Non-League and Academy football writer

Stuart David Nethercott’s career as a professional footballer saw him play at the very highest level of English football – the Premier League. The talented former central defender started his footballing journey with Redbridge United and later Fulham, before joining local side Claparcro and later Arsenal as a youth (he played with Ray Parlour at three of those clubs). However, the former Spurs man who was born in Chadwell Heath, would sign trainee forms with Spurs in 1989, not too long after he was released by Arsenal. Part of a talented Spurs youth side of the time, Stuart Nethercott would have been helped by top Spurs youth team coaches such as Keith Waldon and Pat Holland, in his development as a footballer. A tall and tenacious centre-half, who was a very brave defender who left absolutely nothing out on the pitch, Stuart, who represented England at Under 21 level during his youth, was in fact part of a very talented England Under 21 side which won the 1994 Toulon Tournament. Other members of that side included Sol Campbell and Robbie Fowler. As a defender, Stuart brought with him to games, a real authority and assertiveness in his defending. Great at tackling and superb in the air and at winning headers, Stuart had a great approach to the game, and he had similarities in his playing style, to more recent centre-halves, such as former Spurs and England defender Michael Dawson.

After progressing from the Tottenham youth team to the reserves, Stuart would make his competitive debut for the Spurs first team during the 1992/93 season, in a London Derby Premier League match against Chelsea, almost a year after he had first featured for Spurs’ first team in a friendly match, against a Hull City XI. This was after he had spent some time out on loan with Maidstone United and Barnet. After that fixture with Chelsea, the former Spurs defender would make over 50 additional competitive appearances for Spurs’ first team, during the 1990’s. There was of course a lot of competition in central defence at Spurs around that time in the club’s history, with players such as Sol Campbell and Gary Mabbutt playing for Spurs at that time. However, even when he featured for the Spurs reserve side on occasions after having already played for the Spurs first team, Stuart still represented them with pride and he played with a fully committed and wholehearted approach to the game. Getting the opportunity to play alongside some outstanding players at Spurs during the 1990’s, Stuart Nethercott did move on from Spurs however, in 1998, when he moved on loan to Millwall. Eventually signing for the fellow London club during the same year, the former Spurs player would play for Millwall until 2004, during which time the defender made a big impression on the Millwall team, with them being promoted to the Premier League in 2004, after finishing top of the old Second Division.

After spending some really fine years with Millwall (sadly Stuart didn’t get the opportunity to play in the 2004 FA Cup final, against Manchester United), Stuart would later spend some time out on loan at Wycombe Wanderers. Then later on in his playing career he played for the likes of Wivenhoe Town and Heybridge Swifts in the non-League (former Spurs player Brian Statham was Stuart’s manager at Heybridge Swifts). Since retiring from playing the game at the end of the 2008/09 season, Stuart has since given a lot back to the game as a coach, and as a manager in non-League football. In this time the former player who now represents the Spurs Legends side, has since managed Maldon & Tiptree, Ware, Heybridge Swifts and Coggenshall Town. Using his top experience of playing the game at the highest level, to try and help clubs and players in the non-League. His most recent role in non-League as a coach, came earlier on this season as an assistant manager at Essex Senior League side Stanway Rovers, for a time during the early stages of the current 2023/24 season. A leader during his playing days, hopefully Stuart Nethercott will return to coaching again in the near future, as his experience of playing the game at such a high level and his experience as a coach/manager, is something in which players in the game can learn a lot from.

There is a lot for Stuart to be proud of, looking back on his long career in the game (so far), from being helped a lot by Spurs at youth and at senior level, to becoming the player that he was later on at Spurs, and then at Millwall. Although I haven’t met Stuart yet, I have heard from a number of ex-teammates, people at Spurs and also supporters, that Stuart is a really nice guy, and I wish him all the very best for his next role in the game, whenever/wherever that may be.