Nicky Cross

Nicholas Jeremy Rowland Cross (born 7 February 1961) is an English former footballer who played as a forward. He scored 128 goals in 481 league games in a sixteen-year career in the Football League, playing for five different clubs.

Nicky Cross

Personal information
Full name	Nicholas Jeremy Rowland Cross[1]
Date of birth	7 February 1961[1]
Place of birth	Birmingham, England[1]
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[2]
Position(s)	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1980–1985	West Bromwich Albion	105	(15)
1985–1987	Walsall	109	(45)
1987–1989	Leicester City	58	(15)
1989–1994	Port Vale	144	(39)
1994–1996	Hereford United	65	(14)
	Solihull Borough
Total		481	(128)
Teams managed
	Redditch United
	Studley KBL
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

He began his career at top-flight West Bromwich Albion in 1980, and played more than 100 games in a five-year spell, before moving on to Walsall for a £48,000 fee. He also played more than 100 games for Walsall, scoring 45 league goals, before he was sold on to Leicester City for a £80,000 fee in January 1988. He was sold on to Port Vale for a £125,000 fee in June 1989, and would play a total of 176 games for the club in league and cup competitions, winning the Football League Trophy in 1993, and helping the club to promotion out of the Third Division in 1993–94. After this success he spent two years with Hereford United, before heading into non-league football with Solihull Borough in 1996. He later managed Redditch United and Studley KBL, before heading into the financial sector.

Playing career

West Bromwich Albion

Cross started his career at First Division side West Bromwich Albion in 1980, as the club finished fourth in the league under Ron Atkinson in 1980–81. The club struggled under Ronnie Allen's stewardship in 1981–82, avoiding relegation by only two points. They went on to finish in mid-table in 1982–83 under Ron Wylie, before Wylie was replaced by Johnny Giles in February 1984. At the end of the 1983–84 campaign, West Brom avoided relegation by a narrow three-point margin. At the end of the 1984–85 season, Cross left The Hawthorns to sign with Walsall, who paid a £48,000 transfer fee. He had played a total of 105 league games for West Brom, scoring 15 goals.

Walsall

Dropping from the top-flight down to Alan Buckley's Third Division "Saddlers", Cross finished the 1985–86 season as the club's top-scorer with 21 goals. Walsall pushed for promotion in 1986–87 under new manager Tommy Coakley, but finished three points off the play-offs. Walsall would win promotion out of the play-offs in 1988, though Cross left the club before the end of the 1987–88 campaign. He had played a total of 109 league games for Walsall, scoring 45 goals.

Leicester City

In January 1988, Cross signed with David Pleat's Leicester City for a £80,000 fee so as to provide support for Mike Newell in attack.[3] He became a favourite of Pleat, ahead of Jimmy Quinn in the first-team pecking order.[4] The "Foxes" posted comfortable mid-table finishes in 1987–88 and 1988–89; Cross made a total of 58 league appearances, scoring 15 goals.

Port Vale

Cross signed with Leicester's newly promoted Second Division rivals Port Vale for a £125,000 fee in June 1989.[1] He went straight into the first team at Vale, and played a total of 50 games in 1989–90, scoring 15 goals.[1] His first goal for the club came against former club Leicester, in a 2–1 win at Vale Park on 7 October.[1] He scored braces in wins against Barnsley, Plymouth Argyle, and Brighton & Hove Albion, and also netted the winner against top-flight Derby County in an FA Cup Third Round replay at the Baseball Ground.[1] He played 22 games in 1990–91, scoring three goals, until he was sidelined for fourteen months after he damaged his knee ligaments in December.[1] He returned to action at the end of the 1991–92 campaign, playing eight games as the "Valiants" were relegated into the Third Division (which was immediately renamed the Second Division due to the creation of the Premier League).[1]

