Legend Nixon To Retire as Goalkeeping Coach

By Deadly Submarine
February 8 2006

Former Tranmere goalkeeper and current coach Eric Nixon has announced he is to retire from the job at the end of this week. The Rovers legend has been a goalkeeping coach at the Club since he retired from playing but has now decided that his legs can take no more and is taking a break.

 

The 43 year-old veteran had a 14-year playing career for Rovers between 1988 and 2002 after impressing then Rovers Manager Johnny King on an initial loan spell at Prenton Park before signing for Rovers permanently for £60,000 from top flight club Manchester City.

 

He went to be part of some of the greatest times in the history of the Club including play-off victories in 1989 and 1991 plus two consecutive Leyland Daf final appearances around the same time.

 

His last appearance for the Club was as a substitute in a league game away at Crewe in 2002 where he replaced the injured loan goalkeeper Phil Whitehead and kept a clean sheet for the twenty minutes he was on the field including a wonderful save to keep Rovers in the game.

 

After leaving Rovers as a player, Nicko had a playing spell at Stockport County before retiring from the game and moving onto his current role of sharing goalkeeping coach duties between Rovers and Stockport.

 

Nicko had a testimonial at Prenton Park where a Tranmere Legends team took on a Manchester City legends team prior to the real thing between Rovers and City in a pre-season friendly game.

 

Due to health concerns lately though, which include bad knees caused by constant ball-kicking when training goalkeepers, Nicko has decided to retire from his coaching roles at Rovers and County at the end of this week to protect his body for the future.

Speaking to the Liverpool Echo, Nixon said “I have had a couple of operations on my knees including a knee replacement in recent years and striking footballs all morning, every day is doing me no favours.  "I do not want to be in a wheelchair by the time I am 60 years old, wondering where it all went wrong.

"The job of a goalkeeping coach puts a lot of strain on your legs. A regular coach does not have to do that much physical work but the goal-keeping coach is kicking balls at keepers all the time.  "I have been coaching for six or seven years as much as I love and enjoy it the job, it is doing my body no favours. I have to look to the future.  "You see a lot of ex-professional footballers hobbling around - and they include me these days."

More recently Nixon has turned his attentions to singing and in particular impersonating Elvis Presley which he did at Prenton Park before Rovers took on Brentford just before Christmas.  He has raised a lot of money for charities by performing as Elvis including Claire House and Clatterbridge Hospital.

Nixon was also voted into Total Tranmere's all-time Dream Team last year.

On behalf of all Tranmere fans, Total Tranmere would like to wish Eric all the best for the future away from football and we sincerely hope he will not become a stranger at Prenton Park in the years to come.