Charlie Nicholas

Charlie Nicholas

Personal information
Full name	Charles Nicholas
Date of birth	30 December 1961 (1961-12-30) (age 49)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Playing position	Forward
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1980–1983	Celtic	74	(48)
1983–1987	Arsenal	151	(34)
1987–1990	Aberdeen	78	(30)
1990–1995	Celtic	114	(37)
1995–1996	Clyde	31	(5)
Total		448	(154)
National team
1983–1989	Scotland	20	(5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Charles "Charlie" Nicholas (born 30 December 1961 in Cowcaddens, Glasgow, Scotland^[1]) is a former professional football player from Scotland. During his career, he played as a striker for Celtic, Arsenal, Aberdeen and Clyde, and the Scottish national team. Since retiring as a player, he has worked as a sports journalist.

Club career

Celtic

Nicholas started his career with Celtic, making his debut in 1980, at the age of 18. He had a superb 1982-83 season which saw him score a total of 50 goals in all competitions (including 29 in the league) and win the Scottish Footballer of the Year and Young Player of the Year awards.

Nicholas had the envious choice of being offered a contract at Liverpool, Manchester United and Arsenal. He had interviews at both Liverpool and Manchester United. The Scottish players at Liverpool at that time, particularly Graeme Souness, were trying their best to persuade Nicholas to join them.

In total, he played 84 league games for Celtic, scoring an impressive 48 goals.[2]

Arsenal

He moved to Arsenal on 22 June 1983 for £800,000. However, Nicholas did not live up to the hype surrounding his move;^[2] His lifestyle in the capital was the subject of much tabloid speculation, earning him the nickname "Champagne Charlie";^[3] he only scored 11 goals in his first season (although two were against Tottenham in the North London derby).

Nicholas barely broke double figures in the following seasons,^[4] and fell out with Arsenal's new manager George Graham with the latter's arrival in 1986.^{[citation needed]} Despite scoring both goals in Arsenal's 2-1 League Cup final victory over Liverpool in 1987, Nicholas was dropped four games into the start of the 1987-88 season, in favour of Perry Groves as the strike-partner for new signing Alan Smith.

In all he scored 54 goals in 184 matches for the Gunners. His best season goals wise was the 1983-84 campaign, where he scored 11 times in the league.[3]

Aberdeen

Nicholas was sold to Aberdeen in January 1988 for £400,000,^[5]

After a slow start at Pittodrie (three goals in 16 league games in the 1987-88 season), he rediscovering his form and scored 16 league goals in the 1988-89 season, netting a further 11 league goals in 1989-90 and also winning the SFA Cup, before returning to Celtic in August 1990. He had played 78 league games for the Dons in two and a half years, scoring 30 goals.[4]

Return to Celtic

His comeback season at Parkhead was something of a disappointment as he played just 14 games and scored six goals in the league, but was much better in 1991-92 with 21 league goals, though once again Celtic failed to win any silverware. He lost his place in the team halfway through 1992-93 as Celtic bought Frank McAvennie, but regained his place the following season as McAvennie fell out of favour and was eventually discarded. However, his final season at the club was a disappointment as he played in just 12 out of 36 league games and failed to score a single goal.

Clyde

In July 1995, after five years back at Celtic (during which time he had played 114 league games and scored 37 league goals) he left on a free transfer to join Clyde, where he spent one season and scored five times in 31 league games before retiring as a player.[5]

International career

Nicholas made 20 appearances for the Scottish national football team between 1983 and 1989, scoring 5 goals.

Career after retirement

Nicholas now works as a pundit on the Sky Sports News programme Soccer Saturday and Sky Sports' coverage of the Scottish Premier League Scottish Cup and Scotland Internationals. He is also a part-time newspaper columnist. In April 2010, Nicholas criticised Celtic's majority shareholder Dermot Desmond. He accused Desmond and the board of presiding over the worst Celtic squad he had ever seen. Nicholas was quoted criticising Desmond's handling of the club, accusing him of treating the Glasgow club like "a toy" and failing to invest properly in the playing staff.^{[citation needed]}

Honours

Celtic

• Scottish Premier League winner: 1980–81, 1981–82

• Scottish League Cup winner: 1983
• Scottish League Cup runner-up: 1995

Arsenal

• Football League Cup winner: 1987

Aberdeen

• Scottish Premier League runner-up: 1988–89, 1989–90
• Scottish Cup winner: 1990
• Scottish League Cup winner: 1990
• Scottish League Cup runner-up: 1989

References

1. ^ Charlie Nicholas' Profile at Gunnermania
2. ^ BBC Sport: Were you there?
3. ^ Arsenal's A to Z: N is for... Arsenal.com
4. ^ 1986-1987 Remembered: George Graham’s Arsenal win the League Cup
5. ^ [1] Arsenal.com

Persondata
Name	Nicholas, Charlie
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	30 December 1961
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Date of death
Place of death