NIGEL QUASHIE TO ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS

I am delighted that ex-saint Nigel Quashie has agreed to answer our questions!!

From Wikipedia.....

Nigel Francis Quashie (born 20 July 1978) is a British footballer who has played more than 300 games in the Football League. He plays as a midfielder, and has represented Scotland, the country of his grandfather, at full international level. He was released by Queens Park Rangers in 2010.
Quashie was born in the London Borough of Southwark to a Ghanaian father and an English mother. He was married for ten years to Joanna, with whom he had a daughter and a son, who died shortly after birth in 1999. After a divorce and his move to West Bromwich Albion, he started a relationship with Kerry Clarke, who in September 2005 gave birth to his son.

Queens Park Rangers

He began his career in London as a trainee with Queens Park Rangers in August 1995, making his League debut in a 2–1 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford a few months later in December 1995. He was used sparingly for the remainder of that campaign, making eleven appearances as QPR were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 1995–96 season. He made a further 13 appearances in the 1996–97 season before breaking into the first eleven on a regular basis in the 1997–98 season when he made 34 league and cup appearances.

Nottingham Forest

Quashie joined Premier League side Nottingham Forest for a fee of £2.5 million at the start of the 1998–99 season but made only 18 appearances as Forest were comfortably relegated. He settled into the team in the 1999–00 season, making 34 appearances, but was transfer listed by manager, David Platt, at the end of a disappointing season as Forest finished well short of the promotion places. He became known to the Forest fans as "Quashie well-wide" due to the nature of his shots on goal. By July, he reportedly had attracted interest from several clubs, including West Bromwich Albion and Birmingham City with Portsmouth understood to have made an offer.

Portsmouth

Quashie joined Portsmouth in August 2000 for a fee of £600,000, signing a three-year contract. He quickly established himself in the first-team, making 37 league and cup appearances in the 2001–02 season as Portsmouth finished in the lower half of the First Division. He made a further 44 appearances in the 2002–03 season and was club vice-captain when Portsmouth won the First Division championship and were promoted to the Premier League. No sooner had he returned from a six-week layoff with a knee injury in December 2003 than he suffered an injury to his opposite knee leading him to miss a further six weeks of the 2003–04 season. However, Quashie remained a first choice player, making 25 appearances as Portsmouth claimed 13th place in the Premier League. Although Quashie was a regular starter in the 2004–05 season and club captain, he had not been offered a new contract despite being out of contract at the end of the season and joined former Portsmouth manager, Harry Redknapp, at Southampton during the January 2005 transfer window.

Southampton

Quashie joined Southampton for a fee of £2.1 million in January 2005, signing a three-and-a-half year contract. He said, "It's a big move for me and I am happy to be linking up with Harry Redknapp again. I am certain we will stay up – I would not have come here if I had any doubts about that, but we need to get a few results quickly." The chairman of Southampton, Rupert Lowe, said, "Harry really wanted Nigel – he thinks he is a strong character who will add to the dressing room. We are delighted to make him our third signing since Harry arrived." A training ground injury prevented Quashie from making his debut against Liverpool on 22 January 2005 and he did not make his debut until the match against Everton on 6 February.

After the transfer of Jason Dodd, he became the club's captain but he was unable to prevent the Saints being relegated at the end of the 2004–05 season. Despite relegation, Quashie said that he had no regrets over the move to Southampton as he had been unhappy with the way he had been treated at Portsmouth. However, following Redknapp's departure and his replacement with George Burley, Quashie was allowed to leave Southampton in the January 2006 transfer window.

