No.4 Alan Nicholls

THE Greatest Pilgrims, voted for by the Green Army, lists the top 25 Argyle legends in all positions and we start with the goalkeepers.

Greatest Pilgrim Goalkeepers
Alan Nicholls
Ranked No. 4

While his story ended in heartbreaking tragedy, Alan Nicholls did enough in his short life to establish a place forever in the hearts of the Green Army.

Nicholls emerged as a talented young goalkeeper in the West Midlands, picked up by Wolves as a teenager. His time at Molineux came to an abrupt end after becoming embroiled in a ticketing scam and he dropped into the non-league scene.

Argyle took a risk on signing Nicholls, when manager Peter Shilton, who knew a thing or two about goalkeeping, decided the wild child deserved another chance to rebuild his professional career.

Nicholls forced his way into the first-team with a combination of pure talent and incredible determination. He was fearless between the sticks and blessed with extraordinary agility that captured the imagination.

His career was one the rise and the brilliance of Nicholls even earned him a call-up to the England Under-21 squad. Unfortunately, his antics off the pitch and injury problems began to blight his progress.

Manager Neil Warnock lost patience with his enigmatic goalkeeper and Nicholls was released in 1995. He was back to rebuilding his reputation in non-league football when Nicholls was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident at the age of just 22.

A young talent taken far too soon but we will always remember Alan Nicholls as a great Pilgrim.

Greatest Goalkeeper Results So Far
4. Alan Nicholls
5. Geoff Crudgington
6. Bill Shortt
7. Alan Miller
8. Steve Cherry
9. Peter Shilton
10. Rhys Wilmot
11. Dave MacLaren
12. Fred Craig
13. Pat Dunne
14. Remi Matthews
15. Milija Aleksic
16. Jon Sheffield
17. Paul Barron
18. Martin Hodge
19. Bruce Grobbelaar
20. Geoff Barnsley
21. Harry Cann
22. John Willie Sutcliffe
23. David Stockdale
24. Bill Harper
25. Neil Ramsbottom

For information on the Greatest Pilgrims, please click here.

The Greatest Pilgrims are sponsored by the Big Green Lottery. Sign up to the lottery for chances to win weekly cash prizes, a monthly prize of £500, the annual draw of £12,000 spread across ten finalists and monthly bonus prizes.

The Big Green Lottery raises valuable funds for the Argyle Academy, including the purchase of a new minibus for our young stars last year. At present, our BGL membership stands at 650 and our aim is to reach 1,000 members, which would effectively triple the quarterly donations to the Argyle Academy.

For more information, contact us on bgl@pafc.co.uk and to join the BGL, simply sign up online