Elsewhere in the country, it is quite unusual for players to play for several football clubs in the same area. There aren’t a wealth of players who have played for both Liverpool and Everton, for example, or who have the two Manchester clubs on their CV. The same isn’t true of London, with footballers often playing for several clubs in the capital and moving between them quite freely. That is shown quite clearly with the career of Peter Nicholas, who started his playing career at Crystal Palace but would later become Chelsea captain, having also played for Arsenal and Luton before finishing his career at Watford.
Peter Nicholas’s Honours as a Chelsea Player
| Season | League Titles | Domestic Cups | European/International Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1989-1990 | – | Full Members’ Cup | – |
| 1988-1989 | Second Division | – | – |
Who is Peter Nicholas?
Perhaps the strangest thing about Peter Nicholas’s London-centric career is the fact that he was actually born in Newport in the Monmouthshire area of Wales. That was on the 10th of November in 1959, yet he never played professionally for a Welsh club. His first club was Crystal Palace, joining the youth team and making his way through the ranks in order to play for the first team proper. He played more than 150 times for the Eagles, all told, winning the Second Division at the end of the 1978-1979 season. He began his football career as a centre-half, but was later moved into midfield and earned a solid reputation there.
Known as a tough-tackling defensive midfielder who didn’t compromise, Nicholas did his best to keep Crystal Palace in the top-flight but it wasn’t to be. Shortly before their relegation was confirmed, Arsenal paid £500,000 for his signature and Nicholas went straight into the first time. Interestingly, he wasn’t on the losing side for the rest of the 1980-1981 season. In the following campaign he made 41 appearances, becoming captain of Wales at the same time. Injuries took their toll during the 1982-1983 season, meaning that his place in the Arsenal side was no longer guarantee, in spite of his reliability and willingness to do what was needed.
Becoming Well-Respected
Part of the ‘doing what was needed’ mentality that saw Nicholas become so respected including going in goal for Arsenal in a match against Tottenham Hotspur when Pat Jennings was injured. Even so, he began to struggle to start games for the Gunners, so in the August of 1983 he returned to Crystal Palace on loan, then moved back permanently at the end of the campaign for a fee of £150,000. Sadly, his second spell with the Eagles wasn’t as successful as his first, so the club looked to move him on. Luton Town were interested, so he signed for the Hatters in 1985 and his form improved markedly, making more than 100 appearances for the club.
That caught the eye of Aberdeen, who were looking for a tough-tackling midfielder to help them win some silverware. It looked like Nicholas had been able to do just that when the club made it to the Scottish League Cup final during the 1987-1988 season, taking on perennial Scottish winners Rangers. The game itself was an exciting one, with Aberdeen going 1-0 up, 2-1 down and 3-2 up before it finished 3-3. That led to extra-time and penalties. Ironically, Nicholas missed his penalty, meaning that he actually ended up costing Aberdeen the silverware rather than helped them win some. The Dons also finished fourth in the league, one point behind Rangers.
Moving to Chelsea
Although things didn’t work out for Nicholas at Aberdeen, his performances persuaded Chelsea that he was exactly what they needed. Playing in the Second Division at the time, the Blues wanted a ball-winning player and decided to pay £350,000 for him. Having only just been relegated, there is an argument that the Chelsea team at the time wasn’t good enough for the top-flight but was too good for the division below. Even so, Chelsea supporters struggled to warm to the Welshman. That might have been because they saw him as a replacement for fan favourites Roy Wegerle and Pat Nevin, but it might also have been because of a Palace win over Chelsea years before.
The two teams were in the Second Division when Nicholas played an instrumental part in helping the Eagles to destroy Chelsea, helping them to win the title at the Blues’ expense. In spite of the lack of love shown by Chelsea fans, Nicholas worked well with Graham Roberts, the two men having been brought in by manager Bobby Campbell to offer solidity in the middle. They did just that, with the Blues all but bullying their way back into the First Division at the first time of asking. Nicholas scored his first goal in a 4-1 win over Oldham, which helped the club on its way to a 99 point title-winning total with four games still to play.
Becoming Chelsea Captain
Nicholas made 39 league appearances for the Blues in the Second Division, then added another 29 in the following campaign. More importantly, Roberts left the club in somewhat acrimonious fashion, so Nicholas was given the captain’s armband for the second half of the season. In the March of 1990, what might be considered the peak of his Chelsea career came when the Blues defeated Middlesbrough in the Zenith Data Systems Cup, as the Full Members’ Cup was known at the time, allowing him to become just the second Chelsea captain to raise a trophy aloft at Wembley after a man of the match performance.
Ahead of the 1990-1991 season, Campbell moved to strengthen his midfield, bringing in both Andy Townsend and Dennis Wise. Things looked good for Nicholas, too, who had begun to win over the Chelsea supporters and looked to have cemented that when his stinging shot crept past Peter Shilton to score the decisive goal against Derby County. Sadly that new-found respect didn’t last, with his form dipping and the boo-boys at Stamford Bridge making him the target of their abuse. In the autumn he was dropped, with Townsend taking over the captain’s armband, whilst an own-goal against Wimbledon put the final nail in his Chelsea coffin.
Life After Chelsea
When Campbell chose to pick young players Damian Matthew and Graham Stuart ahead of Nicholas in a game against Manchester United, things didn’t look good for the midfielder. When Chelsea won 3-2 it all but ensured that his time at the club was over, with a free transfer to Watford coming in the March of 1991. He played for the Hornets 40 times before deciding to retire as a player in 1993. Having earned 73 caps for Wales, won silverware with Chelsea and played for several different clubs in both England and Scotland, Nicholas later decided that entering the realm of management was a good way for him to get back into the game.
He initially did that via the youth coaching department at Chelsea, earning some good experience. That led him to a similar role at Brentford before he returned to where it all began and was the youth coach at Crystal Palace for a few years before being promoted to assistant manager. His first manager’s job in its own right came back in Wales when Barry Town brought him in as the boss in 2000. He lasted a year there, winning the League of Wales title. In 2002 he took on the manager’s job at Newport County, leading them to the final of the FAW Premier Cup. In 2005 he started managing Llanelli, winning the Welsh Premier League before he was replaced by Andy Legg in 2009.