Pat Nevin

Pat Nevin

Personal information
Full name	Patrick Kevin Francis Michael Nevin
Height	Template:Ft in to m
Position(s)	Winger
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1981–1983	Clyde	73	(17)
1983–1988	Chelsea	193	(36)
1988–1992	Everton	109	(16)
1992–1997	Tranmere Rovers	193	(30)
1997–1998	Kilmarnock	34	(6)
1998–2000	Motherwell	58	(2)
Total		660	(107)
International career
1986–1996	Scotland	28	(5)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Patrick Kevin Francis Michael Nevin (born 6 September 1963 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former footballer. In a 20-year career he played for Clyde, Chelsea, Everton, Tranmere Rovers, Kilmarnock and Motherwell as a winger. Nevin was a fans' favourite at Chelsea during the 1980s. He also won 28 caps for Scotland, scattered across a 10 year international career, and he was selected for the UEFA Euro 1992 finals squad. Since retiring as a player, Nevin has worked as a chief executive of Motherwell and as a football writer and broadcaster.

Professional career

Clyde

Nevin trained with Celtic as a youngster, but was rejected for being too small. He was signed by Clyde in 1981. In his first season, the club were promoted as Scottish Second Division champions; Nevin scored twelve goals and was voted young player of the year for the division.

Chelsea

Nevin joined Chelsea in the summer of 1983 for £95,000, joining fellow new recruits Kerry Dixon, Nigel Spackman, David Speedie and Eddie Niedzwiecki in manager John Neal's new-look Chelsea side. Nevin's skill and pace made him a pivotal player at Chelsea and a firm favourite with the fans.

In 1983–84, he scored 14 goals, created numerous others for the likes of Dixon and Speedie and put in some dazzling performances – during a 4–0 win over Newcastle United, he tormented the opposition defence, leaving five defenders trailing in his wake – as Chelsea won promotion as Second Division champions. In the same season he was voted Chelsea's player of the year. Chelsea finished a respectable sixth in the First Division the following year and reached the Milk Cup semi-finals, where Nevin was once again the star turn, setting up three goals in the quarter-final against Sheffield Wednesday as Chelsea came back from 3–0 down to draw 4–4; he also set up the winner for Speedie in the replay. The club were in the title race for much of the next season, with Nevin scoring a late equaliser against Liverpool at Anfield and a crucial header against West Ham United to seal a 2–1 win, though a late collapse saw Chelsea finish sixth. A year later, the club's performances dropped and they finished 14th, though Nevin was again voted Chelsea player of the year.

Everton

Chelsea were relegated in 1988 and Nevin was sold to Everton for £925,000. He scored 20 goals in 138 appearances for the club, but struggled to re-capture his previous form with manager Colin Harvey adopting a far more rigid system. He helped the side reach the FA Cup final in 1989, scoring the winner against Norwich City in the semi-final, but they lost 3–2 in the final to arch-rivals Liverpool.

Howard Kendall returned to the club as manager in November 1990; he and Nevin openly disagreed with each other, which reduced Nevin's playing opportunities, as did the arrival of new wingers Robert Warzycha and Mark Ward.

Nevin was unfortunate to arrive at Everton just after one of the finest spells in their history, when they had collected two league titles, an FA Cup and the European Cup Winners' Cup. In contrast, Nevin's four seasons at the club saw a runners-up medal in the FA Cup (1989) being the closest he came to being part of a trophy winning side, and they never finished higher than sixth in the league (1990).

Tranmere Rovers

Nevin spent time on loan with fellow Merseyside club Tranmere Rovers, then in the second tier of English football, before signing permanently in 1992. The club competed in the Division One play-offs in three consecutive seasons (1992–1993, 1993–1994 and 1994–1995) but on each occasion they were eliminated in the semi-final.

Return to Scotland

In 1997, Nevin returned to Scotland and played for Kilmarnock and later Motherwell before retiring in 2000.

International career

In 1981 while playing for Clyde, he travelled to Finland to play for the Scotland under-19 team at the European Youth Championships and was named player of the tournament after helping Scotland win it.

Nevin won 28 caps for the Scottish national side, making his debut against Romania in 1986. He scored five goals in a ten-year international career and played at Euro 92, but was not selected in the final squads for the 1986 or 1990 World Cups. He made his final appearance for Scotland in 1996.

Retirement

After retiring as a player, Nevin had a stint as chief executive of Motherwell. He resigned from the position in April 2002 after chairman John Boyle decided to place the club in administration due to serious financial problems.

He now works as a football pundit for BBC Scotland's Sportscene, Channel Five and BBC Radio Five Live. Nevin co-wrote a book, In Ma Head, Son, with psychologist Dr George Sik that was published in 1997. The book covers his experiences at Tranmere Rovers during the 1996–97 season and eschews the typical footballer's autobiography being a dialogue with Sik which explores his worries, motivation and troubles as he comes to the end of his playing career.

He has an arts degree from Glasgow Caledonian University. He was noted during his playing days for being somewhat different from the stereotypical footballer, especially through his interest in literature and the arts, and in his musical tastes, preferring The Fall and Joy Division to Phil Collins or Lionel Richie. As such, he was interviewed by the NME and was a guest presenter on Radio City during his Everton and Tranmere career. Nevin now lives in Duns, with his wife and two children. At the second Bowlie Weekender, hosted by ATP he played a barnstorming DJ set, wowing the indiepop kids of Minehead by playing Belle & Sebastian, Orange Juice and "My New House" by The Fall while wearing a The Pains of Being Pure at Heart t-shirt. The following day he slipped an indiepop reference onto 5 Live while talking about the Man Utd vs Arsenal match. Listen here: [1].

In 2010 Nevin signed as a non-playing substitute for new club Chester FC after Colin Murray of BBC Radio 5 live offered the new club £2,000 if they named Nevin and Perry Groves as unused substitutes at every game in the 2010-11 season.

Personal life

Nevin grew up supporting Celtic, but now supports SPL rivals Hibernian, watching games at Easter Road when he is not otherwise engaged for football commentary. He has been reported to have switched allegiances for, among other things, feeling that his boyhood heroes had become a large corporate organisation and that Celtic Park no longer felt like home. He also supports his former club Chelsea, and writes a weekly column for the Chelsea website.

External links

• Profile from BBC Press Office
• Pat Nevin on the Chelsea in America Celebrity Podcast (2009).