Arrivals and departures - part one

Barry Nicholson was born on 24 August 1978 in Dumfries and started his career at Rangers although he was a fan of home town club Queen of the South as a youngster. Nicholson made his debut in a 4-0 victory at Dundee on 27 January 1999 but found his chances limited appearances in the Rangers' first team. He made only 8 appearances, the last of these was in a 6-2 win at home to Motherwell on 18 March 2000. Although he didn't net a league goal Nicholson did score in the European Cup in a 4-1 victory over FC Haka on 28 July 1999. In August 2000 Nicholson joined Dunfermline Athletic under the helm of Jimmy Calderwood.

Nicholson stayed for almost five years he made his debut on 5 August in a 3-0 defeat at Dundee and scored his first goal for the club in a 2-1 defeat at St.Mirren in the League Cup on 31 October 2000. Four days later Nicholson scored his first league goal in a 2-0 win at home to St.Johnstone.

The 2000/01 season saw Nicholson score a brace in the first match in a 5-2 victory against Motherwell. The 2003/04 season saw Dunfermline and Nicholson reach the Scottish Cup Final but was defeated by Celtic 3-1. Nicholson had scored the third goal in the Semi-Final 3-2 victory over Inverness Caledonian Thistle

Nicholson's performances at East End Park saw him signed by Aberdeen for a fee of £250,000 in July 2005 and re-joined former boss Calderwood. He had made 173 league appearances for Dunfermline and netted 23 goals.

Nicholson scored on his Dons debut in a 1-1 draw at Dundee United on 30 July 2005 and made a total of 33 league appearances during the 2005/06 season, scoring twice

The 2006/07 season Nicholson scored 6 goals in 31 appearances, the most notable of these goals was the last minute equaliser against Hearts, which all but clinched third place for Aberdeen, with only two matches of the season left at that stage.

In October 2007, Nicholson scored the first hat-trick of his career, by scoring three goals against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the quarter finals of the CIS Cup, with two of these goals being penalties. He made 38 league appearances scoring 5 goals to take his Dons tally to 13 goals from 102 league appearances.

In April 2008, it was announced that Nicholson had turned down Aberdeen's final offer to stay at the club and would be leaving in the summer. He had been linked with German Bundesliga side VfL Bochum as well as Swedish Allsvenskan team IFK Göteborg, with interest from English clubs Preston, Plymouth, Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Leicester.

On June 30 2008, Nicholson accepted a 2-year contract with an option of a 3rd year on a free transfer for Preston and scored his first goal for Preston in a 2-0 pre season friendly away to Chorley.

Nicholson made his English league debut for Preston in a 2-1 victory at Ipswich on 9 August and has scored goals in his last two league games at Deepdale in victories over Crystal palace and Charlton.

Nicholson has won 3 caps for Scotland, the first being in the friendly draw with Poland on 25 April 2001. He played in the World Cup qualifier on 6 October 2001 as Scotland beat Latvia 2-1. His last appearance until now was in a 4-1 defeat at home to Sweden in a friendly on 17 November 2004.