Jimmy Nicholl - Management Career

Management Career

Nicholl had great success at Raith Rovers, winning the Scottish League Cup on 27 November 1994—four years to the day that he had arrived at the club—and reaching the Scottish Premier Division as First Division champions six months later. Due to their SFL Cup triumph, they qualified for the UEFA Cup and reached the second round, where they were eliminated by eventual winners Bayern Munich.

On 28 February 1996, Nicholl was appointed manager of Millwall, who just over two months earlier had been top of Division One but were now sliding down the table. He was unable to arrest the decline and Millwall slipped into Division Two on the last day of the season. He remained at Millwall until the following February, and six months after that returned to Raith Rovers. His second spell at Raith lasted two years, and ended on 14 June 1999 after he had failed to get them back into the top flight.

A 28-day spell as manager of Dunfermline Athletic followed later in 1999, and he later served as assistant manager to Jimmy Calderwood at East End Park. In May 2004, Nicholl followed Calderwood when he took over as manager at Aberdeen, again serving as his assistant until the two parted company with the club in May 2009. He resumed his partnership with Calderwood at Kilmarnock in 2010.

Nicholl was appointed manager of Cowdenbeath in June 2010, but he left Cowdenbeath at the end of the 2010–11 season after they were relegated from the First Division.

Nicholl was then appointed assistant manager of Kilmarnock for a second time, by Kenny Shiels on 15 June 2011.