGraham Turner in1995–96 after losing out toDarlington at the play-off semi-final stage. Following this disappointment, he joinednon-League sideSolihull Borough. He helped Solihull to reach the first round of theFA Cup for the second time in their history in1997–98 and scored in both their 1–1 draw withDarlington atFeethams, and the 3–3 draw in the replay atDamson Park – Darlington won the resultingpenalty shoot-out.
Cross was a tenacious and intelligentforward who could hold the ball up well to make up for his lack of pace and dominance in the air.[5][8]
After hanging up his boots as a player, he managed non-League sidesRedditch United and Studley KBL, before leaving the game completely in 2004,[9] to work as afinancial advisor.[3]
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | Other | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| West Bromwich Albion | 1980–81 | First Division | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| 1981–82 | First Division | 22 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 27 | 3 | |
| 1982–83 | First Division | 32 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 34 | 5 | |
| 1983–84 | First Division | 25 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 29 | 3 | |
| 1984–85 | First Division | 24 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 27 | 7 | |
| Total | 105 | 15 | 5 | 1 | 9 | 3 | 129 | 19 | ||
| Walsall | 1985–86 | Third Division | 44 | 21 | 4 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 53 | 24 |
| 1986–87 | Third Division | 39 | 16 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 51 | 18 | |
| 1987–88 | Third Division | 26 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 35 | 9 | |
| Total | 109 | 45 | 13 | 3 | 17 | 3 | 139 | 51 | ||
| Leicester City | 1987–88 | Second Division | 17 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 6 |
| 1988–89 | Second Division | 41 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 48 | 10 | |
| Total | 58 | 15 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 65 | 16 | ||
| Port Vale | 1989–90 | Second Division | 42 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 50 | 15 |
| 1990–91 | Second Division | 19 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 22 | 2 | |
| 1991–92 | Second Division | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | |
| 1992–93 | Second Division | 38 | 12 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 48 | 12 | |
| 1993–94 | Second Division | 37 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 47 | 13 | |
| Total | 144 | 39 | 12 | 1 | 19 | 2 | 175 | 42 | ||
| Hereford United | 1994–95 | Third Division | 28 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 36 | 7 |
| 1995–96 | Third Division | 37 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 49 | 11 | |
| Total | 65 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 14 | 3 | 85 | 18 | ||
| Career total | 481 | 128 | 37 | 6 | 65 | 12 | 583 | 146 | ||
Port Vale
