William Edward Nicholson OBE (26 January 1919 – 23 October 2004) was an English football player, coach, manager and scout who had a 55-year association with Tottenham Hotspur.

He is considered one of the most important figures in the club's history, winning eight major trophies in his 16-year managerial spell, and most notably guiding the team to their Double-winning season of 1960–61.

[3] He played for Spurs' nursery club Northfleet United and won a Kent Senior Cup winners medal in the final against Dover.

[2] He signed as a full professional for Tottenham in August 1938, and played his first Football League game at Ewood Park against Blackburn Rovers on 22 October 1938.

[citation needed] Nicholson is the only player to have scored for England with his first touch in international football and subsequently never play at that level again.

That afternoon, in the club's first game under Nicholson's management, Tottenham Hotspur beat Everton 10–4 at White Hart Lane.

[10] Less than two years later Spurs wrote their place in the history books when they won the Football League championship and the FA Cup in the 1960–61 season, the first "double" of the twentieth century.

[12] After quitting the Spurs manager's job, Nicholson spent a year at West Ham United as an advisor and a scout.

[13] When Keith Burkinshaw became Spurs' manager in 1976, one of his first requests was that Nicholson be brought back to White Hart Lane as a consultant.

[13] His knowledge and experience were invaluable, and he showed that he still had an eye for players by recommending several to Burkinshaw, including Graham Roberts, Tony Galvin, and Gary Mabbutt.

"Bill was a blunt Yorkshireman who just did not use this sort of language," Giller has written in[18] "Danny was the poet of the team and he both said this and wrote it in his newspaper columns when captain of Tottenham.