Nick Colgan

Nicholas Vincent Colgan (born 19 September 1973) is an Irish football coach and former professional footballer who is goalkeeping coach at EFL League Two side Stockport County.

As a player, he was a goalkeeper from 1991 to 2013 and first briefly played for his hometown club Drogheda United between 1991 and 1992 before signing for Premier League side Chelsea.

Whilst at Stamford Bridge he often found himself as back-up to the likes of Dmitri Kharine and Frode Grodas and spent time on loan at Crewe Alexandra, Grimsby Town, Millwall, Brentford and Reading.

Born in Drogheda, County Louth, Nick Colgan began his football career with his hometown club Drogheda United in 1991.

He remained at United Park for one season as a professional while he was scouted by overseas clubs.

This would eventually see Nick Colgan depart United and move to England.

Colgan signed professional terms with Chelsea, who at the time were a founding club of the newly designed FA Premier League in the summer of 1992, although he had appeared in their youth team 6 times in 1990/91, becoming their regular goalkeeper for the following season.

The Blues were managed at the time by Ian Porterfield and Colgan was designated as the third choice keeper at Stamford Bridge behind Dmitri Kharine and Kevin Hitchcock.

In February 1993, Porterfield was sacked and was replaced by player-manager Glenn Hoddle, who in turn put Colgan up for loan.

In September 1993, Colgan was signed by Dario Gradi in a one-month loan spell with Crewe Alexandra, however he failed to make an appearance for the club and soon returned to Stamford Bridge.

During the 1994–1995 season joined up with Alan Buckley at Grimsby Town who used him as a deputy keeper to Paul Crichton, but also Colgan went unused at Blundell Park during his spell in Humberside.

During the 1995–1996 campaign, Colgan joined London city rivals Millwall on a further loan deal but he again failed to make a first team appearance.

That season Chelsea won the 1996–97 FA Cup.

Colgan was on the bench in the semi-final against Wimbledon but for the match day squad of the final Kevin Hitchcock was on the bench instead of Colgan.

For the 1996–1997 season, Hoddle was replaced by Ruud Gullit who handed Colgan his first team professional debut playing in a 3–2 away defeat at the hands of West Ham United on 12 March 1997.

Colgan had filled in for the then current first choice Frode Grodas who sat the game out on the bench.

The Chelsea team that day featured the likes of Gianfranco Zola, Gianluca Vialli, Dan Petrescu, Dennis Wise and Mark Hughes.

The West Hame game would be his only taste of first team football for Chelsea, however he would go on to make 5 loan appearances each for both Brentford and Reading during the 1997–1998 season.

He joined AFC Bournemouth permanently in 1998 where he stayed for a year before a move to Scottish Premier League club Hibernian.

In the summer of 1998, Chelsea now managed by Gianluca Vialli released Colgan from the club.

In July 1998, fresh from his release from Chelsea, Colgan signed on a free transfer for AFC Bournemouth.

Colgan would make not one single appearance for the club during his only season at Dean Court, with him playing second fiddle to Mark Ovendale for the entire season.

Colgan made over 120 appearances in the league between 1999 and 2004 and went on to earn his first full international cap for the Republic of Ireland.

During the summer of 1999, Colgan signed with Scottish Premier League club Hibernian.

His first season at Easter Road he made 31 appearances for the club, and was looked upon as the first choice keeper in a side that boasted Olafur Gottskalksson and John Campbell.

He went on to make a total of 147 appearances in all competitions between joining in 1999 and his departure in the summer of 2004.

During the 2003–2004 season, Colgan was loaned out, where he spent most of the season with Stockport County.

County were under a squad re-shuffle that had seen them use Lee Jones, James Spencer, Boaz Myhill, Anthony Williams and Colgan in the net that season.

At the end of the season, Colgan was linked with a permanent move to Stockport but the transfer never materialised.

In 2004 following a loan spell with Stockport County he joined Barnsley where he played for four years and also helping the club to promotion to the Football League Championship in 2006.

In the summer of 2004, Colgan signed for Barnsley, where he endured a tough first season only playing in 15 games and ending up on loan to Dundee United for 3 months.

The 2005–2006 Barnsley campaign showed a turn of fortune for Colgan as he became the team's first choice keeper.

His outstanding displays during the season earned him 20 clean sheets in total as well as the title of Barnsley's Player of the Year and helped the team reach the League One Play-off final at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff on 27 May 2006 where despite a mistake letting Swansea City take the lead, he recovered to make a historic save from Alan Tate in the penalty shoot out which ensured Barnsley won their place back in the Championship.

On 4 October 2007 he handed in a transfer request at Barnsley after losing his place to summer arrival Heinz Müller.

Manager Simon Davey accepted the request.

In 2008, he joined Ipswich Town as an understudy to Stephen Bywater but left the club a few months later after failing to make an appearance, and with that returned to the Premier League when he joined Sunderland.

A year later he returned to Grimsby Town and was the first choice keeper when the club were to lose their Football League following relegation to the Conference.

Colgan lost his place in the team the following year and was loaned out to Huddersfield Town before later making the move permanent.

During the 2011–12 season Colgan began coaching youngsters back at former club Barnsley as well as continuing to play with Huddersfield.

In July 2012 he signed a new contract with Huddersfield to make him the club's academy goalkeeping coach as well as still making himself available as a player.