James McAnearney (20 March 1935 – 14 March 2017) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player and manager. McAnearney played for

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

, who he also briefly managed in 1968 with Tom Hallett. He later managed

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

Frickley Athletic Frickley Athletic Football Club is a football club based in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Westfield Lane. History Although the club itself claims it was formed in 1910, the team was activ ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

and Hallam, and worked as a coach at Sheffield Wednesday (where he was also caretaker manager) and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

. In later life he established and ran a tool/engineering business.

Early and personal life

McMcAnearney was born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. His older brother

Tom Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

was also a professional footballer.

Club career

After playing for St Stephen's, McAnearney signed for

in October 1951, at the same time as older brother Tom, and turned professional on his seventeenth birthday. He made his professional debut on 24 February 1954, scoring 10 goals in 40 games in all competitions, and spending a total of eight years with the club. He signed for

in January 1960, scoring 37 goals in 147 games in all competitions, before leaving for

in November 1963. He moved to

in September 1966.Frost, p. 401 He scored 5 goals in 50 games in all competitions for Bradford City. He scored 68 goals in 304 league appearances.

Coaching career

He gained his full FA Coaching Badge in 1958, at the age of 23, one of the youngest players to do so. While playing for Bradford City spent a brief spell managing the club alongside Tom Hallett in early 1968, following the sudden death of manager

Grenville Hair Kenneth Grenville Arthur Hair (16 November 1931 – 7 March 1968) was a footballer who played his entire professional career for Leeds United between 1948 and 1964. He later became the manager of Wellington Town and Bradford City. He died of a ...

in March and before

Jimmy Wheeler Ernest Alfred Henry Remnant (16 September 1910 – 8 October 1973), known professionally as Jimmy Wheeler, was a British variety theatre comedian and pioneer of radio and television. Earlier in his career he worked with his father in the double ...

was appointed as the new permanent manager in June. He left Bradford to join

in May 1968, initially as chief coach to

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times betwe ...

, but then as manager between November 1968 and 1973. He later worked as a coach at Sheffield Wednesday (where he was also caretaker manager after the departure of Steve Burtenshaw) and

, and also managed

and Hallam.

Later life

After his coaching career finished in the 1970s, McAnearney founded a tool engineering/machine company in Sheffield. He died on 14 March 2017, at the age of 81.

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAnearney, Jim 1935 births 2017 deaths Footballers from Dundee Scottish men's footballers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Watford F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football inside forwards Scottish football managers Bradford City A.F.C. managers Rotherham United F.C. non-playing staff Rotherham United F.C. managers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. non-playing staff Sheffield Wednesday F.C. managers Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff Frickley Athletic F.C. managers Scarborough F.C. managers Hallam F.C. managers