Where Are They Now – Nicky Marker

Peverell Green continues his excellent ‘Where Are They Now’ series where he takes a look back at the careers of former Argyle players, next in the hot seat is Nicky Marker.

NICKY MARKER – Born 3rd May 1965 Budleigh Salterton, Devon

Nicky was tipped for the top from a very young age, even before he started his youth career with Devon rivals Exeter City in 1981.
He signed professional with them in May 1983. He was soon a first team regular and in the four years he spent at St. James Park he made 229 appearances scoring seven goals.

His unflappable style and versatility impressed the then Argyle manager Dave Smith who was able to lure him to Home Park, signing for us in November 1987.
Even though he was a former City player the Green Army soon took him to their hearts, within two years he had been made club captain and was awarded Player of the Year for the 1988-89 season.
He was commanding in the air, comfortable on the ball and an intelligent passer out of defence.
Unfortunately despite his talent his arrival coincided with a period of mediocrity and relegation battles, managers came and went, after Dave Smith Ken Brown, David Kemp and Peter Shilton all sat in the manager’s chair, for some reason Shilton took a dislike to him almost from day one and seemed keen to cash in on his most valuable asset.

As it was obvious he was destined for greater things and it was no surprise when in September 1992 he signed for Blackburn for £200,000 plus Keith Hill and Craig Skinner.
By a strange co-incidence he played exactly the same number of league games as he did for Exeter, the only difference was he scored thirteen times in his 202 games for Argyle and three for Exeter, he must have been better coached in goalscoring at Home Park, in total he made 233 appearances scoring 18 goals.

The time he spent at Blackburn came at the height of his career, playing during their Premiership winning years, although not a regular he made 65 appearances scoring one goal, unfortunately for him none were made during Rovers title winning season in 1994-95.

A lack of first team appearances led him to moving to Sheffield Utd in August 1997 where he played 81 games and scored five goals and once again won a Player of the Season award.
While at Bramall Lane he was loaned back to Argyle for a month from 26th February to 23rd March 1999 playing another four games in a green shirt, sadly for Argyle fans at 33 he was no longer the player they remembered in his Home Park heyday.

In November 1999 he was transferred to Cheltenham, unfortunately this move only lasted one month before injuries forced his premature retirement from the professional game.

After a year recuperating Nicky signed for Tiverton Town in January 2000 before finally ending his playing career after making fourteen appearances for the club.

Not happy with not being involved with football, in 2003 he started to take an interest in Plymouth youth team Tamarside FC, initially to help coach his son’s team, he later got involved in the club’s senior team and was appointed Club Chairman in 2006.
He combined the role of Reserve Team Manager and Youth Manager until leaving the club at the end of the 2008-09 season.

In October 2010 he was appointed First Team Coach of Ivybridge Town who were playing in the Premier Division of the South West Peninsula League.