Andy Nicholls

{{Short description|Welsh football hooligan}} {{For|the Irish painter|Andrew Nicholl}} {{BLP sources|date=January 2017}} {{Use British English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} {{Infobox writer | name = Andy Nicholls | image = Andy Nicholls 2021.png | caption = Nicholls in 2021 | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1962}} | death_date = | occupation = Author | education = [[Alun School]] | period = [[Modern era|Modern]] | genre = [[Fandom]] and [[autobiography]] | subject = [[Football hooliganism in the United Kingdom|Football hooliganism]] | notableworks = | influences = | influenced = | years_active = | module = {{Infobox person | child = yes | organization = [[County Road Cutters]] | style = [[Casual (subculture)|Casual]] | criminal_charges =  | criminal_penalty = | criminal_status = }} | website = {{URL|andy-nicholls.co.uk/}} | portaldisp = yes }} {{Football hooliganism in the United Kingdom sidebar}}

'''Andy Nicholls''' (born 1962), is a Welsh former [[Football hooliganism|football hooligan]], manager, and author of a number of books on football hooliganism. He has been banned from every ground in [[England]] and [[Wales]] and has served time in prison for football related violence.<ref name="BBC3593281"> {{cite news | last = | first = | author2 = | title = Hooligan ignored match ban | work = | pages = | language = | publisher = [[BBC News]] | date = 2 April 2004 | url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_east/3593281.stm | access-date = 22 October 2007 }}</ref> Nicholls has said he "would change nothing" about his time as a football hooligan, including "pillaging and dismantling European cities, leaving horrified locals to rebuild in time for our next visit" and having "seen visiting fans at Goodison Park pleading not to be carved open after straying too far from the safety of their numbers;" however, he is wary of violence coming to his own doorstep since he has had children.<ref name="BleacherReport2375447"> {{cite news | last = Nicholls | first = Andy | title = I Was a Football Hooligan for 30 Years, and I Loved Every Second of It | work = | pages = | language = | publisher = [[Bleacher Report]] | date = 10 March 2015 | url = https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2375447-i-was-a-football-hooligan-for-30-years-and-i-loved-every-second-of-it | accessdate = 11 February 2023}}</ref>

==Background== When he was a boy he went to the [[Alun School]] in Flintshire. For over twenty years he was regularly involved with the violent followers of the club.<ref name="BBC3593281"/> Nicholls was classified by the National Football Intelligence Unit (NFIU) as a Category C hooligan, the highest NFIU rating.<ref name="BBC3593281"/> He has been arrested more than twenty times for football related offences and has been deported from [[Belgium]], [[Iceland]] and [[Sweden]]. He created the terrace fanzine ''Get into Them'' which was closed down by authorities.

Nicholls received a new Football Banning Order (FBO) on 6 October 2003 banning him from every football ground in England and Wales for two years, apart from games where he was there as manager of [[Welsh Alliance League]] club, [[Holywell Town F.C.]] when he admitted to being involved in football hooliganism in his book, ''Scally: Confessions of a Category C Football Hooligan''<ref name="BBC3171820"> {{cite news | last = | first = | author2 = | title = 'Hooligan' ban lifted for manager | work = | pages = | language = | publisher = [[BBC News]] | date = 7 October 2003 | url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/north_east/3171820.stm | access-date = 22 October 2007 }}</ref> and for his involvement in a pub fight between Everton and [[Aston Villa F.C.|Aston Villa]] fans, in which he claimed he was only helping injured victims to escape.<ref name="Telegraph019">{{cite news | last = Leapman | first = Ben | title = 1,000 English hooligans to be allowed to go to World Cup after bans expire | work = | pages = | language = | publisher = [[The Daily Telegraph]] | date = 18 March 2006 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/03/19/nfooty19.xml | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060625173514/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2006%2F03%2F19%2Fnfooty19.xml | url-status = dead | archive-date = 25 June 2006 | accessdate = 22 October 2007 }}</ref> He had been summoned to [[Liverpool]] [[Magistrates Courts, Liverpool|Magistrates Court]] under the Football Disorder Act over the publication of the book, and banned for two years, with £500 costs.<ref name="BBC3171820"/>