West Bromwich Albion

Quashie joined West Bromwich Albion in January 2006 for £1.2 million, signing a three-and-a-half-year contract. Manager Bryan Robson, "I always liked Nigel when he played for QPR, Portsmouth and Southampton. He is intelligent, has good stamina and is a very good passer of the ball. He has got the experience now of relegation fights and playing in the Premiership. I just feel he will improve our squad." He made his debut for Albion in a 2–0 Premier League win over Blackburn Rovers on 4 February 2006. He was charged with misconduct by the Football Association after being sent off against Middlesbrough three weeks later for alleged use of foul and abusive language towards the referee's assistants as he left the pitch and was given a one-game ban in addition to a four-game ban for the sending off, his second of the season, and a £5,000 fine after admitting misconduct. His only goal for the club came in a 3–1 defeat against Arsenal in April 2006. Albion were relegated at the end of the season. Quashie achieved the rare distinction of being relegated from the Premiership in two successive seasons. Following relegation, Quashie was allowed to leave in the January 2007 transfer window as he expressed a wish to return to the Premier League and manager, Tony Mowbray, wanted to raise some revenue to bring in new players.

West Ham United

Quashie became Alan Curbishley's second signing of the transfer window when he joined West Ham United on a three-and-a-half year contract for an initial fee of £1.5 million, rising to £1.75 million after West Ham successfully avoided relegation in the 2006–07 season. Curbishley explained that he had signed Quashie "...because he is an experienced player who will add competition to our central midfield positions The competition for places is a factor that will be important to us as we fight to move up the table..." Quashie made his debut against Fulham a few days later and went on to make eight appearances, none of them on the winning side, as West Ham battled against relegation.

A persistent foot injury meant that Quashie did not play a single competitive match during 2007–08. He made his comeback in a friendly match against Queens Park Rangers in August 2008. The signing of Swiss international Valon Behrami in the summer of 2008 and the emergence of academy graduates Jack Collison and Junior Stanislas meant that competition for midfield places was much stiffer. In January 2010 he was released by West Ham and rejoined QPR.

Birmingham City

Quashie trained with Birmingham City of the Championship for several weeks to regain fitness before signing on loan, initially for a month, on 22 October 2008. He went straight into the squad for that day's match against Crystal Palace, and made his debut as a second-half substitute. Despite missing the last game of his initial loan spell through suspension, having been sent off in the match against Charlton Athletic, the loan was extended for a further month, and again for a third and final month, until 17 January 2009. Quashie returned to West Ham on 19 January, having played 11 times for Birmingham.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Quashie joined Championship side Wolverhampton Wanderers on 22 January 2009 on loan until the end of the season. He made three consecutive appearances for the team before quickly dropping out of contention as the club won promotion to the Premier League as champions.

Milton Keynes Dons

In November 2009 Quashie joined League One side Milton Keynes Dons on loan until 3 January 2010. He made a losing start to his MK Dons career coming on in the first half for Luke Howell in the 4–3 home defeat to Carlisle United on 24 November. Quashie scored his first goal for MK Dons on 12 December in a 2–1 away win against Leyton Orient. In total in 7 League games he scored 2 goals.

Return to Queens Park Rangers

Quashie returned to his first professional club, Queens Park Rangers on 22 January 2010, stating; "It's great to be back home, and I am delighted to be at a club that I love to pieces". He made his second QPR debut in the 5–0 defeat at one of his former clubs, Nottingham Forest. Quashie was released by QPR at the end of the 2009-10 season.


International career

After several impressive performances for QPR, Quashie was awarded four England Under-21 and an England 'B' caps. He is eligible to play for the Scottish national football team through a Scottish grandfather and, given the opportunity to play international football for Scotland in April 2004, said "I have been asked to prove my grandfather came from Scotland, but that is no problem. He was born in Glasgow and I'd be very interested in playing for Scotland. I'd never given up hope of forcing my way into the full England set-up but I would consider playing for Scotland." Quashie switched his allegiance to Scotland and made his international debut against Estonia in May 2004, becoming only the second black player to represent Scotland, and the first since Andrew Watson in 1881. He scored in his second game, a 4–1 win over Trinidad and Tobago, a few days later. Berti Vogts said of him, "Nigel is a fantastic player and a real leader on the pitch. He feels so Scottish and that's great." By the end of the 2006–07 season, he had made 14 appearances for Scotland, including appearances in World Cup and European Championship qualifying matches.

Nigel, hi?? Are you doing this??

Yes, come on Nigel, are you here?