Alex Nicholls played around seventy times for Exeter City over a two-year period between 2014 and 2016. He arrived from Northampton and left for Barnet.  

Alex came through the youth system at Walsall and made his debut in 2005. After an early loan period at (then) non-league Burton Albion, Alex became a permanent fixture for the Saddlers making well over 200 appearances and scoring 28 first-team goals. He left the club in 2012 to sign for Northampton where he made an immediate impact for his new club until, after 19 games and 8 goals, he suffered a broken leg playing against Port Vale on 27 October 2012. Alex did not play again until the opening game of the 2014/15 season.

At this point Northampton allowed Alex to join Exeter City on loan to regain his fitness. After making his debut against Mansfield on 6 September 2014, Alex played another five games for the Grecians - scoring once - before returning to Northampton for whom he played regularly until the end of November. Alex then headed back to Exeter to play again during December before signing a permanent deal at the start of January 2015. By the end of 2014/15 Alex had played 32 league games for City scoring five times.

Alex was to add a further five league goals in 2015/16, plus one in each of the three cup competitions, to become a regular member of the squad featuring on 42 occasions in all competitions. He then agreed terms with Barnet in July 2016 having played 74 times for Exeter in all competitions which, after his lengthy injury absence at Northampton, may have been a better return than anyone had hoped.     

Halfway through Alex’s first season at Barnet he was loaned to Dundee United and eventually moved on to Crewe in July 2018 playing a single season for the Cheshire club. He then briefly appeared for Solihull Moors before signing for Stourbridge, his hometown club. Seeing out the 2019/20 season at the War Memorial Athletic he had a short spell as caretaker-manager before retiring. 

By this time Alex had already applied to follow in his father’s footsteps as a firefighter. As of 2021 he was stationed near Halesowen and also working as a summariser on BBC local radio in the West Midlands.