With the Tigers sliding to the bottom of the Championship table in August, the vastly experienced Ipswich Town striker completed his £250,000 move to the KC Stadium on Transfer Deadline Day.

A couple of weeks before his 33^rd birthday, he joined his sixth league club on a two-year contact.

Nicky began his career in non-league football before joining Gillingham from Horley Town of the Combined Counties League in May 1992.

He scored 24 goals in 67 league appearances for the Gills before moving on to Brentford for £100,000 in June 1994 where he continued to be amongst the goals with 39 strikes in 109 league matches for the Griffin Park club.

He also won four England Under-21 caps during the 1995 Toulon Tournament when his team mates included David Beckham and Phil Neville.

Birmingham City paid £700,000 for his services in January 1997 and he spent two-and-a-half years at St Andrews before moving to Reading for £650,000 in June 1999, where he was a team-mate of Phil Parkinson who was to sign Nicky on the Tigers behalf when he was in charge at the KC..

He became a big favourite with the Royals fans as his goals helped them to promotion from the Second Division in 2001-02 and then a year later, he led the line again as they reached the First Division Play-Offs.

Nicky bagged 59 goals in 186 League games for Reading but turned down a new deal at the Madejski Stadium in the summer of 2005 in favour of move to Championship rivals Ipswich Town.

After scoring on his Blues debut against Cardiff City, he finished an injury-disrupted 2005-06 campaign with seven goals in 20 games.

The Caterham-born forward made his final league appearance for the Tractor Boys in our goalless draw at Portman Road on 19 August.

With over 500 games behind him, there was no sign of his enthusiasm waning as Nicky's wholeheated commitment to the Tigers' cause was duly rewarded with Championship survival.

Used wide in a three-man attack under new boss Phil Brown, Nicky's contribution was recognised by being named runner-up in the club's Player of the Year award and voted into third place in the Supporters' Club's equivalent.