John Nicholls (3 April 1931 – 1 April 1995), better known as Johnny Nicholls or sometimes Jack Nicholls, was an English

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 forward. During his professional career he represented

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

, Cardiff City and

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third tier of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Biography

Nicholls was born in

Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...

, Staffordshire. He lived with his parents in Lawrence Avenue,

Heath Town Heath Town is a district of the City of Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England, located east of the city centre. It is also a ward of City of Wolverhampton Council. The ward forms part of the Wolverhampton North East constituency. Heath To ...

and attended Springfield Road Senior Boys' School, Springfield leaving at the age of 14. His father, Sam was an ex-boxer. Johnny's footballing career began at local club Heath Town Wesley in the Wolverhampton & District Amateur Football League. He scored 44 goals in his first season 1947–8, and came to the notice of

manager Jack Smith. He joined West Bromwich Albion as an amateur in August 1950 and helped Albion juniors win the West Bromwich League and the Handsworth League Cup, scoring four times in the final. He turned professional a year later. In the 1951–52 season Nicholls had progressed to playing for Albion reserves in the

Central League The or is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League in the annual Japan Series. It currently consi ...

. His first team debut came as replacement for the injured

Ronnie Allen Ronald Allen (15 January 1929 – 9 June 2001) was an English international football player and manager. He was a professional footballer for nineteen years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League, and scoring 2 ...

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

in the Football League First Division. He won a winners medal with Albion when they beat Preston North End 3–2 in the

1954 FA Cup Final The 1954 FA Cup Final was a football match between West Bromwich Albion and Preston North End, played on 1 May 1954 at the original Wembley Stadium in London. It was the final match of the 1953–54 staging of English football's primary cup com ...

, also winning two

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

caps in the same year. In May 1957 he joined Cardiff City for £4000, but moved on to

just six months later. Nicholls stayed with Exeter until 1959. He died in

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ) is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is north-west of Birmingham. West Bromwich is part of the area known as the Black Country, in terms of geography, c ...

in 1995.

References

External links

* 1931 births 1995 deaths Footballers from Wolverhampton English men's footballers England men's international footballers England men's under-23 international footballers Men's association football forwards West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Cardiff City F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players Telford United F.C. players Oswestry Town F.C. players {{England-footy-forward-1930s-stub