James Henry Sullivan (14 November 1904 – May 1974) was an English professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

er who played as a centre forward. As an amateur centre-forward Jimmy Sullivan scored 23 goals for Barrow Reserves, which led to him entering League football with

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

. In his first season at Gresty Road he scored 16 times in 26 Northern Section matches and had added a further six in 10 matches in the next season before joining

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

in October 1925. Throughout his time at

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

, Barrow reserves and

Jimmy was training to be a teacher. He was in the final stages of his college course when he joined

and upon qualifying took up a teaching post at Southwark Street School. At the time of his signing, Notts County had lost six of their first eleven engagements, winning only three. They were also the lowest scorers in Division One. The new centre-forward made an immediate impact, scoring twice against Sheffield United on his third appearance. One week later he netted a hat-trick against West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns to earn the Magpies a share of the points after they had been three goals down inside a quarter of an hour. Shortly afterwards, in a bruising encounter against Everton, he injured his collar-bone and shoulder ligaments and was out of action for several weeks. The Magpies were relegated from Division One in the same season. Sullivan had scored seven goals in nine matches and one is left with a feeling that the season's outcome might well have been different had their sharp-shooting schoolteacher steered clear of injury. In his first season with Midland League Grantham Town Jimmy scored 44 goals, and averaged exactly a goal-a-game in 97 matches spread over just three seasons.

References

* * Dykes, Garth (2005). Meadow Lane Men. Yore Publications. 1904 births 1974 deaths Footballers from Burnley English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Burnley F.C. players Barrow A.F.C. players Crewe Alexandra F.C. players Notts County F.C. players English Football League players {{England-footy-forward-1900s-stub