Steve Nicol's 1986 FA Cup winner's medal — earned in a 3-1 Merseyside derby final at Wembley — is heading to auction with a pre-sale estimate of £10,000 to £20,000. Thirteen years at Liverpool, three FA Cups, a European Cup, and the FWA Footballer of the Year. Now it's all going under the hammer.
Propstore auction house in London is running the sale from April 21 to May 14, offering more than 50 lots from Nicol's career. The FA Cup medal leads the collection, but it's far from the only piece worth watching.
What's actually on the block
- 1986 FA Cup winner's medal — £10,000 to £20,000
- 1984 European Cup winner's medal (Liverpool vs Roma, Stadio Olimpico) — £8,000 to £16,000
- 1989 FA Cup final shirt (Liverpool vs Everton) — £3,000 to £6,000
- 1989 FWA Footballer of the Year award — £2,000 to £4,000
- 1988 Scotland vs England Rous Cup shirt — £1,000 to £2,000
- MLS All-Star shirt signed by David Beckham and Landon Donovan — £400 to £800
The European Cup medal is arguably the deeper historical artefact. Liverpool beating Roma on penalties in their own stadium in 1984 is the kind of night that doesn't come around often. That it's expected to sell for less than the FA Cup medal is a quirk of the market — FA Cup finals tend to generate more domestic collector interest, especially a Merseyside derby final.
Nicol's take on letting it go
"These items hold many personal memories," Nicol said, "but I'm pleased to be offering them through Propstore, where they'll go to fans and collectors who share that passion for the game."
Nicol, now 64, left Liverpool in the mid-90s, had stints at Notts County, Sheffield Wednesday, and Doncaster Rovers, then emigrated to the United States in 1999 to work in MLS. The signed All-Star shirt — Beckham and Donovan among the names — is a neat footnote to a career that stretched far beyond Anfield.
Propstore specialist Alastair McCrea put it plainly: "It's not often that material of this quality and provenance becomes available." For collectors, that's the pitch. For anyone who watched Nicol tear up the First Division in the late 80s, it's a chance to own a piece of a side that genuinely dominated English football.
Worldwide bidding is open. The FA Cup medal estimate alone makes this one of the more significant Liverpool memorabilia sales in recent years.
