Nicky Eaden

**Nicholas Jeremy Eaden** (born 12 December 1972) is an English former professional footballer who played as a defender, accumulating 550 appearances in the Football League.

## Playing career

Born in Sheffield, Eaden started his career at local Barnsley F.C., contributing to their promotion to the Premiership before joining Birmingham City in July 2000. Eaden also had a successful spell with Wigan Athletic, winning promotion from the then Division Two and then into the Premiership. Whilst at Birmingham he played in the 2001 Football League Cup Final.

He joined Nottingham Forest in 2005. Despite being successful with most of his previous clubs, caretaker managers Frank Barlow and Ian McParland did not include him in the first matchday squad in the 2006–07 season after an indifferent debut season in the East Midlands, although he had been promoted with every club he had been at prior to joining Forest.

On 31 August 2006 he joined League Two side Lincoln City on loan, initially for a month, which was later extended to the maximum 93-day total. He then returned to Forest, but was again loaned to Lincoln in January 2007, this time for the rest of the season.

Released by Forest, Eaden signed for Halesowen Town of the Southern League, making just one appearance. In September 2007 Eaden signed for Solihull Moors of the Conference North; after only one appearance he left for fellow Conference North side Kettering Town, making his debut in the 1–1 draw at Nuneaton Borough on 20 October 2007.

## Coaching career

Eaden, initially a player-coach at Kettering, became assistant to manager Mark Cooper after the 2008–09 season. In November 2009, Cooper was appointed manager of Championship club Peterborough United, and Eaden accompanied him, again as assistant manager. A year later, he left the club by mutual consent.

On 22 March 2011, Eaden joined the coaching staff of Rotherham United on a contract until the end of the season, working under his one-time Barnsley teammate Andy Liddell. After Liddell lost out to Andy Scott for the full-time manager's role at the club, Eaden departed at the end of his contract, but was quickly back in work agreeing a two-year contract to become assistant manager to Marcus Law at Tamworth. However, just a week later Eaden announced he had suffered a change of heart and would not be taking up the post, instead taking up the same role at Kettering Town.

During the 2012–13 season, Eaden worked alongside Steve Beaglehole for Leicester City under-21s as a coach. Eaden was also named on the bench for an under-21 game against Huddersfield Town as one of three over-aged players.

On 4 February 2016, Eaden joined Rotherham United as assistant manager to Neil Redfearn. He signed a contract until the end of the 2017–18 season. Five days later, Redfearn was dismissed, and Eaden took on the role of caretaker manager. Before their next match, Rotherham appointed Neil Warnock as manager, and Eaden was kept on the staff as first-team coach.

On 3 June 2016, Eaden departed Rotherham United, a day after the appointment of new manager Alan Stubbs.

On 20 July 2016, Eaden was appointed Senior Development Coach at Coventry City under Tony Mowbray.

On 15 June 2018, Eaden was announced as the new manager of National League North club Nuneaton Borough. He left the club on 22 November 2018. The following month he was appointed manager of Hednesford Town. He left the club in April 2019. In June 2019 he was appointed manager of Kettering Town. However, he was sacked in September 2019.

## Honours

### Club

with Barnsley
* First Division (level 2) runners-up: 1996–97
* First Division (level 2) playoff finalists: 1999–2000

with Birmingham City
* League Cup finalists: 2001
* First Division (level 2) playoff winners: 2001–02

with Wigan Athletic
* Second Division (level 3) winners: 2002–03
* Championship (level 2) runners-up: 2004–05

with Kettering Town
* Conference North (level 6) winners: 2007–08

### Individual

* PFA Team of the Year First Division: 1996–97
* PFA Team of the Year Second Division: 2002–03

## Notes

A. Template:Note The Kettering Town appearances and goals only include the 2008–09 and 2009–10 seasons in the Conference National, not the 2007–08 season in the Conference North, which Soccerbase does not cover.

B. Template:Note Soccerbase attributes Birmingham's goal against Portsmouth in October 2000 to Eaden, where other sources, e.g. Tony Matthews' *Birmingham City Complete Record* and the BBC match report give it to Dele Adebola. The total of three League goals for Birmingham is consistent with Hugman's *PFA Footballers' Who's Who* annuals and with Neil Brown's site.

## References

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6. ↑ Statistics. Halesowen Town F.C..
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8. ↑ Poppies pegged back at Nuneaton Borough (20 October 2007).
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14. ↑ Scott praise for departing Liddell. Rotherham United F.C. (7 June 2011).
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16. ↑ Eaden does a U-turn (22 June 2011).
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25. ↑ Hednesford Town appoint Nicky Eaden as manager Express and Star, 27 December 2018
26. ↑ Nicky Eaden leaves Hednesford Town Express and Star, 17 April 2019
27. ↑ Eaden sacked by Poppies Northamptonshire Telegraph, 25 September 2019
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## External links

* Template:Soccerbase
* Template:NeilBrownPlayers
* Nicky Eaden at BCFC.com

Template:1996–97 Football League First Division PFA Team of the Year
Template:2002–03 Football League Second Division Team of the Year
Template:Nuneaton Borough F.C. managers
Template:Kettering Town F.C. managers