James Joseph Nicholson (born 27 February 1943 in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

) is a Northern Irish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He played most of his career at

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

and earned more than 40 caps for the Northern Ireland national team.

Club career

Nicholson began his career with

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

, for whom he made 58 appearances, scoring five times, between 1960 and 1963, when he moved over the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

. He subsequently played for

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, southeast of Oldham and east of Manchester. The historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshir ...

and Stalybridge Celtic.

International career

Nicholson represented Northern Ireland at international level. He represented his country at each level earning three caps for the Schoolboys, as well as playing twice for Northern Ireland U23 and four caps for Northern Ireland B. He also appeared for Northern Ireland at full international level, appearing 41 times for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, scoring 6 goals. Over an 11-year international career from 1960-71 making him the most capped player internationally for Huddersfield Town.

Honours

Club

;Huddersfield Town *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

(1): 1969-70

External links

Jimmy Nicholson's Legends feature on thisisthebarmyarmy.co.uk

1943 births Association footballers from Belfast Living people Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Association football midfielders English Football League players Manchester United F.C. players Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Bury F.C. players Mossley A.F.C. players Stalybridge Celtic F.C. players {{NorthernIreland-footy-bio-stub