James Michael "Jimmy" Nicholl (born 28 December 1956) is a Canadian-born former Northern Ireland international footballer who played for Manchester United.[1]
He was mainly a right-back but could also play in other defensive roles. After retiring, he moved into management.
Nicholl won a total of 73 international caps for Northern Ireland, scoring once and is currently assistant manager at Kilmarnock.
[edit] Playing career
Nicholl started his career as a junior player at Manchester United. His senior career started in 1974. He helped the club win the 1977 FA Cup Final and collected a runners-up medal in the 1979 final.
In 1981, he left the club after scoring five goals, joining Sunderland on a permanent contract after a loan spell, and playing 32 games in one season before moving to Toronto Blizzard in Canada, scoring 11 goals in 77 games over the next two years before signing for Rangers.
In 1984, he returned to the English league to sign for West Bromwich Albion where he stayed until their relegation from the First Division in 1986, then returning to Rangers for three years, helping them win two Scottish league titles in the process.
After leaving Rangers, he signed for Dunfermline Athletic in 1989 before moving to a player-manager role at Raith Rovers, having originally joined them on 27 November 1990. Following his time at Rovers, Nicholl played one game for Bath City in February 1996, a 3-0 defeat at home to Macclesfield Town. He was sent off after 55 minutes and never played for the club again.[2]
[edit] Management career
Nicholl had great success at Raith Rovers, winning the Scottish League Cup on 27 November 1994—four years to the day that he had arrived at the club—and reaching the Scottish Premier Division as First Division champions six months later. Due to their SFL Cup triumph, they qualified for the UEFA Cup and reached the second round, where they were eliminated by eventual winners Bayern Munich.
On 28 February 1996, Nicholl was appointed manager of Millwall, who just over two months earlier had been top of Division One but were now sliding down the table. He was unable to arrest the decline and Millwall slipped into Division Two on the last day of the season. He remained at Millwall until the following February, and six months after that returned to Raith Rovers. His second spell at Raith lasted two years, and ended on 14 June 1999 after he had failed to get them back into the top flight.
A 28-day spell as manager of Dunfermline Athletic followed later in 1999, and he later served as assistant manager to Jimmy Calderwood at East End Park. In May 2004, Nicholl followed Calderwood when he took over as manager at Aberdeen, again serving as his assistant until the two parted company with the club in May 2009.[3] He resumed his partnership with Calderwood at Kilmarnock in 2010.
Nicholl was appointed manager of Cowdenbeath in June 2010,[4] but he left Cowdenbeath at the end of the 2010–11 season after they were relegated from the First Division.[5]
Nicholl was then appointed assistant manager of Kilmarnock for a second time, by Kenny Shiels on 15 June 2011.[6]
[edit] International goal
- Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
| Persondata |
| Name |
Nicholl, Jimmy |
| Alternative names |
|
| Short description |
|
| Date of birth |
28 December 1956 |
| Place of birth |
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada |
| Date of death |
|
| Place of death |
|
Sweden
