During his illustrious 22-year career, Nigel Winterburn played for five different clubs and made two appearances for his country.
He divided his experiences at his five clubs into two categories. His stints at West Ham, Wimbledon, and Arsenal were all very successful, while his stints with Oxford United and his childhood team, Birmingham City, were the complete reverse.
Those who witnessed and experienced his talents, particularly at Wimbledon FC, must be very perplexed by how not one, but two sides, were unable to see the young player’s evident ability and offer him an opportunity at the time, given that the bad times came before the good.
Because Winterburn never played in either team’s first team and because, unless you were in the know, youth prospects were not nearly as promoted to the wider world as they are now, not much is known about his time at Oxford United or Birmingham City.
He joined the Blues at the age of 17, and within just a year, he went from an apprentice contract to a professional one, indicating that the club probably saw some potential in him.
His only England Youth (now Under-18s) cap, which he earned in a close 1-0 loss to Scotland, probably supported that.
But somehow, that never culminated in trust ever being placed in the young left-back to make the step up and play in the first team.
He went on trial at Oxford after his Birmingham exit but again, they did not see Winterburn’s potential and would not give him the chance to prove himself at senior level during his sole season there.
He would finally move on from his turbulent time with the U’s by joining Wimbledon FC, who were in the same league as Oxford at the time. He would initially join the SW19 team on loan before settling down permanently, and it was there that Birmingham and Oxford would be humiliated.
Winterburn joined the Dons ahead of what was their first season back in the third tier since 1979-80 and was bought in by Dave Bassett to give the side some speed down the left, to accompany the pace up front with the likes of Glyn Hodges.
If there were any expecting him to have to take a bit-part role, and there surely were given his experiences at Birmingham and Oxford, then they proved mistaken. He slotted into the team perfectly, with the Warwickshire-born full-back taking to Wimbledon’s Crazy Gang brand of football rather like a duck to water.
He helped the club win promotion to the second division for the first time in his inaugural season and was named player of the year – a feat he repeated in the next campaign as the Dons finished 12th in the second tier.
While they were going through what was not the best of times for either, Winterburn was flying high and demonstrating his skills, proving his former employers incorrect.
He was a reliable player for the South West Londoners, helping them advance to the first level and subsequently finish in sixth place the next two seasons.
He would not miss a single game in his last season and would only miss seven games in his whole tenure at the club, making 165 appearances.
The red faces of dissatisfaction at Oxford and Birmingham would have probably turned green with envy at missing such a talent, especially when you take into account his two player of the year accolades and his England U21 prospects.
During his recent visit to SW19 as a guest for AFC Wimbledon’s game against Accrington Stanley, Winterburn talked more about that final season, his time at the club in general, and how his time at Dons came to an end.
Speaking to DonsTV, he said “Every season I was at Wimbledon we were tipped for relegation. As usual, we proved everyone wrong and got promotion after promotion.
“In my final season, I was prepared to stay even longer, and then I got a call from the club telling me that they’d accepted an offer from Arsenal.
“That was when I realised that my journey at Wimbledon was coming to an end. It was a fabulous experience over those four years at the old ground.”
For the Dons, the offer from Arsenal was just too good to turn down, and Winterburn left to continue and establish himself as a great player at the highest level, joining football greats like Steve Bould, Tony Adams, and Martin Keown.
But for Winterburn and the fans who saw him play on the sacred field of the original Plough Lane, his time with the Dons will always be remembered. It will also act as a continual reminder of the player that Oxford and Birmingham lost out on by squandering such enormous potential.
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