Cod Almighty | Article

by Sam Kinnaird

19 January 2010

Nick Colgan was born in Drogheda, Republic of Ireland 36 years ago. A strapping lad at 6 feet 2, he began his career with his hometown side Drogheda United and was quickly snapped up by Chelsea. The Stamford Bridge side saw Colgan as a promising young keeper, destined for the big time and gave him his first taste of English league football when they handed him his debut in 1992. He spent time on loan at Crewe in 1993, Grimsby in 1994 and Millwall in 1994 without playing a single game. He finally played his long-awaited second match in England when on loan at Brentford in 1997.

Colgan only played five times for the London club before being sent back to Chelsea. Another loan move came in the following season: he went to Reading and played another five games between the sticks. The keeper was beginning to feel frustrated with the lack of football, and left Chelsea for the dizzy heights of Bournemouth in 1998. Again, Colgan endured a season without football and he left Dean Court for Hibernian in the summer of 1999. He played 147 games for Hibs up until his departure in 2004, and spent time on loan at Stockport County during his final year with the Scottish club.

Colgan came back down to England in 2004 when he was snapped up by third division Barnsley. He suffered a difficult first season with the Yorkshire outfit and was sent on loan to Dundee United where he played 15 times. But he returned with changed fortunes, and spent the following season as number one at Oakwell. Some outstanding performances in goal earned him 20 clean sheets, and he saved a penalty in the play-off final shootout at Cardiff against Swansea to send the Tykes back up to the second flight. He also spent the following season as number one at Barnsley before being replaced by summer arrival Heinz Muller and promptly handed in a transfer request.

Struggling for games in the following two seasons, Colgan spent time with Ipswich and Premier League side Sunderland without playing a league game for either. He was released by Sunderland in 2009 where he was snapped up by then Grimsby manager Mike Newell on a two-year contract, not bad going for a 35-year-old! Colgan struggled with injury in the early part of his Mariners career, and battled with loss of form over the Christmas period. Despite this, he has been one of Grimsby’s better players in the first half of the season, despite the club sitting in 23rd position in the fourth division. The Irishman was made club skipper after the departure of defender Ryan Bennett to Peterborough.