Jon Nurse

Jonathan David Nurse (born 28 March 1981) is a Barbadian football coach and former professional footballer who is a first-team coach at Southern Football League club Metropolitan Police.

Nurse was born in Bridgetown, Barbados, and moved to England in 1984, taking up residence in Fulham living with his grandparents and mother.

Nurse began playing football for Malden Vale under-13s, before representing Wallington Wanderers until the age of 17.

During this period, he had unsuccessful trials at both Crystal Palace and Wimbledon.

Nurse joined Morden and District League team Sutton Athletic of Sunday league football.

He stated that he "went on to score lots of goals and was lucky enough to appear in a number of finals and promotion winning teams", as well as saying it was during this time that he "really learnt how to play football".

In 2002, he joined Nuwood of the Surrey South Eastern Combination, and after impressing that season, he subsequently signed for Sutton United.

Nurse began his career at Sutton United in 2003, spending a season with the club before signing for Stevenage Borough ahead of the 2004–05 season.

During the season, he was loaned out to Conference South club Lewes, before returning to his parent club and being part of the team that narrowly missed out on promotion to the Football League.

After playing in the reserve team at the start of the 2003–04 season, scoring regularly, he earned a call-up to the first-team in October 2003.

His first start for Sutton was a game against Basingstoke Town, and he scored his first goal shortly after in a 1–0 away victory at Kettering Town.

The goal served as the catalyst for a run of eight goals in as many games, scoring in eight consecutive matches.

He went on to score 19 times in 28 games that season.

During the season, he had spent time on trial at Colchester United, who invited him back for a second trial, as well as speaking to Wimbledon about a potential trial.

Nurse spoke to Stevenage Borough manager Graham Westley at the end of the season, and agreed to sign for the club on 12 June 2004.

On his move to play in the highest tier of non-league football, Nurse stated – "Graham sold himself firstly and then told me how I would fit in. He then invited me to the stadium and that was all I needed. I had gone from the parks to Sutton United and then seeing Broadhall Way I didn’t need any more convincing. I had the perfect platform to further my career. The ground and training ground were that impressive I wanted to sign straight away".

He made his debut for the club on the opening day of the 2004–05 season, playing the whole match as Stevenage lost 3–1 to Dagenham & Redbridge.

Nurse's first goal for the club came in his sixth appearance on 21 September 2004, scoring the second in a 3–0 win over Farnborough Town at Cherrywood Road.

Nurse found first-team appearances hard to come by due to a number of injuries, and in January 2005, he joined Conference South team Lewes on a loan deal.

He made his debut for Lewes in a 3–2 victory over Hayes on 29 January 2005, and scored his first goals for the club as they defeated Havant & Waterlooville 3–1 at The Dripping Pan.

After scoring three times in seven matches at Lewes, he returned to Stevenage, and subsequently regained his first-team place from March 2005 onwards.

He played in all of the games in Stevenage's run-in as the club made the Conference National play-offs, and came on as a second-half substitute as Stevenage lost 1–0 to Carlisle United in the play-off final at the Britannia Stadium.

During his first season with the club, he scored three times in 22 matches.

Nurse was a regular throughout the 2005–06 season.

He was used on both the right wing and as a striker during the season.

Nurse played in Stevenage's first game of the season, a 3–0 home victory over Altrincham.

His first goal of the season came in late September 2005, scoring a consolation strike with Stevenage already three goals down in an eventual 4–1 defeat to Morecambe at Christie Park.

Nurse went on to add a further four goals to his tally during the second half of the season, finishing the season with nine goals as Stevenage missed out on the play-off places.

He was runner-up to goalkeeper Alan Julian in the club's Player of the Year awards ceremony.

He spent two further seasons at Stevenage, winning the FA Trophy during the 2006–07 season.

At the start of that season, Nurse was briefly loaned out to Woking.

Under the new management of Mark Stimson for the 2006–07 season, Nurse signed a new two-year contract on 6 June 2006.

Having returned from a double hernia operation, he was loaned out for a month to fellow Conference National club Woking on 25 August 2006, in order to regain his fitness.

He played regularly during his time at the Surrey-based club, scoring two goals in eight games, and Woking manager Glenn Cockerill wished to extend the loan agreement.

He eventually moved into the Football League with newly promoted Dagenham & Redbridge in May 2007.

He spent five seasons at Dagenham, notably scoring the winning goal in the League Two play-off final in May 2010 as the club secured promotion to League One.

He signed for League Two team Barnet on a free transfer ahead of the 2012–13 season.

Nurse spent three years at Barnet, culminating in helping the club win promotion back to the Football League during the 2014–15 season under the new role of player-coach.

He then signed for Isthmian League club Metropolitan Police in the summer of 2015 and was appointed player-coach in December 2015.

Nurse also represented his native Barbados at international level, earning six caps.