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Date and Place of Birth 20th February 1970 - KARDITSA, GREECE
Transfers to and from Burnley from PAOK SALONIKA - 25th August 2000 released - 6th May 2003
First and Last Burnley Games CRYSTAL PALACE (h) - 19th September 2000
SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY (h) - 26th April 2003 replaced by Marlon Beresford
Other Clubs PAOK SALONIKA, CRYSTAL PALACE (loan from BURNLEY) ---------------------------------------- OMONIA NICOSEA |
Burnley Career Stats
| Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Others | Total | |||||
| apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | apps | gls | |
| 2000/01 | 39 | - | 2 | - | 2 | - | - | - | 43 | - |
| 2001/02 | 33 | - | 2 | - | 1 | - | - | - | 36 | - |
| 2002/03 | 13 | - | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | 14 | - |
| Total | 85 | - | 5 | - | 3 | - | - | - | 93 | - |
Profile by Tony Scholes
Stan Ternent sprung something of a surprise early in the 2000/01 season with the signing of a Greek goalkeeper by the name of Nikolaos Michopolous - who became known to the Burnley fans as Nik the Greek.
Nik was with us for just short of three seasons and certainly had memorable first and last league games for Burnley, if for very differing reasons.
He'd played his entire career in Greece with PAOK Salonika for whom he'd played over 130 games and he'd also been capped thirteen times at full international level and in six of those internationals had started the game.
He was aged 30 by the time he pitched up on trial at Turf Moor and it was thought at the time that he would be just one of a never ending run of foreign players who had trials and then disappeared without trace.
Not the case with Nik; Stan gave him a one month deal and then threw him in to a Worthington (League) Cup tie against Crystal Palace for a debut. We drew the game 2-2 and Michopoulos did well enough, even saving a penalty from Palace's Fan Zhiyi.
First choice keeper Paul Crichton was on the bench that night and he wasn't to start another game for Burnley. Michopoulos was given an extended deal and retained his place for the league game at Huddersfield and had one of those days that goalkeepers dream off. Everything they threw at him he saved and it is a performance Burnley fans still talk about today.
It wasn't long before there were some worrying signs, particularly in his inability to deal with shots from long distance. He'll have nightmares of the 5-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest and a couple of those goals in particular.
However, he looked the part overall and in the FA Cup replay at Scunthorpe, a game we eventually lost on penalties, he probably turned in his finest performance for Burnley.
Everything was going fine in his second season, 2001/02 but it was another FA Cup tie that led to his fortunes at Burnley turning round. He was injured early in a tie at Cheltenham and was ruled out of the team for some time.
Marlon Beresford was brought back from Middlesbrough on loan until Nik was fit but he was back in the first team at the end of the season as the Clarets just missed out on the end of season play offs, and his performances earned him a recall to the Greek national team for whom he made two more substitute appearances.
The 2002/03 season, his last at Turf Moor, proved to be a disastrous one for him. When Beresford was brought back on a series of short term deals he lost his place and, because of the club's financial position, was even shunted out on loan to Crystal Palace for a period.
Between them, the two goalkeepers had sorry seasons and it all came to a climax in the last home game against already relegated Sheffield Wednesday. Michopoulos started but once Wednesday's third had gone in he'd had enough. He lay injured and was stretchered off for Beresford to come on and concede another four.
It was the last we saw of Nik the Greek. That last performance was as poor as his first had been good and his playing career was all but over. He moved to Cyprus to join Omonia Nicosea but was soon back in his native Greece and worked for some time as goalkeeper coach for his first club PAOK.
There was a reunion too when Burnley met PAOK in a pre-season friendly in Abtenau, Austria in the summer of 2005 and Nik was more than happy to chat and pose for photographs with Burnley fans.