Kevin Nicholls

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Personal information
Kevin Nicholls
Date of birth	January 2, 1979 (age 28)
Place of birth	Newham, England
Height	5 ft 10 in
Playing position	Central Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Leeds United
Number	18
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995-1999 1999 1999-2001 2001-2006 2006-	Charlton Athletic → Brighton & Hove Albion (loan) Wigan Athletic Luton Town Leeds United	012 0(1) 004 0(1) 028 0(0) 175 (30) 013 0(0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11:50, 4 March 2007 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Kevin Nicholls (born January 2, 1979, Newham, England) is an English football player. Nicholls currently plays for Leeds United and was formerly their captain, though his time at the club is almost certainly coming to an end.

1 Career
2 Notes
3 External links

[edit] Career

Kevin began his playing career at Charlton Athletic making his debut in the 1996-97 season . After a serious knee injury ruled him out most of the 1997-98 season he failed to break into the team in 1998-99 season and was loaned to Brighton & Hove Albion for four games.

[edit] Wigan Athletic

After a short period back at Charlton Nicholls was transferred to Wigan Athletic for £250,000 (rising to £600,000 based on appearances). Many Charlton fans hold Nicholls in high regard, and see him as a player who but for injury and their step up to the premier league could have made a real difference to their history. In the 1999-2000 season he was once again victim of injury only playing 8 games and after he appeared in 26 games in the 2000-01 season.

[edit] Luton Town

In the summer of 2001, Joe Kinnear signed him for Luton for s fee rising to £150,000. Kevin was a pivotal player in Luton's promotion season of 2001-02 becoming the team captain, he had also been captain of the England under 18s, under 19s and under 20s teams. At Luton, Nicholls managed for several seasons to avoid the injuries that dogged him at previous clubs and became the "heart and soul of the team" according to Kinnear. Unfortunately the 2003-04 season was not so good as he was again injured and missed 5 months. After the injury Kevin returned to his preferred central midfield position and contributed to Luton's very respectable 10th place finish.

Kevin is a traditional hard man who picks up more than his share of cards, he earned a yellow in his Luton debut and two more in the next game and has been a regular name in referee's notebooks ever since. At 5'10" and 11st he uses his size to good advantage but can also play the ball and has been Luton's penalty taker, corner taker and dead ball expert at various times.

In the 2004-2005 season Kevin was voted Player of the Year by the supporters as Luton won the League One championship. It was Kevin who lifted the championship trophy following their 4-2 victory against Brentford in April. He scored 14 goals, most of which came, crucially at times, from the penalty spot.

Nicholls was a vital part of the Luton side that not only finished 10th in the Championship in their first season, but in the match against Liverpool in the FA Cup, a game in which the Hatters went into a 3-1 lead courtesy of Nicholls, once again, well struck penalty. The Hatters eventually fell short of the quality to see out the game, losing 5-3, but many of the players, such as Nicholls, who had spent the majority of their careers in the lower leagues, where now in the public eye.

[edit] Leeds United

On 27 July 2006 Nicholls signed for Leeds United for £700,000.^[1] In his first training session with Leeds he suffered a knee injury, but the club hoped to have him back within 3 months.^[2] Nicholls quick rehabilitation allowed him to make his debut for the club as a substitute in Leeds's match against Sunderland on 13 September 2006, one and a half months before he was due back.^[3]

Nicholls picked up another injury on 30 September 2006 against West Brom, damaging his medial knee ligaments and keeping him out until December. On the 26 October 2006 he was made the new captain of Leeds United Football Club by new manager Dennis Wise, with Shaun Derry being his deputy.^[4]

Nicholls returned from injury on 16 December, starting in the 1-0 loss against Ipswich Town. This, his first game as captain of Leeds ended with a red card for Nicholls in the dying minutes. Manager, Wise was adament that Nicholls should not have been sent off, but the club eventually decided not to appeal against the sending off, meaning Nicholls missed Leeds' following three matches.^[5] Nicholls returned to the side once his suspension had been served in the 2-1 victory over Coventry City in what some Leeds fans described as a sensational performance. Since then his performances are what could charitably be called very poor. By February 2007, many fans were booing his performances.

On 3 March 2007 Nicholls was dropped for Leeds' home match against Sheffield Wednesday. In his postmatch interview Dennis Wise said that Nicholls had asked to leave the club and return to his former club Luton Town. However, Wise has stated he will not allow Nicholls to return to Luton unless the original fee of 700,000 pounds is paid back to Leeds. It was also stated Nicholls had been stripped of Leeds' captaincy^[6]

[edit] International career

He was capped and sent off for the England U-20 team at the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship. The team finished bottom at the group stage with three losses and no goals.