There was plenty of excitement when Arsenal signed promising Scottish attacker Charlie Nicholas in 1983, but not everyone agreed with the move.
Nicholas was one of the most promising forwards in Scotland during his time at Celtic, and as a 21-year-old with the World at his feet, some of the biggest clubs around were keen on him.
Liverpool were linked, but he chose to move to Highbury instead, joining Terry Neill’s Arsenal side for around £750k, making him Scottish football’s second-biggest export at the time.
Nicholas did perform well in his first season, but his move to Arsenal was not received well by Scotland manager Jock Stein, who refused to call him up to the squad after his departure from Celtic.
Jock Stein refused to call Charlie Nicholas to Scotland squad after joining Arsenal
Nicholas has now told the Football’s Greatest Podcast why Stein was not a fan of his move down to London, and revealed that he did not expect to go to the 1986 World Cup as a result.
“I wasn’t anticipating going (to the World Cup). Jock Stein stopped picking me for the National Team because I joined Arsenal,” he revealed.
“He wanted me to join Liverpool. We had a discussion. Jock never really came to watch Arsenal, he would never come that far south. He would watch me at Anfield, and we always lost at Anfield.
“We would be at Anfield, and he had words after with me saying I chose the wrong club, and I thought ‘there’s nothing I can do about that now.’
“At that time I actually thought I was playing okay, I thought I should still be in the squad, but he just said that I was having a bad time and he didn’t pick me, so I kind of was floating at that time thinking it’s not to be.”
Charlie Nicholas eventually returned to Scotland squad whilst at Arsenal
Nicholas, who scored both goals in Arsenal’s victory over Liverpool in the 1987 League Cup final, would eventually return to the Scotland squad for the 1986 World Cup, which Argentina won as a result of Diego Maradona, who nearly joined Arsenal in the years leading up to the tournament.
His return was facilitated by the appointment of Sir Alex Ferguson as interim Scotland manager after Stein had passed away in 1985, and Nicholas then explained that Ferguson, who would become a Manchester United legend, brought him back to the squad as he could not understand his absence in the first place.
READ MORE: Arsenal’s top European nights at Highbury and Emirates Stadium
“In 1986 then Fergie took over temporary charge and we went to Aston Villa away, and he came to the game, he was still Aberdeen manager, but he came to the game and he spoke to me afterwards and said ‘I don’t know why you’ve not been in the squad, I think you’re still playing well, because we don’t see much of you in Scotland, everybody thinks it’s the opposite.’
“I wasn’t scoring goals, but he put me in the squad and then I made the World Cup.”
Nicholas appeared in two of Scotland’s three matches against Denmark, West Germany and Uruguay, but his nation exited the tournament in the group stage.