James Martin Gilligan (born 24 January 1964) is an English former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...
. He is currently at
Watford in the role of Head of Technical Development and has also coached at
Nottingham Forest,
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
,
Milton Keynes Dons and with
The FA. He holds a
UEFA Pro License
UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are is ...
.
His son
Ryan Gilligan is also a professional footballer.
Playing career
Born in
Hammersmith
Hammersmith is a district of West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.
...
, Gilligan later moved to
Stevenage
Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...
. He started his career as an apprentice at
Watford after joining the club at the age of thirteen. He was spotted playing for a
Hertfordshire FA
The Hertfordshire County Football Association, also simply known as ''Hertfordshire FA'', is the governing body of football in the county of Hertfordshire, England. The Hertfordshire FA was founded accidentally in 1885 after the existing teams (th ...
XI by Watford scout
Tom Walley and a
Chelsea scout. Both scouts approached his parents, who accepted Watford's offer and he signed schoolboy terms with the club following his fourteenth birthday.
He turned professional in August 1981, making a goalscoring debut against
Aldershot.
He helped Watford defeat
Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
to win the FA Youth Cup in 1982 whilst also gaining representative honours, appearing for the England Youth team. In October 1982, he joined
Lincoln City on loan for one month in an attempt to gain first-team experience, but made only three substitute appearances during a spell he later described as "disappointing".
Returning to Watford, he began making intermittent appearances for the first team, the undoubted highlight being scoring Watford's first goal in Europe in their very first game against
Kaiserslautern
Kaiserslautern (; Palatinate German: ''Lautre'') is a city in southwest Germany, located in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate at the edge of the Palatinate Forest. The historic centre dates to the 9th century. It is from Paris, from Frankfur ...
in the 1983–1984
UEFA Cup; he would later score in the quarter final defeat to
Sparta Prague. However, he never established a regular starting role in his four seasons as a professional.
Having come to
Grimsby Town's attention when scoring against them in an
FA Cup Fourth Round tie in January 1985, Gilligan moved to Grimsby in the August 1985 for a fee of £100,000. However, his season at
Blundell Park
Blundell Park is a football ground in Cleethorpes, North East Lincolnshire, England and home to Grimsby Town Football Club. The stadium was built in 1899, but only one of the original stands remains. The current capacity of the ground is 9, ...
was disappointing: he managed just six goals in the season at the club, including two in a League Cup match against
York City. Grimsby cut their losses in the summer of 1986 by allowing him to move on to
Swindon Town for a fee of £30,000. Once again, he struggled to make an impression and in January 1987 joined
Newport County on loan before moving to
Lincoln City in March 1987. Gilligan failed to fire for the Red Imps, scoring a solitary goal as Lincoln slipped to relegation from the
Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...
.
A fee of £17,500 saw him join
Cardiff City
Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...
where he enjoyed the most productive spell of his career. He scored on his debut in a 1–1 draw with
Leyton Orient and went on to finish as the club's top scorer in his first year. Virtually ever present during his two years at the club he scored vital goals in several competitions including the second goal during a 2–0
Welsh Cup final victory over
Wrexham and a hat-trick against
Derry City
Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...
in the
European Cup Winners Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
.
After two defeats in the opening two games of the 1989–90 season, Cardiff's manager
Frank Burrows
Frank Burrows (30 January 1944 – 24 November 2021) was a Scottish football player and manager who played as a central defender.
Life and career
Frank Burrows began his football career at Scottish club Raith Rovers. In 1965 he moved south to ...
accepted an offer to become assistant manager to
John Gregory at
Portsmouth. The pair soon tabled an offer of £215,000 for Gilligan which the Cardiff board readily accepted. After a year on the South Coast, Gilligan returned to South Wales to play for
Swansea City
Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...
before injury finished his league career. In March 1993, he resumed playing in the non-league with
Boreham Wood before moving on to Stamco.
Coaching career
Following his retirement, Gilligan returned to
Watford, heading up their Football in the Community scheme. After spells as youth development manager and youth team manager, he was appointed Watford's assistant academy director. He left Watford in 1999 with
David Platt appointing him reserve team manager at
Nottingham Forest. In July 2001, following Platt's departure and the appointment of
Paul Hart to the manager's position, Gilligan left his role at Nottingham Forest. A month later, he was appointed manager of
Boreham Wood, succeeding
Graham Roberts
Graham Paul Roberts (born 3 July 1959) is an English retired footballer and manager who played as a defender for numerous clubs including Tottenham Hotspur (where he won the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup), Rangers (where he won the Scottish League ...
in the role. However, less than three months later he resigned from the role. He joined the PFA as a regional coach educator, whilst also helping out David Platt with the
England U21
The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team.
