At
the time of the creation of this entry, Nicky Howell was a Second
Year Academy Scholar at Carrow Road. Although he is regarded
as a right winger, Nicky is often called upon to do a job down either
flank. Being only slight in stature, the Academy coaching staff
at Colney were of the belief that Nicky would need to be nurtured
in his first as a trainee, indeed it was felt that we might not
see the best of him until he was into his third and final year as
a scholar. Nobody bothered to tell Nicky this however, and in just
half a season he has become a key player in
Adrian
Boothroyd's squad.
He scored some vital goals, including the memorable winning goal
against Aston Villa in the F.A.Youth Cup in front of 1500 Canary
supporters at Carrow Road. Added to that he has been involved
with Keith Webb's reserve team. In the
summer of 2003, Academy Director Sammy Morgan said "He's
a lad with bags of potential.. he's can play, he's got pace, he's
got tricks"
On January 26th 2005, Norwich announced that they would not be
offering professional contracts to third year scholars .Adam
Smith, Lee Blackburn, Olly
Willis and Nicky Howell. "We've
worked with the boys and when it comes to the crunch, a decision
has to be made," said Nigel Worthington. "Unfortunately,
from their point of view, the boys will not be taken on. We will
do everything we can to help them move forward, whether that be
in football or another field". Ricky Martin added the
timing of the decision was made to give the players the chance
to make other plans. "We've looked to make this decision
at this time to enable the players to finish off the educational
element of their scholarship and to make a decision as to whether
to pursue their career with trials at another football club or
to apply to university."
At the end of March 2005, Nicky trialled for Yeovil playing on
23rd March 2005 for their reserves in a 2-0 win over Bournemouth.
In July 2005, it was announced, along with Olly Willis, that he
was part of this year's intake for Team Bath. However both Olly
and Nicky played for Robert Taylor's Dereham Town on the opening
day of the Ridgeons League season against Halstead (13th August
2005). Nicky was in the Dereham side that narrowly won the Norfolk
Senior Cup final 1-0 against Paul Franklin's
Norwich United on 19th April 2006.
Nicky helped Dereham win the Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties Leauge
title in 2012/13, winning a place in the Ryman League for 2013/14.
He made 37 appearances that season.
On 1st June 2019, he was appointed jojnt manager of Anglian Combination Premier Division side Harleston Town along with Nathan Stone. He secured them promotion in 2020/21 to the Eastern Counties League - Division One North..
He stepped down in May 2022 after guiding the team to glory in the Thurlow Nunn League First Division North play-offs.