James Cochrane (born 26 October 1935) is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League for Birmingham City and Walsall. Cochrane was born in Kingswinford, which was then in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, and attended Brierley Hill Secondary School.
Includes a lengthy extract from the match programme of the E.S.F.A. Trophy Final second leg, 23 May 1951. He made his name in schools football, as inside right and

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...

in the Brierley Hill, Sedgley & District Schools team that reached the final of the

English Schools' Football Association The English Schools' Football Association was founded in 1904 and is the governing body of schools' football in England. It is responsible for the running and development of schools competitions and festivals at primary and secondary school age ...

Trophy in 1951. Cochrane, together with his schools' team captain and future England international Trevor Smith, joined Birmingham City in the summer of 1951, and signed professional forms when he turned 17. He made his first-team debut on 7 March 1953, aged 17 years 4 months, in the Second Division match at Huddersfield Town which finished 1–1, and kept his place for the next game. On his next appearance, a year later, standing in for Wales international Noel Kinsey, Cochrane scored the opening goal in a 2–0 win home win against West Ham United. His progress was interrupted by his National Service commitment; after two years spent as a cook, he returned to the club overweight and unfit, and never played for the first team again. In June 1958 Cochrane joined

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

club Walsall as part of Brian Taylor's transfer to Birmingham. He scored once in six league games before dropping into

non-league football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

at the end of the 1958–59 season with

Wellington Town Telford United Football Club was an English football club based in Telford, Shropshire. The club existed under various names for a total of 132 years from its formation in 1872. The club was a founder member of the Alliance Premier League (la ...

and then Stourbridge. He was still only 23.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cochrane, Jimmy 1935 births Living people People from Brierley Hill Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley People from Kingswinford English men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Birmingham City F.C. players Walsall F.C. players Telford United F.C. players Stourbridge F.C. players English Football League players Military personnel from the West Midlands (county) 20th-century British military personnel