James Ryan (born 12 May 1945) is a Scottish former

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 ...

who played as a winger. Born in

Stirling Stirling (; sco, Stirlin; gd, Sruighlea ) is a city in central Scotland, northeast of Glasgow and north-west of Edinburgh. The market town, surrounded by rich farmland, grew up connecting the royal citadel, the medieval old town with its me ...

, Ryan spent the majority of his professional career in England, starting with

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 ...

before moving to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

in 1970. In 1976, he moved to the United States, where he played for the

Dallas Tornado The Dallas Tornado was a soccer team based in Dallas, Texas that played in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 1967 to 1981. Of the twelve teams that comprised the U.S. in 1967, the Tornado franchise played the longest–15 seasons. ...

in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

(NASL) and the

Wichita Wings The Wichita Wings were a professional indoor soccer franchise based in Wichita, Kansas. The Wings were admitted to the Major Indoor Soccer League as an expansion team on August 21, 1979.

in the Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL). Upon his return to England in 1984, Ryan took over as manager of Luton Town's reserve team before taking charge of the senior team from January 1990 to May 1991. In June 1991, he was appointed by

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time ...

as the manager of Manchester United's reserve team, a position he held for 10 years. He was also the club's assistant manager for the 2001–02 season, before being made Director of Youth Football in 2002. He retired in June 2012, following 21 years on the Manchester United coaching staff. He is the father of former footballer and current manager of Manchester united U18s Neil Ryan.

Player

Born in

, Ryan started his career with Cowie Hearts. At the age of 17, he was spotted by a scout and invited for an initial two-week trial with English club

. The trial was extended to a month and Ryan signed as an apprentice with the club on 7 December 1962. A month later, he signed his first professional contract, but it was not until May 1966 that he made his first-team debut, playing on the right wing in the final four league games of the 1965–66 season. He scored his first goal in the third of those games, the third goal in a 6–1 home win over

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. He played for Manchester United for four more seasons and was part of the team that won the

1966–67 Football League The 1966–67 season was the 68th completed season of The Football League. Final league tables The tables and results below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found aThe Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundationwebsite and in '' ...

and

1967–68 European Cup The 1967–68 European Cup was the 13th European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Manchester United, who beat Benfica 4–1 in the final at Wembley Stadium, London. The European Cup title marked the tenth ...

. However, being in competition for a position with

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

(among others) meant that his appearances were limited and he left the club for

in 1970, along with

Don Givens Daniel Joseph "Don" Givens (born 9 August 1949) is an Irish former footballer and coach. A forward, Givens played club football for Manchester United, Luton Town, Queens Park Rangers, Birmingham City, AFC Bournemouth, Sheffield United and Neuch ...

. In five seasons with Manchester United, he played 27 times and scored four goals. He played for Luton Town until 1976, when he left to play four seasons in the

with the

. In 1979, the NASL players decided to strike for better pay, but Ryan was the only Tornado player to honour the strike.MISSIONARIES AND MERCENARIES: DALLAS TORNADO SOCCER 1967 TO 1981
/ref> At the end of the 1979 season, Ryan moved to the

of the Major Indoor Soccer League where he finished his career with three indoor seasons.

Manager

After living in the United States for eight years, Ryan returned to England to take over as manager of the Luton Town reserve team. Following Luton's dismissal of

Ray Harford Raymond Thomas Harford (1 June 1945 – 9 August 2003) was an English footballer, better known for his successes as a coach and manager than as a player. He is considered to have been one of the top coaches of his generation. During his playin ...

in 1990, Ryan was promoted for an 18-month spell as manager, saving the club from relegation on the last day of two successive seasons. However, he was sacked at the end of the 1990–91 season and replaced by

David Pleat David John Pleat (born 15 January 1945) is an English football player turned manager, and sports commentator. Pleat made 185 Football League appearances for five clubs, scoring 26 goals. He had two spells as manager of Luton Town, and four as ma ...

. About a month later, Manchester United manager

invited Ryan to return to the club as reserve team manager. He held the position until 2000, when he was promoted to coach the first-team. After assistant manager

Brian Kidd Brian Kidd (born 29 May 1949) is an English football coach and former player, who was most recently assistant coach of Manchester City, alongside manager Pep Guardiola. Kidd was also assistant to Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson from 199 ...

left to manage

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

in December 1998, Ryan stood in as Ferguson's assistant until

Steve McClaren Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer and coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for Premier League club Manchester United, in his second spell at the club. McClaren began his coaching care ...

's appointment in February 1999, taking full charge of the side for their 3–2 defeat at home to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

on 19 December 1998, which Ferguson missed in order to attend a funeral. Ryan was named as assistant manager again after McClaren left to manage Middlesbrough in 2001, but remained in the post for just one season until

Carlos Queiroz Carlos Manuel Brito Leal de Queiroz (; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football coach who currently is the head coach of the Iran national team. He has served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, the United Arab Emirates, ...

took over. From 2002, he was named as the club's Director of Youth Football, a position he held until his retirement in June 2012.

Statistics

¹Includes other competitive competitions, including Charity Shield,

Watney Cup The Watney Mann Invitation Cup (normally referred to as simply the Watney Cup) was a short-lived English football tournament held in the early 1970s. It was held before the start of the season, and was contested by the teams that had scored th ...

and the Intercontinental Cup.

References

External links

*
Profile
at StretfordEnd.co.uk

at MUFCinfo.com

at NASLJerseys.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Jimmy 1945 births Living people Dallas Tornado players Luton Town F.C. players Luton Town F.C. managers Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff Manchester United F.C. players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players Footballers from Stirling Scottish footballers Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish football managers English Football League players Wichita Wings (MISL) players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Association football forwards Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States