Jimmy Anderson was an English

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

for

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

between 1955 and 1958.

Career

Jimmy Anderson had been a lifelong member of the ground staff at Tottenham Hotspur. He first joined the club in 1908 as a ground-staff boy, failed to make the grade as a player, then worked in various positions at the club, including as part of the training and coaching staff. At the age of 62 he took over as manager from Arthur Rowe, who had retired on 18 April 1955. Indeed, during the latter period of Rowe's reign he had been appointed as acting manager due to his predecessor's ill-health. After a poor season in 1955, Spurs finished second and then third in the

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First Di ...

in successive years. They also reached an

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

semi-final in 1956. Under Anderson, however, the team's overall performance (played 153, won 72 drew 32 and lost 49) was not considered good enough for the ambitious directors and supporters of the club who were wanting nothing short of a First Division Championship title. This expectation put considerable pressure on Anderson, who was already in his mid-sixties and also suffering ill-health. This plus a very public falling out with his captain,

Danny Blanchflower Robert Dennis Blanchflower (10 February 1926 – 9 December 1993) was a former Northern Ireland footballer, football manager and journalist who played for and captained Tottenham Hotspur, including during their double-winning season of 1960 ...

, with whom he had not always seen eye-to-eye, led ultimately to his retirement on 11 October 1958. Many associated with the club saw Anderson as a 'stop-gap' manager, giving time for Bill Nicholson, who had always been seen as Rowe's chosen successor, to progress from player to manager. Indeed, during most of the time Anderson was manager, Nicholson had been developing his skills in the capacity of first team coach and in many contemporaries' eyes was the main influence both on and off the field.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, Jimmy English football managers Tottenham Hotspur F.C. managers Year of death missing Year of birth missing English Football League managers