Born in Derby, Nicholson began his career as a trainee with Sheffield Wednesday, turning professional in August 1998. His first team debut came on 28 August 2000 when he replaced Andy Hinchcliffe as a first-half substitute in Wednesday's 1–1 draw at home to Blackburn Rovers. However, this was his only first team appearance for Wednesday as he was allowed to join Forest Green Roverson loan in January 2001, before moving to Northampton Town on a free transfer the following month. In March 2001, Nicholson joined Notts County on a free transfer, and soon became a regular in the County side. He joined Scarborough on loan in March 2004, scoring on his debut and moved to Scarborough on a free transfer at the end of the season. He was a regular in Scarborough's Conference National side for the next two seasons, but left in May 2006 to join Forest Green Rovers after Scarborough's relegation to the Conference North amid financial problems that would see the club dissolved a year later. His form with Forest Green earned Nicholson a call-up to the England C squad for the Home Internationals, and suggestions of a move back to the football league with Barnet, managed by England C boss Paul Fairclough. However, Nicholson joined Torquay United on a free transfer on 20 June 2007. He spent seven years with Torquay but after their relegation from the Football League in May 2014 he was released by the club. On 7 August 2014, Nicholson signed non-contract terms with Kidderminster Harriers. On 9 August 2014, he made his debut for Kidderminster in a goalless draw away at Lincoln City. On 1 November 2014, he scored his first goal for the Harriers against former club Torquay United. On 15 November 2014, Nicholson signed a contract with Kidderminster Harriers until the end of the season. After the last game of the season, a 2–1 loss away to Eastleigh, Kevin announced that he would not be signing a new contract and was looking for a new club. In July 2015, Nicholson signed for Bath City.
Coaching career
On 28 September 2015, it was announced by the club that Kevin Nicholson, former Torquay United player would be the club's new player-manager. Torquay United Chairman, David Phillips was quoted as saying "We are delighted to have Kevin on board as player-manager. As a player for the club, he displayed outstanding consistency over many years and is quite rightly regarded as a legend here". After a slow start to his managerial career Kevin brought in a group of new players in the January transfer window and led Torquay to an unlikely escape from a near-certain relegation, earning him such nicknames as 'The Ranieri of the Riviera'. After a summer of financial uncertainty at Torquay Kevin retained his position as manager for the 2016/17 season with a smaller squad than before, and one that made a better start than in 2015/16, but failed to continue their excellent form from the end of that season when they engineered the great escape. Despite that by the end of September the team seemed to have settled into a mid table position showing flashes of previous form but seeming unlikely to press for the promotional places on the basis of their inconsistent performances and lack of finance. In August 2017, following a poor start to the 2017-18 season, Nicholson departed Torquay. In August 2019 he became head of coaching at Exeter City.
