Biography
Centre forward and sometime centre half Charles “Charlie” Nicklas was born in Sunderland and came to prominence immediately after World War Two playing juniors football for local side St Joseph’s. Charlie undertook his National Service in the Royal Air Force and was seen by Raich Carter, an RAF veteran himself, while playing forces representative football. Demobilised in the summer of 1950, Nicklas joined Wearside League side Silksworth Colliery Welfare and continued to impress Carter’s watching scouts. Nicklas signed professional terms for the Tigers in December 1950, having joined on a trial basis a month earlier, but it wasn’t until Raich left the management hotseat a year later that Charlie was given his debut – starting up front, he scored his only City goal in a 3-3 draw against Rotherham. The City directors’ selection committee, who had taken over the reins temporarily following Carter’s departure, gave Nicklas two more starts before restoring Scotsman Syd Gerrie at centre forward. Charlie returned to the side for three starts in March 1952 but failed to find the net again. He remained with the Tigers for another year, scoring seven goals for the reserves during the 1952/53 season before leaving in May 1953.
Nicklas joined Division Three North side Darlington in May 1953 and scored on his Quakers debut against Chesterfield in August 1953. He missed nearly four months of football at the end of the 1953 calendar year and returned to first team action in mid January, scoring four goals in four games including a brace against Gateshead. The last of his 17 starts for Darlington came in March 1954 against local rivals Hartlepools United.
Although still registered to Darlington, Nicklas was allowed to move on in the 1954 close season and spent the subsequent season at Headington United, the Oxford based Southern League team that became Oxford United a few years later. Returning north after one season, Nicklas was selected to play in an August 1955 trial match for Northern League side South Shields but interest in his signature was not pursued after he failed to show up due to a car breakdown. This seemed to bring Nicklas’s football career to a shuddering halt. He died in Sunderland in July 2018.
Details
Nationality: England
Date/Place of Birth: 26 April 1930, Sunderland
Hull City First Game: 27 October 1951, Rotherham United H (Division Two), 21 years, 184 days old
Hull City Final Game: 22 March 1952, Cardiff City H (Division Two), 21 years, 331 days old
Clubs
Silksworth Colliery Welfare (1950), Hull City (1950-1953), Darlington (1953-1954), Headington United (1954-1955)
Hull City Record
Career: 6 apps, 1 goals
Charlie Nicklas| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950/51 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1951/52 | 6 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| 1952/53 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |