John Nicholson (1864–23 April 1932) was club secretary for

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

for over 30 years. During this period the club did not employ a 'manager' but Nicholson undertook many of the duties currently associated with a modern-day football manager. Born in

Attercliffe Attercliffe is an industrial suburb of northeast Sheffield, England on the south bank of the River Don. The suburb falls in the Darnall ward of Sheffield City Council. History The name Attercliffe can be traced back as far as an entry i ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

, Nicholson was originally a lawyer's clerk who was active with the Sheffield and Hallamshire FA as well as secretary of Attercliffe F.C. In 1899 he was offered the post of club secretary at Sheffield United when the club became a Limited Company and remained in the role until his death. Although the team was coached by a trainer and selected by a committee, Nicholson ran the club on a day-to-day basis, dealing with transfers and other finances, liaising with

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the oldest football association in the world a ...

and looking after the players' general affairs. Regarded as one of the most respected men in football at the time he had a vast number of contacts throughout the game and was an expert in the rules, laws and regulations of the sport. Nicholson presided over the most successful period in The Blades history, winning four

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

s in 1899, 1902, 1915 and 1925 (also reaching the final in 1901, 1936) and maintaining United as a dominant league force, winning the old 1st division Championship in 1898. Despite never holding the post of manager at The Blades, he was offered just such a position at Manchester City in 1926 but turned it down, preferring to remain in his home town. Nicholson died in 1932 after being knocked down by a lorry whilst crossing the road outside

Sheffield Midland Station Sheffield station, formerly ''Pond Street'' and later ''Sheffield Midland'', is a combined railway station and tram stop in Sheffield, England; it is the busiest station in South Yorkshire. Adjacent is Sheffield station/Sheffield Hallam Unive ...

on his way to join the team, who were heading off to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

to play a match against Aston Villa. Local newspaper reports estimated that over 6,000 people attended his funeral.

Honours

;

Division One The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

Champions 1898 :* Runners Up:

1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

:* Winners:

1899 Events January 1899 * January 1 ** Spanish rule ends in Cuba, concluding 400 years of the Spanish Empire in the Americas. ** Queens and Staten Island become administratively part of New York City. * January 2 – **Bolivia sets up a c ...

1902 Events January * January 1 ** The Nurses Registration Act 1901 comes into effect in New Zealand, making it the first country in the world to require state registration of nurses. On January 10, Ellen Dougherty becomes the world' ...

1915 Events Below, the events of World War I have the "WWI" prefix. January * January – British physicist Sir Joseph Larmor publishes his observations on "The Influence of Local Atmospheric Cooling on Astronomical Refraction". * January ...

1925 Events January * January 1 ** The Syrian Federation is officially dissolved, the State of Aleppo and the State of Damascus having been replaced by the State of Syria. * January 3 – Benito Mussolini makes a pivotal speech in the Itali ...

:* Runners up:

1901 Events January * January 1 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton becomes the first Prime Minist ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, John 1864 births 1932 deaths Sportspeople from Sheffield English football managers Sheffield United F.C. managers Road incident deaths in England People from Darnall