Johnny McNichol

For the rugby union player, see Johnny McNicholl.

Johnny McNichol
Monochrome head-and-shoulders photo of young white man with dark hair brushed straight back. He is wearing an open-necked shirt with white collar and sleeves. The shirt has a large badge on the left breast.
Pictured in Brighton & Hove Albion kit
Personal information
Full name John McNichol
Date of birth (1925-08-20)20 August 1925
Place of birth Kilmarnock, Scotland
Date of death 17 March 2007(2007-03-17) (aged 81)
Position(s) Inside forward
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
– Hurlford United
1946–1948 Newcastle United 0 (0)
1948–1952 Brighton & Hove Albion 158 (37)
1952–1958 Chelsea 181 (59)
1958–1963 Crystal Palace 189 (15)
1963–1967 Tunbridge Wells Rangers
Total 528 (111)
Managerial career
1963–1967 Tunbridge Wells Rangers (player-manager)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

John McNichol (20 August 1925 – 17 March 2007) was a Scottish footballer who played more than 500 games in the Football League in England. An inside forward, he played more than 150 games for Brighton & Hove Albion[1] and more than 200 for each of Chelsea and Crystal Palace.[2][3]

McNichol graduated from junior footballer and apprentice motor mechanic in his native Scotland to a professional contract with English First Division club Newcastle United. After two years, he had found success with the reserve team but was never selected in the first eleven.[4] Brighton & Hove Albion, struggling in the Third Division, broke their transfer record to sign him.[5] McNichol spent four years with the club, acquiring "the reputation as the finest inside-forward in the Third Division",[6] before moving to the First Division as Chelsea manager Ted Drake's first signing. He was part of the Chelsea team that won the League championship in the 1954–55 season. In 1958 he joined Crystal Palace, whom he captained to promotion from the Fourth Division, and finished his on-field career in the Southern League as player-manager of Tunbridge Wells Rangers. He then spent 25 years working on the commercial side of football with two of his previous clubs.

  1. ^ "Johnny McNichol". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference CFC was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference PalaceLegends was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Hugman, Barry J. (2005). PFA Premier and Football League Players Records (1946–2005). Harpenden: Queen Anne Press. p. 406. ISBN 1-85291-665-6.
  5. ^ "Johnny McNichol". Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Archived from the original on 14 June 2002.
  6. ^ Carder, Tim & Harris, Roger (1993). Seagulls! The Story of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. pp. 142–43. ISBN 0-9521337-0-9.