Vickers was born in Bishop Auckland, County Durham, and played football for local non-League club Spennymoor United.
He began his professional career at Tranmere Rovers, where he forged a reputation as one of the classiest[citation needed] defenders in England's lower leagues.
[3] He subsequently played in the Premier League with Middlesbrough, whom he joined in 1993, winning the club's Player of the Year Award for the 1993–94 season.
This deal was then made permanent for £400,000, and Vickers helped Birmingham gain promotion to the Premier League in the 2001–02 season.
[2][4] Vickers retired from playing at the end of an injury-plagued 2002–03 season, which included a knee operation before the start of the season, a broken rib in his first game back,[5] a badly-gashed ankle following a two-footed challenge from Everton's Wayne Rooney which resulted in Rooney's first senior red card,[6] and a succession of minor problems.