Barry Nicholson (born 24 August 1978) is a Scottish former professional

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 lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. He started his professional career with Rangers and went on to play over 100 games for each of Dunfermline Athletic,

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

and Preston North End. He then played for Fleetwood Town before finishing his career at

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

. Nicholson earned three full caps for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, all won during his time with Dunfermline.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

, Nicholson watched matches of hometown club Queen of the South with his father. From playing youth football in Dumfries, he then joined Rangers. Limited appearances in Rangers' first team over several years saw him move on in 2000. Some records show that he scored once for Rangers in a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

qualifier against FC Haka in 1999, but Nicholson has stated that the goal should be credited to Jonatan Johansson.

Dunfermline Athletic

Nicholson joined Dunfermline Athletic under the helm of Jimmy Calderwood and was a first team regular in what was the Pars' most successful period since the

George Farm George Neil Farm (13 July 1924 – 18 July 2004) was a Scottish professional football goalkeeper and manager. Born in Slateford, a suburb of Edinburgh, Farm represented his country on ten occasions, the last three of which occurred after a g ...

era. 2002–03 saw them finish 5th, and the following season they finished fourth as well as reaching the 2004 Scottish Cup Final, qualifying for a UEFA competition for the first time since 1970.

Aberdeen

Nicholson's performances at East End Park saw him signed by

for a fee of £250,000 in July 2005 and re-joined former boss Calderwood who had since moved to Pittodrie. The move paid dividends as his strong performances towards the end of the 2006–07 season saw him score vital goals. The most notable of these 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. The ''Dons'' qualified from their group in the

2007–08 UEFA Cup The 2007–08 UEFA Cup was the 37th edition of the UEFA Europa League, UEFA Cup, UEFA's former second-tier club association football, football tournament. The 2008 UEFA Cup Final, final was played at the City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, E ...

after a 4–0 win against F.C. Copenhagen. They were twice ahead in the next round at home against Bayern Munich before drawing 2–2. The

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

ns won the return leg comfortably. In October 2007, Nicholson scored the first

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

of his career by scoring three goals against Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the quarterfinals of the League Cup, with two of the goals being penalties. Nicholson scored the second goal for Aberdeen against hometown club Queen of the South in the 2007–08 Scottish Cup semifinals. Queens won the 7-goal game 4–3 to make it to the final for the first time in their history."Club History" on the official Queen of the South website
/ref> He later said, "I think that they were the better team and deserved to go through."

Preston North End

On 30 June 2008, Nicholson signed a two-year contract with an option of a third year on a free transfer for Preston North End, subject to passing a medical. Nicholson scored his first goal for Preston in a 2–0

preseason In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of S ...

friendly away to

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth ca ...

. On 22 August 2009, he sustained a suspected broken leg in the Championship game versus Peterborough United. Nicholson returned from injury for the final game of the 2009-10 season only to limp off the field within 15 minutes suffering from an injury to the same leg. Nicholson returned to the side in January 2011 playing regularly for the remainder of the season. He was released by Preston at the end of the 2011-12 season.

Later career

Nicholson signed for Fleetwood Town for the 2012–13 season. He then moved to

in August 2013 on a short-term contract. On 24 August 2014, he scored his first goal for the club in a 2–1 defeat against Hibernian. In January 2014, Nicholson's contract was extended until the end of the season. At the end of the 2013–14 season, Nicholson retired from playing and became the development manager at Fleetwood Town.

International career

Nicholson won three caps for

, the first being in the friendly draw with

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in April 2001; the last was in the friendly defeat to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in November 2004.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

*Dunfermline Athletic – 2004 Scottish Cup Finalist

References

External links

* *
Profile at ''AFCheritage''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholson, Barry 1978 births Living people People educated at Dumfries Academy Footballers from Dumfries Scottish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Rangers F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Scotland men's B international footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Professional Football League players Fleetwood Town F.C. non-playing staff