Arriving in the Football League from local football in Scotland, Tom Nicol announced himself with a hat-trick on his debut for Burnley. He carried on scoring freely – until Burnley converted him to right-back. But he then became a goal-scoring winger – until he moved to Blackburn, fellow-founders of the Football League, for an anti-climactic half-season.             

For his first season at Southern League Southampton, he was unequivocally a right-back – a fearless competitor who could be backed to win most of his tackles.

His second season – 1898-99 – was marred by injury but, having been displaced at right-back, he had a few games at outside-right, in the course of which he scored the Saints’ first-ever FA Cup goal at The Dell. After those two eventful seasons, in each of which the side won the Southern League Shield, Nicol was forced, by his knee injury, to retire.

                He became a publican, initially at the Kingsland Tavern in St Mary’s Street.

Having sold that pub to Harry Brown, a later player at Southampton, he became the licensee at the Criterion in Portsmouth and then at the London Hotel in Woolston. His later sporting life was spent at the Southampton (Old) Bowling Green, the oldest green in the world, whose ancient traditions include an annual championship for the Knighthood of the Old Green. Tom was its 133rd winner – hence becoming a “knight” – in 1907.