Approach with skepticism if you will, but Nicky Hogarth, a lad born as the rain fell on Scotland on the 4th of July, 2001, now finds himself aged 24 and positioned between the goalposts for Falkirk. Standing at a somewhat modest 5 feet 11 inches (1.82m for those still dealing with rulers), he tips the scales at 11st 6lb (73kg for those disinclined to antiquated weights). Hogarth dons the jersey most keepers favour, the impenetrable number 1.
His not-insubstantial abilities go a fair distance to justifying his current market value of around £128k, says Transfermarkt. Don't all rush to your piggy banks at once.
In a career marked by the frequency of his transfers, Hogarth first started training with Rangers back in July 2017. A gig in the Premiership, mind you, not exactly your garden-variety Sunday league. All was tickety-boo until January 2020, where the aesthetically questionable decision was made to ship him out on loan to Stirling Albion in League Two. One can only ponder the logic here.
The powers-that-be, in their inscrutable wisdom, then volleyed him out again, this time to Cowdenbeath - of all places - in the Lowland League, in December of 2020. One hopes that least he had a warm jacket.
In an astonishing twist, Hogarth was transferred in July 2021 - no longer bound for minor Scottish provinces, but instead for the land of Robin Hood - Nottingham Forest, darlings of the English Premier League. Alas, June 2022 saw him trotting back to Scotland, loaned out to Falkirk in the Premiership. And would you believe his track record a far cry from apocalyptic? Managed 15 first team appearances in league games in his debut season evidently enough to prove his mettle, raise a few eyebrows and polish his tarnished shield. In the 2024 - 2025 season he turned out 36 times, a commendable showing for a player of his stature, and has already made two league outings in the chilly beginnings of the 2025 - 2026 season - quite the endurance run, wouldn't you say?
His time at Falkirk was somehow deemed satisfactory enough to warrant a full transfer in July 2023, where his crew came in second place in League Cup 2025 – 2026, with him as the starting keeper. His oscillation between teams does not seem to have hampered his ambition or dulled his determination.
All in all, Hogarth's journey has been anything but linear, seeming more like a pub crawl, but as he stands in the goals for Falkirk he seems to have found some stability at last... at least until the next transfer window.