[1] He played as a wing half before what the Sunderland Echo described as a promising career was interrupted by National Service in the Royal Air Force.
[6] He made his first-team debut a year later, on 27 October 1951, playing in the unaccustomed position of centre forward; although he had played a few reserve matches in that position, the Yorkshire Post doubted that "a home match against a team playing as strongly as Rotherham United are just now is the ideal occasion" for a youngster's debut.
[7] Rotherham took a three-goal lead, but Hull came back to draw, and Nicklas scored their opener: he "had his faults, but dash, speed and courage were not among them.
[9] Nicklas stayed with the club until the end of the following season, when he moved on to Darlington of the Third Division North.
[1] He scored six goals from seventeen league matches for Darlington,[1] and spent the 1954–55 season with Headington United in the Southern League, scoring four goals from fourteen matches in all competitions.