Nikos Michopoulos

Nikolaos (Nikos) Michopoulos was a Greek professional football player. During his career he played for PAOK Salonika and Burnley, as well as a short loan spell at Crystal Palace and short period to Omonia Nicosia. He played as a goalkeeper and was known for his reactions and shot-stopping ability.

Michopoulos was born on February 20, 1970 and began his career with PAOK making over 130 appearances for the Greek team, earning himself a handful of international caps for Greece in the process. He was brought to Burnley by Stan Ternent as one of three Greeks to sign for the Clarets along with goalkeeper Luigi Cennamo and centre-forward Dimitris Papadopoulos.

'Nik the Greek' as he became known established himself solidly as a fan-favourite at Turf Moor and became somewhat of a cult-hero. He would make almost 100 appearances for the Clarets, his last being in the farcical 7-2 home defeat to Sheffield Wednesday, when he was carried off injured in the first half and replaced by Marlon Beresford.

Michopoulos would return to his native Greece and become goalkeeping coach at his old club, PAOK Salonika, a position he still holds. In pre-season training for the 2005/06 season, Michopoulos was able to meet up with several of his old team-mates when Burnley took on PAOK at a neutral ground.

At the end of his career the counter faltered at 15 caps for Michopoulos.

A portion of content for this article is credited to Wikipedia. Content under GNU Free Documentation License(GFDL)