In April 2004, Nicholls was convicted by [[Flintshire]] magistrates for breaching the banning order, after he attended a match in Russia between [[Wales national football team|Wales]] and [[Russia national football team|Russia]]. Nicholls who lived in [[Rhosesmor]] in North East Wales, at the time had attended the match as part of a Holywell Town club trip. Nicholls claimed that he did not know the ban applied to Welsh games, as being an [[England national football team|England]] supporter he thought the ban only applied to England.<ref name="BBC3593281"/> Nicholls would later become chairman of Holywell Town.<ref name="BBC4216226"> {{cite news | last = | first = | author2 = | title = Football boss in parking row fine | work = | pages = | language = | publisher = [[BBC News]] | date = 5 September 2005 | url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/north_east/4216226.stm | access-date = 22 October 2007 }}</ref> Nicholls' ban from Everton means he has to stay a minimum of 10 miles from any match they play home or away. As part of his banning order he also had to sign in at a police station on match days, and hand in his passport every time a British team played abroad.<ref name="BBC3945109"> {{cite news | last = | first = | author2 = | title = Fall in football hooligan arrests | work = | pages = | language = | publisher = [[BBC News]] | date = 23 October 2004 | url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3945109.stm | access-date = 22 October 2007 }}</ref> His banning order expired in 2005.<ref name="Telegraph019"/>

Nicholls appeared on the [[BBC]] documentary programme [[Panorama (TV series)|Panorama]] during an undercover investigation into previously unreported violence at the [[2006 FIFA World Cup|2006 World Cup]]. In the programme he was quoted as saying, "To stamp out hooliganism once and for all, you'd have to get every man between 14 and 40 and chop off their arms and legs."<ref name="Independent16663392"> {{cite news | last = Maume | first = Chris | title = Binge-drinking thugs who kick off rather than see kick-off | pages = | language = | work = [[The Independent]] | date = 5 August 2006 | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060805/ai_n16663392 | accessdate = 22 October 2007 }} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref><ref name="BBC5219906"> {{cite news | last = | first = | author2 = | title = Panormana: Hooligans | work = | pages = | language = | publisher = [[BBC News]] | date = 1 August 2006 | url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/5219906.stm | access-date = 22 October 2007 }}</ref>

Nicholls' first book, ''Scally: Confessions of a Category C Football Hooligan'' dealt with the victim knife attacks perpetrated by the [[County Road Cutters]] firm, who are associated with Everton. He chronicles the bitter [[Manchester]]-[[Merseyside]] battles that left hundreds injured. He also confronts the alleged problems of racism at Goodison Park and he describes rivalries with the gangs of [[Aberdeen F.C.|Aberdeen]], [[Chelsea F.C.|Chelsea]], [[Millwall F.C.|Millwall]], [[Middlesbrough F.C.|Middlesbrough]] and other clubs. He has also co-authored three other books with fellow former football hooligan, [[Cass Pennant]].

== Bibliography == * {{cite book |last1=Nicholls |first1=Andy |title=Scally: Confessions of a Category C Football Hooligan |date=2002 |publisher=Milo Books |isbn=1903854113}} * {{cite book |last1=Lowles |first1=Nick |last2=Nicholls |first2=Andy |title=Hooligans Vol.1: The A-L of British Football Hooligan Gangs |date=2005 |publisher=Milo Books |isbn=1903854636}} * {{cite book |last1=Lowles |first1=Nick |last2=Nicholls |first2=Andy |title=Hooligans Vol.2: The M-Z of Britain's Football Hooligan Gangs |date=2006 |publisher=Milo Books |isbn=1903854644}} * {{cite book |last1=Pennant |first1=Cass |author-link1=Cass Pennant |last2=Nicholls |first2=Andy |title=30 Years of Hurt: A History of England's Hooligan Army |date=2006 |publisher=Pennant Books |isbn=0955039428}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

== External links == * [http://www.andy-nicholls.co.uk/ Andy Nicholls Official Website]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholls, Andy}} [[Category:1963 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:British male criminals]] [[Category:Association football supporters]] [[Category:Former hooligans]] [[Category:People educated at Alun School, Mold]]