He was a key first team member again in the club's 1992–93 promotion push, scoring 12 goals in 47 games.[1] He scored against former club West Brom on 27 February, in a 2–1 home victory.[1] However Vale finished third in the league, and faced the "Baggies" again in the play-off Final at Wembley Stadium on 30 May; Cross was a substitute as Vale lost 3–0 after going down to ten men.[1] Eight days earlier though, Vale had beaten Stockport County at Wembley in the final of the Football League Trophy – Cross was an unused substitute.[1] The club went on to finish the 1993–94 campaign as Second Division runners-up, and were thus promoted; Cross contributed twelve goals to the success, half of which came in the space of three consecutive October league games against Wrexham, Hull City,[5] and Blackpool – later in the season he scored another brace against Blackpool in the return fixture.[1]

Later career

At age 33 he was given a free transfer to Hereford United in May 1994; he had scored a total of 43 goals in 176 games for Port Vale in all competitions.[1] He would play a total of 85 games for the "Bulls" in all competitions, scoring 18 goals, as they posted a sixteenth-place finish in 1994–95, before missing out on promotion out of the Third Division in 1995–96 after losing out to Darlington at the play-off semi-final stage. Following this disappointment he joined non-league side Solihull Borough. He helped Solihull to reach the First Round of the FA Cup for the second time in their history in 1997–98, and scored in both their 1–1 draw with Darlington at Feethams, and the 3–3 draw in the replay at Damson Park – Darlington won the resulting penalty shoot-out.

Style of play

Cross was a tenacious and intelligent forward who could hold the ball up well to make up for his lack of pace and dominance in the air.[4][6]

Post-retirement

After hanging up his boots as a player, he managed non-league sides Redditch United and Studley KBL, before leaving the game completely in 2004,[7] to work in finance.

Statistics

Source:[8][9]

Club	Season	Division	League		FA Cup		Other		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
West Bromwich Albion	1980–81	First Division	2	1	0	0	0	0	2	1
	1981–82	First Division	22	2	2	0	3	1	27	3
	1982–83	First Division	32	4	1	0	1	1	34	5
	1983–84	First Division	25	3	1	0	3	0	29	3
	1984–85	First Division	24	5	1	1	2	1	27	7
	Total		105	15	5	1	9	3	129	19
Walsall	1985–86	Third Division	44	21	4	1	5	2	53	24
	1986–87	Third Division	39	16	7	2	5	0	51	18
	1987–88	Third Division	26	8	2	0	7	1	35	9
	Total		109	45	13	3	17	3	139	51
Leicester City	1987–88	Second Division	17	6	0	0	0	0	17	6
	1988–89	Second Division	41	9	1	0	6	1	48	10
	Total		58	15	1	0	6	1	65	16
Port Vale	1989–90	Second Division	42	13	3	1	5	1	50	15
	1990–91	Second Division	19	2	0	0	3	0	22	2
	1991–92	Second Division	8	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
	1992–93	Second Division	38	12	4	0	6	0	48	12
	1993–94	Second Division	37	12	5	0	5	1	47	13
	Total		144	39	12	1	19	2	175	42
Hereford United	1994–95	Third Division	28	6	2	0	6	1	36	7
	1995–96	Third Division	37	8	4	1	8	2	49	11
	Total		65	14	6	1	14	3	85	18
Career total			481	128	37	6	65	12	583	146

Honours

Port Vale

• Football League Trophy: 1993[10]
• Football League Third Division second-place promotion: 1993–94

References

1. Kent, Jeff (1996). Port Vale Personalities. Witan Books. p. 71. ISBN 0-9529152-0-0.
2. Rollin, Jack, ed. (1980). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1980–81. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 376. ISBN 0362020175.
3. Edwards, Leigh. "Ultimate Saddlers A–Z 5". saddlers.co.uk. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
4. "Nicky Cross | Leicester City career stats - FoxesTalk". FoxesTalk. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
5. Shaw, Phil (11 October 1993). "Football Commentary: Crossfire forces Hull's fall from heights". The Independent. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
6. Fielding, Rob (29 May 2020). "Cult hero 67: Nicky Cross". onevalefan.co.uk. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
7. "Where are they now ?". ynw62.dial.pipex.com. Archived from the original on 27 April 2012. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
8. Nicky Cross at the English National Football Archive (subscription required)
9. Nicky Cross at Soccerbase
10. Kent, Jeff (1993). The Port Vale Record 1879–1993. Witan Books. p. 236. ISBN 0-9508981-9-8.