John McNichol

Johnny McNichol

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)
Playing position	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
Teams managed
1963–1967	Tunbridge Wells Rangers (player-manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

John "Johnny" 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 and more than 200 for each of Chelsea and Crystal Palace.

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. Brighton & Hove Albion, struggling in the Third Division, broke their transfer record to sign him. McNichol spent four years with the club, acquiring "the reputation as the finest inside-forward in the Third Division", 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.

McNichol was born in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. His father, Danny, died when he was five, so McNichol and seven siblings were raised by their mother, Catherine. He attended St Joseph's School in Kilmarnock, and started work as a messenger boy for a local draper's shop when he left school. His shop work stopped him playing football on Saturdays, but he was able to play some midweek football for Junior club Hurlford United. When he was taken on at the local bus garage as an apprentice motor mechanic, he became available on Saturdays as well. Hurlford paid him ten shillings a game, nearly as much as his apprentice's wages. During the Second World War, McNichol was called up to the Fleet Air Arm as a mechanic, but was able to play friendly matches for Inverness-based club Clachnacuddin. Because of the number of professional players stationed around the country, such matches were played at a fairly high standard.