Maximillian Nicholson (born 3 October 1971) is an English former professional

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 le ...

who played as a

left winger 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 ...

Career

Nicholson began his career as a trainee with

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

and was given his professional debut in 1989 by former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

captain

Billy Bremner William John Bremner (9 December 1942 – 7 December 1997) was a Scottish professional footballer and manager. Regarded as one of the game's great midfielders, he combined precision passing skills with tenacious tackling and physical stam ...

. After four years at Belle Vue he moved on to

Hereford United Hereford United Football Club was an association football club based in Hereford, England. They played at Edgar Street for their entire history. They were nicknamed 'The Whites' or 'The Lilywhites', after their predominantly white kit, or 'The ...

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nicknamed ...

and then

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

playing in excess of 150 league games. He moved on to play professionally in the Singapore S. League with former Scunthorpe team-mate Stuart Young for four years and was voted the

Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establishe ...

S League player of the year in 1997. He played for

Geylang United Geylang International Football Club is a professional football club based in Bedok, Singapore, which plays in the Singapore Premier League, the top division of football in Singapore. The club was founded in 1973 with the purpose of building a s ...

and

Woodlands Woodlands may back refer to: * Woodland, a low-density forest Geography Australia * Woodlands, New South Wales * Woodlands, Ashgrove, Queensland, a heritage-listed house associated with John Henry Pepper * Woodlands, Marburg, Queensland, a her ...

and acted as a witness in the match fixing scandal of 2000 as, after being attacked with a hockey stick by the notorious

Wilson Raj Perumal Wilson Raj Perumal (born 31 July 1965) is a convicted Singaporean match-fixer. Perumal is accused on several match fixing scandals, including Asiagate in 2007–2009 and the 2008–2011 Finnish match-fixing scandal. He was first jailed for ma ...

along with fellow Woodlands player

Ivica Raguz Ivica is a Slavic masculine given name, a diminutive form of Ivan. The direct English equivalent of the name is Johnny, while the equivalent of its augmentative Ivan is John. It is one of the frequent male given names in Croatia, and is also pres ...

, two S League players, German goalkeeper

Lutz Pfannenstiel Lutz Pfannenstiel (born 12 May 1973) is a German former professional football goalkeeper, coach, scout, TV analyst and the current sporting director for St. Louis City SC. He holds the record for the only footballer to play professionally in ea ...

and Australian defender Mirko Jurilj were jailed for alleged fixing of matches. Nicholson had originally been arrested along with fellow British players from

, Billy Bone and

Brian Bothwell Mohammed Brian Iman Abdullah Bothwell is a former professional footballer most known for leading Brunei FA to their first Malaysian Cup title in 1999. He won the Penang Sports Club International Soccer Sevens tournament in 2007 with the Brunei D ...

. No charges were brought against Nicholson, he actually played in the game where it was alleged he was to be paid not to play in. Nicholson teamed up with Young for a third time in the National Soccer League of Australia, both playing for

Wollongong Wolves FC Wollongong Wolves Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in Wollongong, in the Illawarra region of New South Wales. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues NSW, the second-tier of foo ...

, winning the national soccer league championship in his first season. He was used mainly as a sub as it was difficult to dislodge Australia international

Scott Chipperfield Scott Kenneth Chipperfield (born 30 December 1975) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a midfielder for Wollongong Wolves, FC Basel, FC Aesch and Australia. His 2010 FIFA World Cup profile describes him "as a talented attacker wi ...

, but achieved something of a cult status amongst Wolves fans. He played 14 times for the Wolves during the 2000–01 and 2001–02 NSL seasons. In July 2002 Nicholson joined

Gainsborough Trinity Gainsborough Trinity Football Club is a football club based in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, England. Established in 1873, the club became members of the Football League in 1893 and remained members of the Second Division until 1912, making Gainsbo ...

.Stant's new signings to start against Lincoln United
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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Max 1971 births Living people English footballers National Soccer League (Australia) players Singapore Premier League players Association football wingers Doncaster Rovers F.C. players Gainsborough Trinity F.C. players Hereford United F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Torquay United F.C. players Wollongong Wolves FC players Geylang International FC players English expatriate footballers English expatriate sportspeople in Australia Expatriate soccer players in Australia English expatriate sportspeople in Singapore Expatriate footballers in Singapore