James Stephen Quinn (born 15 December 1974) is a 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 ...

. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, his final club was

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

. He played for numerous clubs in his career, and was also a

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

international. He is currently assistant manager at

Solihull Moors Solihull Moors Football Club is a professional football club based in Solihull, England. The club currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system, after achieving promotion from the National Leag ...

Club career

After four league games with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

-born Quinn was sold to

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

for £25,000. He scored a total of 47 goals and made 150 first-team starts over five years. Two of those goals were scored against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

second round. On 12 August 1995, he opened the scoring in Blackpool's game at

Bristol City Bristol City Football Club is a professional football club based in Bristol, England, which compete in the , the second tier of English football. They have played their home games at Ashton Gate since moving from St John's Lane in 1904. The ...

after eleven seconds, equalling the club's fastest-ever goal by Bill Slater at Stoke City 46 years earlier. These exploits led

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

to sign Quinn for £500,000. He made his Albion debut in a 1–1 home draw against

Bury Bury may refer to: *The burial of human remains *-bury, a suffix in English placenames Places England * Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village * Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire ** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...

on 21 February 1998. He scored twice in a 2–1 win over

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 4 April 1998, his first goals for the club; however, he found goals hard to come by during his ''Baggies'' career, scoring just ten times in 123 appearances in all competitions. During 2001–02, Quinn was loaned out to

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 ...

, but returned to the Hawthorns when a permanent deal could not be agreed. He was then loaned out again, to

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers Football Club are a professional football club in Bristol, England. They compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play home matches at the Memorial Stadium in Horfield, they have been c ...

, where he scored once against Kidderminster Harriers. In the days following Albion's promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

in April 2002, Quinn found himself surplus to requirements and was released. A few days later he moved to Dutch side Willem II. Quinn was released by Willem II in January 2005. He had been unhappy with his life in the Netherlands, and set about finding a new club in England whilst training with the

MK Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. ...

. He quickly became Paul Sturrock's first permanent signing 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 ...

, joining on a short-term contract until the end of the season. After scoring two goals in fifteen appearances during four months at Hillsborough, Quinn signed for

Peterborough United Peterborough United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Peterborough have a long-standing ...

in August 2005. In October of the same year he went on a month's loan to Bristol City, scoring on his debut against

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

. He signed for Northampton Town in August 2006, scoring his first and what turned out to be only goal for the club against Brighton on 21 October 2006. On 21 December 2006, a poor start to the season saw him placed on the transfer list alongside Andy Kirk and Scott McGleish. In March 2007 Quinn joined Scunthorpe United on loan for the remainder of the season. He was an unused substitute for ''the Iron'' on several occasions, but did not experience any first-team action. Quinn retired from playing football on 11 September 2007, due to his failure to break back into the Northern Ireland team.

International career

Quinn collected fifty caps for

, and scored goals against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and

Serbia & Montenegro Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

International career

''Scores and results list Northern Ireland's goal tally first''

Coaching career

Quinn took up coaching after the end of his playing days and passed part 1 of the UEFA 'A' Licence in 2009, and in 2010 was coaching youth football in

Princeton, New Jersey Princeton is a municipality with a borough form of government in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton and Princeton Township, both of whi ...

. In 2012 Quinn returned to England to become a scout with Luton Town FC, before coming back to Princeton NJ in January 2013 to become the Director of U15-U18 College Showcasing for Princeton Soccer Association. He obtained the

UEFA Pro Licence 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 ...

in 2012 and in 2013 was appointed Head Coach of

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

side

Central Jersey Spartans Central Jersey Spartans was an American soccer team based in Lawrenceville, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 2009, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Mid Atlan ...

, shortly before their dissolution. In the summer of 2015, he joined

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

team,

Tranmere Rovers Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...

, as first-team coach under new manager

Gary Brabin Gary Brabin (born 9 December 1970) is an English former professional footballer, coach and manager who is the Sporting Director at Cymru Premier team The New Saints. A midfielder with a 12-year career in the English Football League, he repres ...

. Following a short spell coaching in America he returned to England and in August 2018 he was appointed as the first-team coach at National League club

, working alongside

Tim Flowers Timothy David Flowers (born 3 February 1967) is an English football manager and former player who recently was the manager of Stratford Town. He played as a goalkeeper from 1984 until 2003, notably in the Premier League for Blackburn Rovers w ...

References

External links

*
Profile - James Quinn
Irish FA
Profile - James Quinn
UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, James 1974 births Living people Footballers from Coventry Association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland international footballers Association football forwards Birmingham City F.C. players Blackpool F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Bristol Rovers F.C. players Willem II (football club) players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Peterborough United F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players English Football League players Eredivisie players English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands English expatriates in the United States Expatriate association footballers from Northern Ireland English people of Irish descent