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 lea ...

who played as a forward. During his professional career he represented

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

and

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level 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 and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. Located around 12 miles (20 km) north of Birmingham, it forms the northwestern part of the West Midlands conurbation, with the towns of ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

. He lived with his parents in Lawrence Avenue,

Heath Town Heath Town is a suburban area of Wolverhampton, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England, to the east of the city centre. It is also a Ward (politics), ward of City of Wolverhampton Council. The ward forms part of t ...

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 , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, 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 i ...

. 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 19 years, between 1946 and 1964, making 638 appearances in the Football League and scoring 276 goals. ...

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

in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

. He won a winners medal with Albion when they beat

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

3–2 in the 1954 FA Cup Final, also winning two

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

caps in the same year. In May 1957 he joined

for £4000, but moved on to

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

West Bromwich West Bromwich ( ), commonly known as West Brom, is a market town in the borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is northwes ...

in 1995.

Honours

West Bromwich Albion *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

: 1953–54

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 English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen {{England-footy-forward-1930s-stub