Kevin Nicholson (footballer)

Kevin John Nicholson (born 2 October 1980) is an English former professional footballer who currently works as head of coaching at Exeter City.

Kevin Nicholson
Personal information
Full name Kevin John Nicholson
Date of birth (1980-10-02) 2 October 1980
Place of birth Derby, England
Height 5 ft 8 in (1.73 m)
Playing position(s) Left back
Club information
Current team
 Exeter City (head of coaching)
Youth career
199?–1998 Sheffield Wednesday
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2001 Sheffield Wednesday 1 (0)
2001 → Forest Green Rovers (loan) 1 (0)
2001 Northampton Town 7 (0)
2001–2004 Notts County 95 (3)
2004 → Scarborough (loan) 13 (1)
2004–2006 Scarborough 82 (4)
2006–2007 Forest Green Rovers 44 (6)
2007–2014 Torquay United 314 (13)
2014–2015 Kidderminster Harriers 43 (1)
2015 Bath City 11 (1)
2015–2017 Torquay United 19 (0)
Total 630 (31)
National team
2007–2009 England C 4 (0)
Teams managed
2015–2017 Torquay United (player-manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Born in Derby, Nicholson began his career as a trainee with Sheffield Wednesday, turning professional in August 1998. His first team debut came on 28 August 2000 when he replaced Andy Hinchcliffe as a first-half substitute in Wednesday's 1–1 draw at home to Blackburn Rovers.[1] However, this was his only first team appearance for Wednesday as he was allowed to join Forest Green Rovers on loan in January 2001, before moving to Northampton Town on a free transfer the following month.

In March 2001, Nicholson joined Notts County on a free transfer,[2] and soon became a regular in the County side. He joined Scarborough on loan in March 2004,[3] scoring on his debut[4] and moved to Scarborough on a free transfer at the end of the season.[5] He was a regular in Scarborough's Conference National side for the next two seasons, but left in May 2006 to join Forest Green Rovers[6] after Scarborough's relegation to the Conference North amid financial problems that would see the club dissolved a year later.[7]

His form with Forest Green earned Nicholson a call-up to the England C squad for the Home Internationals, and suggestions of a move back to the football league with Barnet, managed by England C boss Paul Fairclough.[8] However, Nicholson joined Torquay United on a free transfer on 20 June 2007.[9]

He spent seven years with Torquay but after their relegation from the Football League in May 2014 he was released by the club.[10]

On 7 August 2014, Nicholson signed non-contract terms with Kidderminster Harriers.[11] On 9 August 2014, he made his debut for Kidderminster in a goalless draw away at Lincoln City. On 1 November 2014, he scored his first goal for the Harriers against former club Torquay United. On 15 November 2014, Nicholson signed a contract with Kidderminster Harriers until the end of the season.[12] After the last game of the season, a 2–1 loss away to Eastleigh, Kevin announced that he would not be signing a new contract and was looking for a new club.

In July 2015, Nicholson signed for Bath City.

Coaching career

On 28 September 2015, it was announced by the club that Kevin Nicholson, former Torquay United player would be the club's new player-manager. Torquay United Chairman, David Phillips was quoted as saying "We are delighted to have Kevin on board as player-manager. As a player for the club, he displayed outstanding consistency over many years and is quite rightly regarded as a legend here".[13] After a slow start to his managerial career Kevin brought in a group of new players in the January transfer window and led Torquay to an unlikely escape from a near-certain relegation, earning him such nicknames as 'The Ranieri of the Riviera'.[14] After a summer of financial uncertainty at Torquay Kevin retained his position as manager for the 2016/17 season with a smaller squad than before, and one that made a better start than in 2015/16, but failed to continue their excellent form from the end of that season when they engineered the great escape. Despite that by the end of September the team seemed to have settled into a mid table position showing flashes of previous form but seeming unlikely to press for the promotional places on the basis of their inconsistent performances and lack of finance.

In August 2017, following a poor start to the 2017-18 season, Nicholson departed Torquay.[15] In August 2019 he became head of coaching at Exeter City.[16]

Managerial statistics
As of match played 17 August 2017
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record Ref
PWDLWin %
Torquay United 28 September 2015 17 August 2017 93 28 23 42 030.1 [17][18]
Total 93 28 23 42 030.1 —

Honours

Individual

References
  1. "BBC SPORT | ENGLISH DIVISION 1 | Sheff Wed 1-1 Blackburn". BBC News. 28 August 2000. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  2. "Notts County FC season 2000/01". Archived from the original on 13 July 2012.
  3. "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Notts County | Boro sign Nicholson". BBC News. 12 March 2004. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  4. "York & North Yorkshire". BBC News. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  5. "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Scarborough | Scarborough land Nicholson". BBC News. 9 August 2004. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  6. "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Forest Green Rovers | Forest Green swoop for Nicholson". BBC News. 23 May 2006. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  7. "BBC SPORT | Football | Non League | Scarborough FC go out of business". BBC News. 20 June 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  8. "Newsham becomes first new Gladiators signing of the summer | non League Daily". Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 21 June 2007.
  9. "BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Torquay United | Nicholson quits Rovers for Gulls". BBC News. 21 June 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  10. "Torquay United release long-serving left-back Kevin Nicholson". BBC Sport. 7 May 2014. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  11. "EXCLUSIVE: Kevin Nicholson becomes a Kidderminster Harriers player after agreeing non-contract terms". Harriers.co.uk. 7 August 2014. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  12. "NEWS: Kevin Nicholson signs contract". Archived from the original on 19 November 2014. Retrieved 18 November 2014.
  13. "Club Statement - Player-Manager Appointed". Torquayunited.com. 28 September 2015. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  14. Godfrey, Mark (14 April 2016). "Ranieri of the Riviera – Torquay's latest escape". Footballpink.net. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  15. "Kevin Nicholson: Torquay United player-manager leaves National League club". BBC Sport. 17 August 2017.
  16. "Kevin Nicholson: Exeter City hand coaching role to ex-Torquay United boss". BBC Sport. 12 August 2019.
  17. "Torquay United: Kevin Nicholson named as new manager". BBC Sport. 28 September 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  18. "Torquay: Results/matches: 2015/16". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 31 May 2017. Individual seasons accessed via dropdown menu.
  19. "Arsenal striker Robin van Persie named PFA Player of the Year". BBC Sport. 22 April 2012. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
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