Bill Nicholson (footballer)

Bill Nicholson

Bill Nicholson in 1961
Personal information
Full name	William Edward Nicholson
Date of birth	(1919-01-26)26 January 1919
Place of birth	Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, England
Date of death	23 October 2004(2004-10-23) (aged 85)
Place of death	Hertfordshire, England
Playing position	Wing-half
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1938–1955	Tottenham Hotspur	314	(6)
National team
1951	England	1	(1)
Teams managed
1958–1974	Tottenham Hotspur
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

William Edward "Bill" Nicholson OBE (26 January 1919 – 23 October 2004) was an English football player, coach, manager and scout who had a 36-year association with Tottenham Hotspur.

Born in Scarborough, North Riding of Yorkshire, the eighth of nine children, Nicholson was a pupil at the town's Gladstone Road Junior School before attending Scarborough High School for Boys (now Graham School). He worked briefly in a laundry after leaving school, but at the age of 16 he was invited to a trial at Tottenham Hotspur (Spurs), where he arrived on 16 March 1936. After a month's trial, he was taken on as a ground-staff boy at £2 a week. He signed as a full professional at the age of 18 and played a few matches for the first team before he joined the Durham Light Infantry on the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939. As a professional footballer he was sent on a Physical Education course and was made a sergeant-instructor, training new intakes of troops throughout the war. During the Second World War he was a guest player for several clubs including Newcastle United where he played on 19 occasions. Although the war probably cost him half his playing career, he did not regret it as his experiences taught him the man-management skills which were to have such a great effect later in his career.

In 1946 Nicholson returned to the Spurs first team, playing at centre half for two seasons, then moving to right half for a further six years. He was a vital part of the legendary "push and run" Tottenham team which won the league championship in the 1950–51 season.

He made his full international debut for England on 19 May 1951 against Portugal at Goodison Park, Liverpool, and made an immediate impression by scoring with his first touch of the ball after only 19 seconds. This proved to be his only international appearance due to injuries, the dominance of Billy Wright, and his habit of putting his club before his country. Nicholson is quoted as saying "My duty is to get fit for Tottenham. Well, they pay my wages, don't they?".{Davies, Glory Game, p. 71} Of his only appearance he said "Stan Pearson nodded it back and I ran on to let go a first time shot which, from the moment I hit it, I knew was going in. But for the next game they brought back Billy Wright and I accepted that because he was the better player". Nicholson is the only player to have scored for England with his first touch in international football and subsequently never play at that level again.