In this new series we plan to bring extended interviews with some of Glentoran’s greatest ever players, speaking to Media Director Ian Clarke about many interesting aspects of their long, trophy laden careers with the Glens.
2. Colin Nixon
Colin Nixon made his debut against Cliftonville in October 1995 and bowed out against the same team 17 years and 6 months later, winning the last of his 6 Irish Cup Winner’s medal. In between he played an all-time record 794 times for the first team, scoring 88 goals (mostly from right back). He also holds our club record for European with 26 and, while there are no formal records to confirm it, it’s safe to assume that he is also our most decorated player with 25 winner’s medals, including four league titles and six Irish Cups. To do justice to Nicky’s long service to the club (and since I’m a slow typist) this career retrospective will be in 3 instalments,
Part One: The Cassidy Years – debuts and first medals
When I first heard your name, it was Tommy Cassidy saying “there’s a centre half called Colin Nixon in the Colts but he’s going to Rangers, so you won’t see him. Then all of a sudden you were in the team and you were never out of it again. What happened there?
I’d played for Ards Rangers then I went to a youth team called St Andrews. I went there because they were the best youth team and they won everything. Virtually the whole team went to Linfield, but I joined the Glens. before coming to the Glens I’d actually signed forms for Rangers. I was supposed to go there after my GCSEs, but I decided to stay on for my A Levels. Rangers were okay about that, so they came to an agreement to loan me to Glentoran. The Rangers problems started when I got into the Glens first team. That wasn’t really expected. After that bit all got stupid between the two clubs with the Glens asking for what I was told was a pretty big fee at the time. I could have walked away but the reality is I was loving playing for the Glens. I loved it from the very first minute I put on the shirt. It was the only club I ever wanted to play for. That didn’t get resolved so by the time I finished my A Levels Rangers had ripped up the contract and I stayed in the Irish League.
Any regrets about not getting away?
Not really, considering the career and great times I had at Glentoran. Really my only regret is not getting the chance to prove I could make it there, because I truly think I would have. Whether at Rangers or somewhere else. I lost count of the times it nearly happened. I thought I was going TO Leeds at one point. Then Roy Coyle took Stuart Elliott and I to Preston once and we thought it had all been agreed. But for whatever reason they all kept falling through. So eventually I gave up on that and happy to concentrate on Glentoran and winning things with them.
You were very young when you got into the team and stayed there. Were you surprised when Tommy Cassidy picked you at Solitude that day?
No, because I thought I could do it. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I think I would have been in at the start of that season, but I broke my wrist in pre-season training and was out for a couple of months. I was playing for a very successful Seconds team run by Alan Paterson and I felt I was playing well every week. I suppose if you’re playing well you expect a chance and I FELT I was good enough to take the chance with both hands. Then when I got in, I just loved it and wanted more and more.
That was Tommy Cassidy’s second season as manager. How did you think things were when you came in?
I liked Tommy. I thought he was very professional, and we were all prepared to listen to him because he had a great record as a player in England and for Northern Ireland and a decent record as a manager. I enjoyed pre-season with him at Civil Service and enjoyed his training sessions. He was brave enough to give me a chance and to stick by me when I was so young, and we ended up winning the Cup at the end of that season.
Nicky scores v Portadown in February 1996. The first of 88
Two of the biggest talking points around the Oval that season were Glenn Little’s performances and the LIAM Coyle situation. What were your thoughts on those?
Glenn Little stood out. He was different class. He was Premier League quality as he proved when he went on to play there so well. I played behind him at right back and literally I just gave him the ball and let him get on with it. I always l=oved getting forward but there was no need with the way he dominated teams once he had the ball. It was clear he was too good to stay long in Belfast, so it was a real coup for the Glens to get him.
Liam Coyle was a fantastic player with a great touch and great skill. I know him pretty well and he’s a nice guy, but even after all these years it’s a bit of a sour memory of a player who from the start just didn’t want to be there. When you’re in the trenches with a player you need to know you’re all committed. People say he got us to the Cup Final with that goal in the semi final against Crusaders. It was a great goal but the whole team got us there. Remember how earlier in the run we looked dead and buried at Ballymena until Glenn Little scored a brilliant hat trick out of nowhere. You can’t deny Liam’s quality. He was a great player and another great coup for the Glens. But the whole situation was a bit of a mess. I just couldn’t get my head around anyone not wanting to play for Glentoran when I considered myself so lucky to be playing for the club.
That season was the first of your six Irish Cup Final wins. How special is the first one?
I remember the day vividly. Obviously, I knew about Glentoran’s great tradition in the Irish Cup. Big Pete Batey was a god friend of mine. He drove me to matches and training because I was so young, and he looked after me so well. He was in front of me walking out of the tunnel at the old Windsor Park that day. He’s a wee bit taller than me and I just remember him stepping slightly to the side and left me facing THE North Stand. Honestly, I couldn’t describe what it looked like. It was just a sea of red, green and black. It genuinely took my breath away to the point where the only thing I can remember from the match was passing to Glenn Little who went on and scored that great goal to win it for us. It was like a dream for me.
Nicky's first Irish Cup
(photograph by Thomas Sewell)
That was a watershed season for us. As well as winning the cup, along with you we also saw at the end of the season Leeper, Andy Kirk and Stuart Elliott make their debuts. What was it like coming through the ranks with those lads?
We had a really good youth team and won the Youth Cup the year before. The history I have with Paul, Stuart and Andy was great. I think they all made their first team debuts the game before the Cup Final down at Mourneview. I played centre half that day and Tommy was trying to blood them. We had a good win there and you could tell those boys were going to make it. Stuart and Andy had great full-time careers and as far as Paul I concerned history speaks for itself with the great career he had with the Glens.
A big thing with us all coming through together was that we all had one thing in common and that was a massive hunger to play for Glentoran. Paul, Stuart and Andy were all local boys and I’d loved the Glens from no age. We just had four of us who were desperate to play for the first team and when we got there all we wanted to do was play well and win for Glentoran. We wanted to get Glentoran back on top because it had been three or four years without a trophy.
You missed virtually the whole of your second season with injury. What happened?
I di my groin and nobody could really diagnose what the problem was. Really the reason I missed the whole season was the delay in the NHS and finding out what the problem was. Eventually the Glens paid for me to see a surgeon about it. He said even he was in the dark about it, but he gave me two injections and thankfully they did the trick. But I only got back for a few games towards the end of the season.
The following season you weren’t long back before Tommy was away and Coyler was in as manager. How did you feel about losing the manager who gave you your debut?
As I said earlier, I liked Tommy and liked playing for him. Where he fell down a bit was that there was a lot of mockery about him always saying he needed two players. But to be fair he wasn’t far wrong. He brought some great players to the club and if he’d have been able to keep that team together and add the two he wanted it would have been some team. There were some great layers in it. But the expectations at Glentoran are massive, Tommy couldn’t get the two players and he just ran out of time. Bear in mind the next season Roy Coyle got the two players when he brought in two great ones in Scott Young and Tim McCann and we won the league. So maybe Tommy was right all along.
