Johnny McNichol

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 and more than 200 for each of Chelsea and Crystal Palace. 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.

Early life and career 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.

Newcastle United After the war, McNichol returned to Hurlford, but, amid interest from other clubs, he accepted a trial with Newcastle United. After two trial matches, he signed professional forms with the club on his 21st birthday. McNichol spent two years at Newcastle, but never made a first-team appearance. The next year, McNichol played in all of Brighton's games, the only man so to do, and again finished as top scorer for the season, this time with 14 goals. According to Carder and Harris, he "had a superb season with a brand of play which won him the reputation as the finest inside-forward in the Third Division". Appointed club captain when Billy Lane took over from Welsh as manager, McNichol flourished under Lane's attacking policy. He scored 14 goals in the 1951–52 season as Brighton narrowly failed to mount a successful challenge to Plymouth Argyle for the title, "was again the star of the side", and "was thought by many to be the most stylish inside-forward to play for the Albion". Shortly before the next season started, he became Drake's first signing for his new club, Chelsea, at a fee of £12,000 plus the player Jimmy Leadbetter, a club record fee received for Albion. Once restored to the forward line, his goals helped Chelsea avoid relegation to the Second Division at the end of his first season. A "dramatic last-minute goal ... enabled Chelsea to snatch a lucky victory at West Bromwich" with three games left, and he scored the third goal of Chelsea's 3–1 defeat of Manchester City in their last fixture of the season which confirmed their escape from the relegation positions.

Two seasons later, Chelsea won the First Division title for the first time. As they beat Charlton Athletic in March 1955 to "maintain their challenging position in the Championship", The Times reporter described how "McNichol filled the role of general, and was instigator of many dangerous movements". Two weeks later, McNichol, "the most effective of their forwards", scored twice as a Chelsea team displaying "a propensity to play the man in preference to the ball" beat Tottenham Hotspur 4–2, and the title was confirmed with one game still to play. McNichol had missed only two games in the 42-game season, and scored 14 goals, a good return for a player in his position; an inside forward was normally more a creator than a scorer of goals, but his profile on Chelsea's website describes him as "clever, astute and most of all a clinical finisher".

He stayed at the club for three more seasons, but later lost his place in the side to the young Jimmy Greaves: "There was no disgrace in losing my place to him. I couldn't grumble about that. We used to get on very well, and he would listen to the instructions I gave him. Then he became world famous!" The respect was mutual: though Greaves described the Chelsea title-winning side as "almost certainly one of the least talented teams ever to win the title", he made an exception for McNichol, "the ball player of the team". In all competitions, he made 202 appearances for Chelsea and scored 66 goals.

While at Brighton, McNichol had worked in a local garage, wanting to keep up his skills in case injury put an early end to his football career. When he joined Chelsea, his decision to remain living in the area had upset Drake. and was appointed captain. He scored on his debut for the club, and produced seven goals from the twelve games he played in what remained of the 1957–58 season. By October 1958, manager George Smith felt the player was feeling the strain of his dual role, so relieved him of the captaincy. As McNichol grew older, his playing position became more defensive, as he became first a wing half, then a full back. Palace had been placed in the Fourth Division when the Football League structure was reorganised on national lines prior to the 1958–59 season, and McNichol, long since restored to the captaincy, led them to promotion to the Third Division in 1961, their first promotion for 40 years. but was unsuccessful. A broken arm suffered in August 1961 forced McNichol to miss a Palace match for the first time in a three-and-a-half-year club career. He played on for two seasons, but his professional career was brought to a close by facial injuries, a fractured cheekbone and broken jaw, sustained during the 1962–63 season. In all competitions, he scored 15 goals from 205 appearances. he took an active role in the celebrations.

He died of a stroke on 17 March 2007 at the age of 81.

Football League Fourth Division runners-up: 1960–61