Chelsea and Scotland winger, writer, broadcaster, and football’s most unlikely intellectual
FootballPat Nevin was never quite a conventional footballer.
A Scottish winger who came through at Clyde, he moved to Chelsea in 1983 for a fee of £95,000 and spent five seasons tormenting First Division defences with close control and the kind of fearlessness that only short, quick wingers seem to possess. He was twice voted Chelsea Player of the Year, in 1984 and 1987. Later years at Everton, Tranmere, Kilmarnock and Motherwell added to a distinguished career and 28 caps for Scotland, which included a place at the 1992 European Championship in Sweden.
The football alone would have made a decent speaking career. The rest of Nevin is what makes it interesting. He studied at the University of West Scotland, read politics seriously, wrote columns for The Guardian and New Statesman while he was still playing, and became the first professional footballer anyone could remember who was openly enthusiastic about the independent music scene. John Peel was a fan. The Chelsea away end was not always sure what to make of him.
Since retiring Nevin has held the role of chief executive at Motherwell, served on the PFA committee in England, and become one of the most thoughtful broadcasters on the game. The speaking engagements combine the football stories with a genuinely unusual perspective on what the sport is for. There are not many footballers who can talk about The Fall and the 1992 European Championship in the same breath and mean both of them.
Two decades of world class speakers in the basement at EC3. Want to book Pat Nevin or someone like them? Tell us what you need and we will come back with a plan.
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