Nigel Cassidy (7 December 1945 – 19 May 2008) was an English footballer.

Nigel Cassidy
Personal information
Date of birth 7 December 1945
Place of birth Sudbury, England
Date of death 19 May 2008(2008-05-19) (aged 62)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
1961–1963 Norwich City
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1963–1967 Lowestoft Town 94 (103)
1967–1968 Norwich City 3 (0)
1968–1970 Scunthorpe United 88 (35)
1970–1974 Oxford United 116 (33)
1974–1975 Cambridge United 43 (11)
1975 Denver Dynamos 20 (1)
1975 Cambridge United 11 (2)
Bicester Town
Managerial career
Bicester Town
Banbury United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Career

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Cassidy was born in Sudbury, Suffolk; his father Francis Arthur Michael Cassidy had played for Norwich City before World War II.[1] Cassidy joined Norwich as a 15-year old, but was released two years later.[2] He joined non-league side Lowestoft Town in the Eastern Counties League, also working at local firm Birds Eye. He initially played in Lowestoft's reserve team before moving up to the first team during the 1964–65 season and going on to score 103 goals in 91 games prior to rejoining Norwich in July 1967.[2][3][4][5] He managed to make three league appearances for the team before making a move to Fourth Division side Scunthorpe United in December 1968.[3][6] He made 88 appearances and scored 35 goals in the league for Scunthorpe before leaving for Oxford United in November 1970,[3] making a return to the Second Division.[3][7]

His stay at Oxford saw him make 116 league appearances, in which he scored 33 goals, until he joined Cambridge United in March 1974,[3] who were relegated to the Fourth Division at the end of the 1973–74 season.[3][8] He spent the summer of 1975 with Denver Dynamos in the North American Soccer League, where he made 20 appearances and scored one goal.[9] He returned to Cambridge for the 1975–76 season after finishing his spell in America and finished his Cambridge career with 54 league appearances and 13 goals.[3][9] He was forced to retire after an achilles tendon injury suffered in a match in 1975.[9] He subsequently spent four years as player-manager at Bicester Town and then two years as manager of Banbury United,[10] as well as running the Black Bull pub in Launton and the Shakespeare pub in Bicester, before moving to Wadebridge in Cornwall where he ran the Molesworth Arms for almost 20 years.[11][1]

He died on 19 May 2008 after suffering from a short illness.[12]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Children's sports trust founded in memory of Nigel West Briton, 6 May 2009
  2. ^ a b Lowestoft great Nigel Cassidy dies Archived 11 September 2016 at the Wayback Machine The Lowestoft Journal, 21 May 2008
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Hugman, Barry J. (2005). The PFA Premier & Football League Players' Records 1946-2005. Queen Anne Press. p. 112. ISBN 1-85291-665-6.
  4. ^ "LOWESTOFT TOWN". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
  5. ^ "NORWICH CITY". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
  6. ^ "SCUNTHORPE UNITED". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
  7. ^ "OXFORD UNITED". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
  8. ^ "CAMBRIDGE UNITED". Football Club History Database. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
  9. ^ a b c "Nigel Cassidy". Bob and 1970-71 Footballers. Archived from the original on 15 September 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2008.
  10. ^ Nigel Cassidy 1945 - 2008 Oxford United Exiles
  11. ^ Match to honour United hero Oxford Times, 16 September 2008
  12. ^ "Oxford United great Cassidy dies". BBC Sport. 21 May 2008. Retrieved 21 May 2008.