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Stephen Nicol (born 11 December 1961) is a Scottish retired professional footballer who mainly played as a right back and occasionally played in other positions across defence and midfield. He played for the successful Liverpool teams of the 1980s. He was also a regular member of the Scotland national team and represented his country at the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
Nicol started his playing career with local club Ayr United, moving to Liverpool in 1981. He won five English league championships, three FA Cup winners medals, and the 1984 European Cup during 14 years with Liverpool. Nicol played for several other English teams after leaving Liverpool, including Notts County, Sheffield Wednesday and Doncaster Rovers, before emigrating to the United States in 1999. He was most recently coach of the New England Revolution and was the longest-tenured head coach in MLS to coach a single club. Nicol is now a commentator for ESPN FC.
He made his Reds debut on 31 August 1982 in a 0–0 league draw with Birmingham City at St Andrew's and made a further three league appearances that season. The Reds finished as league champions for the 14th time, but Nicol did not make enough appearances to collect a title winner's medal.
Nicol became a regular in the 1983–84 season under new boss Joe Fagan. He also scored his first goal for the club on 22 October 1983, in a 1–0 league victory over Queens Park Rangers at Loftus Road. He went on to win a League championship medal by the end of his first full season, having not appeared enough times the previous season to qualify for a medal. However, he was not picked for the League Cup final victory over fierce Merseyside derby rivals Everton in the first-ever all-Merseyside final. He came on as a substitute for Craig Johnston in the European Cup final against Roma in the Stadio Olimpico, Rome. After a 1–1 draw, the match went to a penalty shootout. Nicol missed his spot-kick, but Roma failed to score two of their penalties and Liverpool won the competition.
Nicol became a first-team regular for many subsequent seasons, winning the league championship and FA Cup "double" in 1986 under the guidance of Kenny Dalglish, pipping Everton to the title by just two points and then beating them 3–1 in the first-ever all Merseyside FA Cup final. He was also settling into an international career, which would ultimately yield 27 caps and a place in the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, with Scotland. A versatile player, he played most often at right back following the departure of Phil Neal in 1985, though he also featured at left back, in the centre of defence and as a midfield player. He even played up front on a couple of occasions. He earned the nickname 'Chopsy' because of how he pronounced the word 'chips'.
In the 1987–88 season, he was in a good goal scoring form, despite playing in a position not naturally conducive to attacking. This form included a memorable hat-trick at Newcastle United and a phenomenal long-range header to win at Arsenal on the opening day of the season. Nicol's defensive qualities were also much admired as Liverpool coasted to the league title, but missed out on another "double" when Wimbledon surprisingly beat them 1–0 in the FA Cup final at Wembley. Nicol was the last Liverpool player to have a chance to equalise and force extra-time, but his diving header in injury time flew narrowly over the crossbar.
A year later, Nicol played his part as Liverpool won the FA Cup against Everton, winning 3–2 after extra time, but lost the League title in a decider against Arsenal with virtually the last kick of the season. The campaign ended on a personal high for Nicol as he was named Footballer of the Year by football writers.
Nicol accompanied his teammates to many of the funerals and memorial services of the 96 fans who died at the Hillsborough disaster. Like many others in the Liverpool squad, Hillsborough was the second tragedy Nicol had witnessed. Four years earlier, just before the 1985 European Cup final at the Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Liverpool fans had charged a section of, mainly, Juventus FC supporters, causing a retaining wall to collapse, killing 39 people. As a result of the Heysel disaster, a five-year ban was placed on English clubs in European competitions, with Liverpool being banned for six years. Nicol would be one of the few players still with Liverpool when their ban from European competitions was finally lifted.
When Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 9–0 during the 1989–90 season to accumulate the club's biggest-ever League victory, Nicol was the only player to score twice, getting the first and last goals of the game in the seventh and 90th minutes. Liverpool regained the league title that season – their last until 2019–20 – and, two years later, Nicol was in the team which, under Graeme Souness, won the FA Cup again in 1992, this time beating Sunderland 2–0.