This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...
s, before being appointed technical director at
Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
in February 2003. Integral to Gilligan's appointment was
Stuart Murdoch whom Gilligan had forged a friendship with from his coaching days at Watford. With Wimbledon suffering financial difficulties and the move to Milton Keynes, Gilligan moved up the ranks at
Milton Keynes Dons, becoming assistant manager to Murdoch. Following Murdoch's sacking in November 2004, he was placed in temporary charge. He remained in charge until the appointment of
Danny Wilson in December, a move which saw Gilligan depart the Dons shortly afterwards.
England national team
In August 2007, Gilligan left his post at
Thurrock to become a scout for
Stuart Pearce
Stuart Pearce (born 24 April 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player, who was most recently a first-team coach for Premier League club West Ham United. He was nicknamed "Psycho" for his unforgiving style of play.
...
and the
England U21
The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the England national football team.
This team is for England players aged under 21 at the start of the calen ...
team, as well as the England National Team. He played a central role in developing England's scouting structures and a modern player selection system. In May 2010 it was announced that Gilligan would take up the role of Head of Youth for
Stevenage
Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...
from 1 July.
Nike Football Academy
In July 2011, Gilligan moved to become head coach of the
Nike Football Academy
The Nike Football Academy was an English football academy funded and administered by Nike, Inc. The academy had a revolving squad of unsigned under-20 players and was run with the intention of helping them find a professional club. The academy was ...
. Gilligan remained in charge of the Nike Academy for three seasons, and is widely credited with discovering and developing players who have gone on to play at the
FIFA World Cup, such as
Tom Rogic
Tomas Petar Rogic ( ; sr-Cyrl, Томас Петар Рогић, ; born 16 December 1992) is an Australian professional footballer who most recently played as an attacking midfielder for West Bromwich Albion and the Australia national team.
...
and
Seon-Min Moon. Gilligan and his team scouted and coached over 130 players, out of whom 40 made it from amateur level to professional during this period, including
Abdul Waris,
David Accam
David Accam (born 28 September 1990) is a Ghanaian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Finnish club Inter Turku. He has won 11 caps for the Ghana national team.
Club career Ghana
Accam did not belong to a club during the first t ...
,
Petar Golubovic,
Anfernee Dijksteel
Anfernee Jamal Dijksteel (born 27 October 1996) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Championship club Middlesbrough.
Club career
Born in Amsterdam, Dijksteel started his career in the youth team at Amsterdamsche FC b ...
,
Jorge Grant
Jorge Edward Grant (born 19 December 1994) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Scottish Premiership side Heart of Midlothian.
Club career Nottingham Forest
After spending time at the Nike Academy, Grant moved t ...
,
Kevin Salazar and others. They also played competitive fixtures against
Arsenal
An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...
,
FC Barcelona,
Inter Milan and others, and grew a sizeable YouTube presence. During this period, Gilligan's coaching methods and motivational half-time talks gained publicity in media such a
FourFourTwo magazine.
Nottingham Forest
In March 2014 Gilligan was appointed Lead Professional Development Coach at
Nottingham Forest.
In July 2015, Gilligan progressed to take charge of first team coaching and spent some time in charge of first team affairs as caretaker. After a spell at The FA as national coach educator, he returned to Forest as U23 Lead Coach.
In June 2019, he gained the UEFA Pro License, the highest coaching qualification, from The FA, having completed the course alongside
Steven Gerrard
Steven George Gerrard (born 30 May 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player, who most recently managed club Aston Villa. Described by pundits and fellow professionals as one of his generation's greatest players, Ge ...
and
Peter Schmeichel.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gilligan, Jimmy
1964 births
Living people
English men's footballers
Watford F.C. players
Lincoln City F.C. players
Grimsby Town F.C. players
Swindon Town F.C. players
Cardiff City F.C. players
Portsmouth F.C. players
Swansea City A.F.C. players
English Football League players
Newport County A.F.C. players
Milton Keynes Dons F.C. managers
Footballers from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
People from Hammersmith
Nottingham Forest F.C. non-playing staff
Watford F.C. non-playing staff
Men's association football forwards
English football managers