Ex-Files: Kevin Nicholls
We are now approaching the last couple of former players left to report on who are still themselves playing professionally, certainly domestically. One of which is former captain Kevin Nicholls who left Deepdale in the summer of 2008 after enduring a turbulent time as a Preston player.
Injury ridden start
Nicholls started his career with Charlton Athletic in the mid-nineties where he spent 4 years. As a young and fresh faced YTS, Nicholls suffered a serious knee injury which limited his appearances to just 14. The Newham born midfielder was loaned out to Brighton & Hove Albion in the latter stages of his Charlton career before joining Wigan Athletic for £250,000 (rising to £600,000 dependant on appearances) which came to the much displeasure of the Charlton faithful who felt that if it wasn't for misfortune with injuries, Nicholls could have played a major role at the club.
Injuries continued......
Much like his time at The Valley, Nicholls' tenure with Wigan was hampered by injuries ensuring that his appearances for the Lancashire club were restricted. Nicholls made thirty-two appearances in a Wigan shirt during the two years he spent there, scoring just the one goal which came in the play-off semi-final defeat to Reading in the 2000/2001 season.
Fresh Start
In the summer of 2001 former Wimbledon boss Joe Kinnear recognised the talents of 'Nicho' and moved to secure his services from Wigan for a fee of around £150,000. Most Hatters fans will be the first to tell you that such a fee was somewhat of a bargain with Nicholls spending six successful seasons with the club.
Nicholls made his debut for Luton against Carlisle at Brunton Park on 11th August 2001 where he played the full ninety minutes in a 2-0 win, he also found himself in the referees book for his endeavours. The 2001/2002 season was the first time that Nicholls had established himself as a first team regular and not had his chances limited due to injury meaning that Nicholls' enjoyed personal success which coincided with Luton's promotion from League Two. During Luton's promotion season he made forty-two appearances and scored six goals and proved to be a key player for the club.
However, the following season was not quite as successful for Nicholls as just when the former Charlton man had thought his injury worries behind him, he was ruled out for 5 months. Luton finished a very respectable tenth that season which is a tremendous achievement considering they were new to the division. Whether or not there was a positive correlation between Nicholls' injury and not winning a second successive promotion is purely conjecture but what I can tell you is that they went one better next time round.
Success at last
Not content with another season in League One, Luton went all guns blazing in the 2004/2005 season and finished as League One champions with Nicholls named the supporters player of the season, a proud moment for the skipper. That season also saw Nicholls' highest goal scoring tally to date with 14, albeit most of them came, crucially, from the penalty spot.
Despite being tipped as one of the favourites to go down, Luton finished 10th in their first season in the Championship with Nicholls proving to be his instrumental self being the focal point of everything Luton did.
Mistake
Such performances were enough to attract the attention of Leeds United who were hoping for a quick return to the Premiership and deemed Nicholls as the ideal man to lead the charge. Nevertheless, things did not quite go the way everyone was hoping as not only did Nicholls pick up an injury in his first training session with Leeds, he also later stated that moving to Leeds was a big mistake. Such a statement caused the then Leeds manager Denis Wise to strip Nicholls of his captaincy and was subsequently left out of Leeds' remaining Championship games.
Another fresh start
In the summer of 2007, Paul Simpson signed Kevin Nicholls from Leeds United for a fee of around £750,000. Nicholls was looking for a fresh start after a nightmare spell with Leeds United and could not wait to get up and running at Preston.
During the first half of the 2007/2008 season, Preston found themselves languishing in the lower end of the Championship table which in the end led to the dismissal of manager Paul Simpson. Following the departure of Graham Alexander to bitter rivals Burnley, Nicholls was handed the captain's arm band and as a result, Nicholls board the brunt of the criticism aimed at the team. It was well documented that some sections of the Preston supporters aimed "You're not fit to wear the shirt chants" towards Nicholls in the Barnsley away fixture and was victim of much scrutiny thereafter.
After the sacking of Paul Simpson, Derek Shaw appointed Alan Irvine as his replacement and as a result, Nicholls found himself out of favour at Deepdale despite starting the first two fixtures under Irvine. Prior to this, in a bid to concentrate on his own game, Nicholls stepped down as club captain forcing Paul Simpson to appoint long serving midfielder Paul McKenna as his successor. From December 2007 up until the rest of the season, Nicholls made just two further appearances, both of which were as substitutes, most notably in the 4-1 demolition of Derby in the FA Cup.
Yet another fresh start
During the summer, Alan Irvine had stated that every single player in the Preston squad would have a fresh start but despite this, Kevin Nicholls was released from his contract on August 2nd where we went on to join his former club Luton Town on a free transfer.
Nicholls has made four appearances for Luton so far this season, his most recent was on the 30th August against Exeter City where the Hatters recorded a 1-0 win. Nicholls picked up an injury shortly after and so has been eluded from the Luton team of late.