Nicholls, who is 29, joined Luton originally in 2001 and was a key part of the first-team under Joe Kinnear and Mike Newell for five years, until he was sold to Leeds United. He only spent the one season at Elland Road, making 15 appearances and never establishing himself as part of the team there. He left the club in acrimonious circumstances for Preston North End, but again failed to establish himself as a player there either. Injuries meant that he was restricted to just 20 appearances for Preston North End, and he was clearly only a shadow of the player he was at Luton, because he only picked up two yellow cards and didn't get sent off for Preston. After appearing for the Luton Legends side in the charity match at the end of last season, Kevin Nicholls was today unveiled as Luton's first signing of the season, and the first signing since finally exiting administration this week.
In total, Nicholls managed 187 appearances in his last spell at Luton, scoring 33 goals, 14 of which came in the 2004-05 season, in which Luton won the League One title and in which Nicholls was named Player of the Season for Luton. He also managed one red card a season when he was last with the club. He will probably return as the Luton Town captain, replacing the captain at the end of last season Keith Keane, and with Spring on his way to Sheffield United, he will probably take full responsibility for penalties. Unlike Spring, he hopefully won't have a tendency to go missing for large periods of the game and then sprint down the tunnel as quickly as possible when the full time whistle blows.
The move to bring Nicholls in is likely to be followed next week with numerous other signings, as people at the club have suggested we have the players lined up. With the departures of Bell, Furlong, Andrew, Robinson and those three wastes of space that Blackwell brought in, the squad is very short on numbers at the moment.