Charlie Nicholas

Charlie Nicholas
Personal information
Full name Charles Nicholas[1]
Date of birth (1961-12-30) 30 December 1961 (age 62)
Place of birth Glasgow,[1] Scotland
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
Celtic Boys Club
1979–1980 Celtic
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1979–1983 Celtic 74 (48)
1983–1988 Arsenal 151 (34)
1988–1990 Aberdeen 77 (30)
1990–1995 Celtic 112 (37)
1995–1996 Clyde 31 (5)
Total 445 (154)
International career
1980–1984 Scotland U21[3] 6 (2)
1983–1989 Scotland[4] 20 (5)
1987 Scotland B[5] 1 (0)
1990 Scottish League XI 1 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Charles Nicholas (born 30 December 1961)[6] is a Scottish former professional footballer. A striker, Nicholas is best known for his spells at Celtic and Arsenal. He won 20 international caps for Scotland, including playing at the 1986 FIFA World Cup.

Nicholas began his career at Celtic, and by the age of 21 was considered the most exciting emerging talent in British football. With several English clubs keen to sign him, he joined Arsenal in the summer of 1983. He spent over four years there, and scored both their goals in their League Cup Final win over Liverpool in 1987. Nicholas fell out of favour at Highbury later that year, and moved back to Scotland to join Aberdeen. He won two Cup Finals in his time at Pittodrie, before rejoining Celtic in 1990. His second spell at Parkhead was less successful than his first, but he spent five seasons there before moving on to Clyde for one season before retiring from playing.

Since retiring he has worked in the media, most recently on the Sky Sports show Soccer Saturday, until August 2020.

  1. ^ a b "Charlie Nicholas". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  2. ^ Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 46. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. ^ "Scotland U21 - Nicholas, Charlie". FitbaStats. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  4. ^ "Scotland - Nicholas, Charles". FitbaStats. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  5. ^ "Scotland B - Nicholas, Charlie". Fitbastats. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference CNP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).