Nicholas James Weaver (born 2 March 1979) is an English football coach and former professional player.
A goalkeeper, he began his career in 1995 with Mansfield Town, before joining Manchester City in 1997. He would go on to be a part of the club that earned promotion from the Second Division in 1999 in which he saved the decisive penalty in the play-off final shootout with Gillingham at Wembley Stadium. He would go on to earn promotion to the Premier League the following season and in total was promoted three times with City in a ten-year spell. By the time he left the club in 2007 he had been the club's second choice keeper for a number of years and had acted as understudy to the likes of Peter Schmeichel, David Seaman and David James. He went on to appear for Charlton Athletic, Dundee United, Burnley, Sheffield Wednesday and Aberdeen. He is a former England under-21 international.
He worked for Sheffield Wednesday since retiring and has held a number of different roles including academy and first team goalkeeper coach.
Playing career
Manchester City
Weaver was bought by Manchester City from Mansfield Town on the recommendation of goalkeeping coach Alex Stepney. He made his competitive Manchester City debut in the first match of the 1998–99 season against Blackpool, keeping a clean sheet.
Weaver remained first choice goalkeeper in 1999–2000, as City secured a second consecutive promotion by finishing in second place in the First Division. Weaver missed almost half of City's league matches in 2001–02 through injury, as the club was again promoted back to the Premier League. However, he did play the last fifteen minutes of the 2004–05 season, when Stuart Pearce surprisingly substituted Claudio Reyna for Weaver so the regular City goalkeeper David James could play in attack against Middlesbrough.
Before the 2006–07 season, Manchester City sold James to Portsmouth, bought Andreas Isaksson as a replacement and gave Isaksson the number 1 shirt. However, an injury to Isaksson meant Weaver played the first game of the season on 20 August 2006, his first senior start for the club in nearly three years and Weaver's improved form led to him starting all but one of the Manchester City games in the rest of 2006. On 5 April 2008, Weaver was sent off after three minutes for handball in a match against Plymouth Argyle. The incident marked the quickest ever dismissal of a Charlton player, a record that would remain until 2018. Following his release from Charlton, Weaver signed for Dundee United on 5 August 2009 on a short-term contract. The United fans took to him instantly and – although he was pelted by snowballs by Aberdeen fans in his final home match at Tannadice as the ground staff thought it was a good idea not to clear all the snow – he played in every league match before his contract expired in January 2010.
Burnley
On 27 January 2010, Weaver signed an initial six-month contract with Burnley on a free transfer subject to international clearance. However, he was released on 11 May 2010 without making a single appearance.
Sheffield Wednesday
With Lee Grant's departure from Sheffield Wednesday to Burnley in the close season, Weaver the ex-Owl loanee and Wednesday fan signed as a replacement after the club's transfer embargo was lifted. On 4 October 2010, Weaver was awarded the Handley Brown player of the month for September after a number of impressive performances in an underachieving Wednesday team. Weaver was awarded man of the match against Chesterfield in a Football League Trophy second round match after scoring the decisive penalty and saving three spot kicks, two of which were vital sudden death saves to keep Wednesday in the competition.
Weaver received his second successive Player of The Month award off the club for his performances in October. His consistent performances led to him signing a new two-and-a-half-year deal on 14 February 2011, which due to an oversight by the press office was not announced until 4 April. Weaver fell out of favour at Sheffield Wednesday following the signing of Chris Kirkland, with Kirkland inheriting Weaver's no.1 shirt. After failing to appear in any matchday squad since Kirkland's arrival, he was released at the end of the season.
Aberdeen
On 15 July 2013, Weaver signed for Aberdeen on a six-month contract. This was extended for a further six months in January 2014.
Coaching career
In September 2014, Weaver returned to Sheffield Wednesday as academy goalkeeping coach. He replaced Andy Rhodes as first team goalkeeping coach in July 2018. On 14 August 2020, it was confirmed as part of a coaching staff restructure, Weaver would switch roles and become Head of Academy Goalkeeping, the position he originally had when joining the club as staff. On 11 April 2024, Weaver confirmed he would be leaving Sheffield Wednesday at the end of the 2023–24 season, saying "I don't see myself coaching again but you never say never".
Career statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|National cup
!colspan="2"|League cup
!colspan="2"|Europe
!colspan="2"|Other
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="3"|Mansfield Town
|1995–96
|rowspan="2"|Third Division
|1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||0||0||1||0
|-
|1996–97
|Second Division
|45||0||4||0||3||0||colspan="2"|—||3||0||55||0
|-
|1999–2000
|First Division
|45||0||2||0||4||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||51||0
|-
|2000–01
|Premier League
|31||0||3||0||5||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||39||0
|-
|2001–02
|First Division
|25||0||2||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||29||0
|-
|2002–03
|rowspan="5"| Premier League
|0||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||0||0
|-
|2003–04
|0||0||0||0||0||0
|1||0||colspan="2"|–||1||0
|-
|2004–05
|1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||1||0
|-
|2005–06
|1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||1||0
|-
|2006–07
|25||0||5||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||31||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!172!!0!!16!!0!!15!!0!!1!!0!!3!!0!!207!!0
|-
|Sheffield Wednesday (loan)
|2005–06
|rowspan="2"| Championship
|45||0||2||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||48||0
|-
|2008–09
|22||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||22||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!67!!0!!2!!0!!1!!0!!0!!0!!0!!0!!70!!0
|-
|Dundee United
|2009–10
|Scottish Premier League
|18||0||colspan="2"|–||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||18||0
|-
|Burnley
|2009–10
|League One
|36||0||5||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||4||0||47||0
|-
|2011–12
|League One
|8||0||1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||1||0||10||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!44!!0!!6!!0!!2!!0!!0!!0!!5!!0!!57!!0
|-
|Aberdeen
|2013–14
|Scottish Premiership
|2||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|–||2||0
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!318!!0!!24!!0!!18!!0!!1!!0!!8!!0!!359!!0
|}
Honours
Sheffield Wednesday
- Football League One second-place promotion: 2010–11
Manchester City
- Football League First Division: 2001–02