|
With his craggy face and burly build Peter Nicholas never looked a
midfielder in the David Beckham mould, and in his case looks were
certainly not deceptive, but there can be no doubt that, initially at
least, he performed the ball-winning job for which he was recruited by
Chelsea very effectively indeed. The rugged Welsh international had
originally made his name as a pivotal member of Terry Venables' Crystal
Palace side that were briefly dubbed 'the team of the Eighties' before
an ill-fated move to Arsenal. After a second spell at Selhurst Park and
successful stints with Luton Town and Aberdeen he joined Bobby
Campbell's newly-relegated Chelsea in the summer of 1988 for a fee of
£350,000.
Whether it was because he was signed during the same summer
that Campbell chose to dispense with the more flamboyantly-skilled Roy
Wegerle and, more significantly, Pat Nevin, or perhaps the fact that the
supporters remembered the part Nicholas had played in a match towards
the end of the 1983/84 season when Alan Mullery's Palace side brutalized
a Chelsea team en-route to the Division Two title, there can be no
doubt that the Blues' supporters never truly warmed to the Welshman.
Certainly there can be no question that Campbell's signings - he also
recruited fellow tough-guy Graham Roberts that summer - were thoroughly
vindicated as Chelsea bludgeoned their way back to the top-flight at the
first time of asking, and in some style.
In truth the early omens
weren't good as the Blues accrued a measly three points from their first
six matches but by the time Nicholas struck the first of his two goals
for the club, in a 4-1 win at Oldham in October 1988, Chelsea were on
their way to an impressive tally of 99 points which saw them clinch the
Division Two title with four games still to play. Peter's 39 league
appearances in 1988/89 were followed by a further 29 a year later and he
was made captain for the second half of the season after Roberts'
acrimonious departure. The highlight of his Chelsea career came in March
1990 with a man-of-the-match performance as he became just the second
Chelsea captain to lift a trophy at Wembley (the photo above is during the game)
as the Blues beat Middlesbrough to lift the ZDS Cup in front of 76,000
spectators.
Nicholas was joined by Andy Townsend and Dennis Wise as
Campbell strengthened his midfield in time for the 1990/91 season and
the new campaign could barely have begun better for the Welshman as his
fine shot past Peter Shilton proved decisive in a clash with Derby, but
his form soon dipped and he became a target for the boo-boys. He was
briefly dropped in the autumn and lost the captain's armband to
Townsend. He returned for a visit to Wimbledon but scored a clumsy
first-minute own-goal which proved to be the final straw for an
unforgiving crowd.
Campbell decided to field youngsters Damian Matthew
and Graham Stuart for the following game and both men performed well in a
3-2 win at Manchester United and for the remainder of the season,
leaving Nicholas out in the cold. A substitute appearance in an
incredible 6-4 win at Derby proved to be his final act before a low-key
departure on a free-transfer to Watford in March 1991. (Kelvin Barker).
1976–1981 Crystal Palace 127 (7)
1981–1983 Arsenal 60 (1)
1983–1985 Crystal Palace 47 (7)
1985–1987 Luton Town 102 (1)
1987–1988 Aberdeen 39 (3)
1988–1991 Chelsea 80 (2)
1991–1993 Watford 40 (1)
|