He remained a regular player for Liverpool until the start of the 1994–95 season, when he was forced onto the sidelines with the arrival of new defenders Phil Babb and John Scales. His final appearance for the club was a League Cup tie against Burnley in October 1994.
In 13 years at Anfield, he had played a total of 343 league games and scored 36 goals. At the time of leaving, he was the club's most senior player in terms of unbroken service. Although Ian Rush had joined the club more than a year before Nicol, Rush's service had been disrupted by a year-long spell at Juventus.
In September of that year, he took over as interim player-coach (he did not make any playing appearances) with the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer for the final two games of the season, winning both. He returned to the Boston Bulldogs as player-coach for the 2000 and 2001 seasons before re-joining the Revs in 2002 as an assistant coach.
In 1999, Nicol moved to the United States to play for the Boston Bulldogs, and became player-manager following the departure of John Kerr. (2016). 9781910335321, Trinity Mirror Sport Media. ISBN 9781910335321
At the conclusion of the 1999 season, Nicol returned to the Boston Bulldogs, but would rejoin the Revolution as an assistant to Fernando Clavijo on 10 January 2002. On 23 May 2002, Nicol was again named interim manager, this time following Clavijo's dismissal.
In his first year as head coach, Nicol lead the Revolution to its first-ever MLS Cup final and was subsequently named MLS Coach of the Year. He was officially named head coach of the Revolution on 6 November 2002.
Nicol would go on to become one of the most successful coaches in MLS history, and the most successful manager in Revolution history, bringing a period of "sustained excellence" to the club during his MLS-record ten year tenure as head coach.
Under Nicol's leadership, the Revolution advanced to the MLS Eastern Conference Finals every year until 2008 and returned to the MLS Cup final in 2005, 2006 and 2007, making the playoffs every year over a seven-season stretch. He was a finalist for MLS Coach of the Year in 2005, but lost to Dominic Kinnear.
In 2007, Nicol also delivered the first silverware in Revolution history, winning the U.S. Open cup final over FC Dallas. The following season Nicol guided the Revolution to their first-ever international trophy, as they won the 2008 North American SuperLiga over Houston Dynamo FC.
While coaching the Revolution, Nicol was selected to represent Major League Soccer on multiple occasions as well. On 11 August 2005, MLS announced Nicol as coach of the "MLS Select Team" to face Real Madrid CF on August 23 in Spain. The league also selected Nicol to coach the MLS All-Stars on two occasions, in 2007 vs. Celtic F.C., and in 2008 vs. West Ham United F.C.
In 2010, Nicol guided the Revolution back to the SuperLiga final, where the club lost to Atlético Morelia. The Revolution also failed to qualify for the playoffs for the first time under Nicol's tenure in 2010, and would again miss the playoffs during the 2011 season. On 24 October 2011, Nicol and the Revolution mutually decided to part ways, ending his 10-season tenure. Nicol departed the Revolution as the club's longest tenured manager, leading the club in games coached, wins, and playoff appearances.
On November 4, 2012, Nicol was inducted into the New England Soccer Hall of Fame.
| + Appearances and goals by club, season and competition | |||
| Liverpool | 1982–83 | First Division | 0 |
| 1983–84 | First Division | 7 | |
| 1984–85 | First Division | 7 | |
| 1985–86 | First Division | 4 | |
| 1986–87 | First Division | 5 | |
| 1987–88 | First Division | 7 | |
| 1988–89 | First Division | 2 | |
| 1989–90 | First Division | 9 | |
| 1990–91 | First Division | 3 | |
| 1991–92 | First Division | 1 | |
| 1992–93 | Premier League | 0 | |
| 1993–94 | Premier League | 1 | |
| 1994–95 | Premier League | 0 | |
| + Appearances and goals by national team and year | |
| Scotland | 0 |
| 4 | |
| 4 | |
| 2 | |
| 6 | |
| 4 | |
| 1 | |
| 3 | |
|
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