Bob McNicol
Personal information
Full name Robert Hugh McNicol[lower-alpha 1]
Date of birth (1933-02-13)13 February 1933[1]
Place of birth Cumbernauld, Scotland
Date of death 25 April 1980(1980-04-25) (aged 47)[1]
Place of death Tenerife,[1] Spain
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2]
Position(s) Full back
Youth career
Vale of Leven Academy FP
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Vale of Leven
1953–1956 Stirling Albion 56 (1)
1956–1959 Accrington Stanley 134 (5)
1959–1962 Brighton & Hove Albion 93 (0)
1962–1963 Gravesend & Northfleet
1963–1964 Carlisle United 1 (0)
1964–19?? Stalybridge Celtic
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Robert Hugh McNicol[lower-alpha 1] (13 February 1933 – 25 April 1980) was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a full back. He made 56 Scottish League appearances for Stirling Albion and 228 in the English Football League playing for Accrington Stanley, Brighton & Hove Albion and Carlisle United.[1][3]

Life and career

McNicol was born in 1933 in Cumbernauld, Scotland,[2] and attended Vale of Leven Academy.[4] He went on to train as a carpenter and played football for his school's Former Pupils team, from where he joined junior club Vale of Leven. He was a member of their team that won the 1952–53 Scottish Junior Cup;[5][6] the match programme described him as "a strong, resolute defender who has a senior future if desired".[4] His senior future began forthwith: he joined Stirling Albion for the 1953–54 Division One season, and made 56 appearances in the top flight while completing his National Service obligations with the RAF.[3][2]

After three years, McNicol moved to England to join Accrington Stanley of the Third Division North. He made 147 consecutive appearances in league and cups, a run ended when he broke a toe while playing in goal.[2] He signed for Third Division club Brighton & Hove Albion in June 1956, but despite making 99 appearances in all competitions, he failed to settle, twice submitted transfer requests, and was eventually allowed to leave on a free transfer in July 1962. He helped Gravesend & Northfleet of the Southern League reach the fourth round of the 1962–63 FA Cup, in which they were eliminated by Sunderland only after a replay. He attempted a return to the Football League with Carlisle United, but appeared only once, and ended his football career with Stalybridge Celtic.[2]

He became a newsagent, and later worked in the family haulage business.[2] In 1980, McNicol and members of his family died in the Dan-Air Flight 1008 crash in Tenerife.[5][2]

Notes

  1. 1 2 Some recent database sources, including Hugman's Football League Player Records and related sources such as Neil Brown's site and the ENFA website,[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3][lower-alpha 4] spell the surname McNichol. However, contemporary sources including the match programme for the 1953 Scottish Junior Cup Final,[lower-alpha 5] the Glasgow Herald's match report,[lower-alpha 6] and multiple newspaper reports of the player's career, have McNicol without an "h", as do other recent sources such as Carder and Harris's Albion A–Z.[lower-alpha 7] That spelling is supported by primary sources, including death and probate records.[lower-alpha 8][lower-alpha 9]
  4. "Player search". English National Football Archive. Retrieved 22 September 2018.
  8. "Results for Civil Deaths & Burials in Birth, Marriage, Death & Parish Records: Robert Mcnichol 1980". Findmypast. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  9. "Wills and Probate 1858–1996: Mcnichol 1981". Probate Service. Retrieved 21 September 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Bob McNicol". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Carder, Tim; Harris, Roger (1997). Albion A–Z: A Who's Who of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. Hove: Goldstone Books. p. 161. ISBN 978-0-9521337-1-1.
  3. 1 2 "Bob McNichol". UK A–Z Transfers. Neil Brown. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  4. 1 2 Scottish Junior Cup Final Tie. Official Programme (JPG). 25 May 1953.
  5. 1 2 "Senior Football Players from the Vale of Leven in the 20th Century". Vale of Leven History Project. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
  6. ↑ "Scottish Junior Cup Final". Glasgow Herald. 25 May 1953. p. 9.
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