Nicol played for several other English teams after leaving Liverpool, including Notts County, Sheffield Wednesday and Doncaster Rovers, before emigrating to the United States in 1999.

Nicol began his career with Troon Thistle at age 9, then joined Ayr United at age 16,[3] and started playing for the first team in 1979, where he spent just over two seasons with the Scottish side, racking up 70 league appearances, before Liverpool manager Bob Paisley decided to pay what turned out to be a bargain price, £300,000, to bring Nicol to Anfield on 26 October 1981.

This form included a memorable hat-trick at Newcastle United and a phenomenal long-range header to win at Arsenal on the opening day of the season.

[4][5] Nicol's defensive qualities were also much admired as Liverpool coasted to the league title, but missed out on another "double" when Wimbledon surprisingly beat them 1–0 in the FA Cup final at Wembley.

Nicol was the last Liverpool player to have a chance to equalise and force extra-time, but his diving header in injury time flew narrowly over the crossbar.

A year later, Nicol played his part as Liverpool won the FA Cup against Everton, winning 3–2 after extra time, but lost the League title in a decider against Arsenal with virtually the last kick of the season.

Four years earlier, just before the 1985 European Cup final at the Heysel Stadium, Brussels, Liverpool fans had charged a section of, mainly, Juventus supporters, causing a retaining wall to collapse, killing 39 people.

When Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 9–0 during the 1989–90 season to accumulate the club's biggest-ever League victory, Nicol was the only player to score twice, getting the first and last goals of the game in the seventh and 90th minutes.

Liverpool regained the league title that season – their last until 2019–20 – and, two years later, Nicol was in the team which, under Graeme Souness, won the FA Cup again in 1992, this time beating Sunderland 2–0.

He remained a regular player for Liverpool until the start of the 1994–95 season, when he was forced onto the sidelines with the arrival of new defenders Phil Babb and John Scales.

After Kendall was sacked, Nicol received his first taste of management when he took charge of the club with two other players for the final months of the Magpies' disastrous 1994–95 campaign.

The Sheffield side completely nullified the Liverpool attack, which contained the likes of Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and John Barnes, and came away with a 1–0 victory with Nicol playing a major part in the Wednesday defence.

Nicol went on to make 49 league appearances before spending a spell on loan at West Bromwich Albion during the 1997–98 season where he played nine games.

In September of that year, he took over as interim player-coach (he did not make any playing appearances[7]) with the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer for the final two games of the season, winning both.

[12] On 30 September 1999, Nicol took over interim coaching duties for the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer following the dismissal of then-player-coach Walter Zenga.

[21] The following season Nicol guided the Revolution to their first-ever international trophy, as they won the 2008 North American SuperLiga over Houston Dynamo FC.