Andrew Nicholas

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Andrew Nicholas (born Liverpool, October 10th 1983) is a professional footballer.

A left sided defender, Nicholas was signed on a year's contract in July 2004 after being released by Liverpool F.C., where he was the under-19 club captain. He made his Town debut on 15th October 2003, in a 2-1 defeat at Boston United in the LDV Vans Trophy.

The following Saturday, Nicholas was brought on as a substitute in a disastrous 3-0 reverse at Chesterfield F.C., and after the game, manager Andy King declared he would never play Adrian Viveash, Alan Reeves and Matt Heywood in the team together again - so when Andy Gurney was suspended for the match with Port Vale two weeks later, Nicholas was handed his full league debut, on the left side of a back three. Though it wasn't in his favoured position, Nicholas was impressive, and he remained a regular feature of the starting line-up for the rest of the season. Soon afterwards, the Town switched to a 4-4-2 formation, and Nicholas reverted to his usual role, as a left back.

Though he perhaps looks nervous at times, Nicholas is very quick - at Liverpool, he was timed as being quicker than Michael Owen - and also, he possesses a brilliant long throw. He signed a two year extension to his contract in February 2004, tying him to the club until 2006, and, at the end of the season, he picked up the Supporter's Trust Young Player of the Year award.

The 2004/05 season was not a successful one for Nicholas - a knee cartilage tear in July meant that he needed surgery prior to the start of the campaign, and though he returned to the side before the end of August, coming on as a substitute at Bristol City, the lack of a pre-season programme was evident - Nicholas looking rusty and unfit. A adverse reaction to the surgery in early September kept him out for another six weeks, and upon his return, he found himself mostly on the substitutes bench - the only highlight being his first goal for the club in a 2-1 LDV Vans Trophy win at Exeter City in November.

After starting just one match in December, Nicholas rejected a loan move to League Two club Mansfield at the end of the month, before an ankle injury in January prevented him from even being selected on the bench. After a month of reserve team football, Nicholas agreed to a month's loan at Chester, close to his family in Liverpool, before returning to play a part in the Town's last three games of the season.

Early on, the following season looked to be another one of struggle for Nicholas - with Jack Smith brought into the squad, he sat out the opening game of the season, and a terrible performance in the next match against Oldham saw him substituted and out of the squad for six weeks. Having missed all of the Town's disastrous spell during this period, he returned to face Bradford at the end of September - where a 3-2 defeat sealed Andy King's fate. New manager Iffy Onuora at first seemed uncertain as to whether or not to pick Nicholas, but after an injury to Smith in a 0-0 draw at Brentford in October, Nicholas regained his place in the side - and he was almost ever-present until the end of the season, missing just four matches in a oft-changing side. Onuora offered him a new one-year extension to his contract during May - a deal that made Nicholas the club's longest serving player at the age of just 22.

Swindon Town F.C. - Current Squad
1 Brezovan | 2 J. Smith | 3 Vincent | 5 Ifil | 6 Williams | 7 Whalley | 8 Brown | 9 Roberts | 10 Peacock | 11 Monkhouse | 12 Shakes | 13 Stewart | 14 Gurney | 15 Nicholas | 16 Onibuje | 17 Comyn-Platt | 18 Evans | 19 Pook | 20 Brownlie | 21 Jutkiewicz | 23 Weston | 25 P. Smith | 28 Caton | 29 Rhodes | 33 Henry | Manager: Sturrock