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Date and Place of Birth 12th August 1962 - SEAHAM
Transfers to and from Burnley from STOKE CITY - 10th July 1996 released - 31st May 1998
First and Last Burnley Games LUTON TOWN (a) - 17th August 1996
BRISTOL ROVERS (h) - 30th August 1997 replaced by Mark Ford
Other Clubs IPSWICH TOWN, MANCHESTER CITY, BIRMINGHAM CITY, STOKE CITY, BRENTFORD (loan from BURNLEY), NORTHAMPTON TOWN (loan from BURNLEY) |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | |||||
| apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | |
| 1996/97 | 32(1) | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | - | 2 | - | 42(1) | 5 |
| 1997/98 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1 | - |
| Total | 33(1) | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | - | 2 | - | 43(1) | 5 |
Profile by Tony Scholes
In the summer of 1996, having escaped the drop back into the bottom division, new manager Adrian Heath was planning changes to his squad ahead of a first full season in charge and on 10th July 1996 his first signing arrived at Turf Moor.
He'd clinched a deal to sign 33-year-old midfielder Nigel Gleghorn from his old club Stoke and on announcing the deal, Heath said: "Howard Kendall once told me your first signing is very important as a manager."
He also dismissed any concerns over Gleghorn's age; he was just over a month away from his 34th birthday. "I don't want fans to look at his birth certificate, I want them to look at what Nigel Gleghorn has achieved on the football field," the manager said.
"He's the fittest player on the staff at Stoke, and everybody knows how hard Lou Macari works his players. I am delighted to be making this signing because this is a player with a great attitude and boundless enthusiasm for the game. People do judge you on your first signing and I don't think Nigel Gleghorn will let anybody down."
The midfielder was happy to be at Burnley, and when he spoke to the local media, he said: "It did not take me long to work out that Burnley was an attractive club and I know from playing there with Stoke just how impressive the stadium is and how passionate the fans are.
"I had offers from 12 other clubs including Rochdale, Wigan, Grimsby, Swansea and Cardiff but Burnley had the best prospects for me. I trained with the squad for the first time yesterday and as soon as I saw some of the faces in the dressing room I knew that the club has potential.
"Adrian Heath is obviously a manager who knows what he wants. He is obviously no pushover and I feel he can take us in the right direction."
Interestingly, Gleghorn's first public appearance for Burnley was next door in what was then an annual cricket match between Burnley Football Club and Burnley Cricket Club. He opened the batting alongside his manager for the football club and the pair of them looked very competent batsmen.
Gleghorn's football career had started as a part time player in the Wearside League with Seaham Red Star but, after going on trial, he was offered a contract with Ipswich at the age of 23. He was reluctant to give up his job as a fire fighter but was persuaded to give it a go by his wife.
He soon realised it was a good decision and within a matter of a few weeks he was lining up for Ipswich in a First Division game against Arsenal, and he played almost 70 times for them in a three year stay at Portman Road.
His next port of call was Man City and his timing was perfect, going straight into the side that won promotion to the First Division in his only full season there. Having been part of such a promotion, it was a surprise that early in the next season he was sold to Birmingham, a move that saw him drop two leagues, for a fee of £175,000. It was Dave Mackay, the former Spurs and Derby wing half who was manager at St. Andrew's at the time.
In three years there he also played for both Macari and Terry Cooper and it was a good three years. They won the Leyland DAF Trophy in 1991 and in the following season won promotion with Gleghorn scoring 22 goals from midfield.
Macari had been so impressed with him that he took him to Stoke in October 1992. He enjoyed four years in the Potteries, although his time there could be split into three. He was utilised, as he had been at ever other club, as an attacking midfielder by Macari, but when Joe Jordan came in he used him as a defensive midfield player.
In his first season there he won another promotion from the third to the second tier (at the time the First and Second Divisions) and in the 1995/96 season was an ever present in the Stoke side that reached the play-offs, losing out on a place in the Premier League to Leicester who had finished the season with two points less.
He'd scored another ten goals in that season so it was something of a surprise when Stoke released him, the decision confirmed as the club needing to reduce their wage bill ahead of the move from the Victoria Ground to the Britannia Stadium.
He arrived at Turf Moor having signed a two year deal. It was his last ever permanent transfer but he didn't ever threaten to be the big signing Heath had promised. He turned in some good performances during that first season, when he also assumed the captaincy, but there were also some games where he didn't play anything like as well.
His season at Burnley virtually came to an abrupt end in February. He was forced off with an injury in a 0-0 draw at Bournemouth that was confirmed a couple of days later as damaged medial knee ligaments and he didn't play again until the last game of the season when he came on as a substitute for Gerry Harrison in a 4-1 win against Watford.
By the time we kicked off for the new season, Turf Moor had a different look to it with Chris Waddle having replaced Heath as manager. The new boss didn't have the same enthusiasm for Gleghorn in midfield as the previous boss had and Gleghorn's Burnley career was all but finished.
He was made available for transfer but nothing happened during the pre-season and, after a poor start, he did get an appearance, replacing Mark Ford for the fourth game of the season, a 0-0 home draw against Bristol Rovers.
That was it; he didn't feature again and in November was allowed to join Brentford on a month's loan which was then extended to two months.
A second loan came a month later and on the same weekend he'd suffered that injury at Bournemouth, he came on as a late substitute for Northampton at home against Southend. He'd been a regular starter at Brentford but at Northampton was used more often as a substitute although he was in their starting line up on 4th April 1998.
I'm not sure why, given our desperate need for points, but we allowed him to play against us for Northampton in a crucial game at the Sixfields Stadium. He played the first half during which Andy Payton scored the only goal of the game before being replaced at half time by Ali Gibb.
it was his last game as a professional footballer and I don't think many can claim to have played their last ever game against their own club.
He moved into non-league football as player coach at Altrincham and then as player manager with Witton Albion, Nantwich Town and Newcastle Town, combining this with working in the sports studies department of a further education college.
His most successful period was with Nantwich, during which time they played Burnley in a pre-season friendly, but he left when they wanted him to go full time.
Since, he's kept involved with the game doing some broadcasting for radio, running college football teams and also being involved with talent identification for the FA.
Maybe Nigel Gleghorn didn't prove to be a great success at Burnley but he did have a very good career in the game, even more so when you consider that he was 23 before joining his first professional club.