James Gordon (23 October 1915 – 29 August 1996) was a Scottish football player and coach. A native of

Fauldhouse Fauldhouse ( sco, Fauldhoose; gd, Falas)
is a village i ...

, West Lothian, Gordon played for Newcastle United and

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 ...

as a wing-half. He later worked as a coach under

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Engl ...

and

Peter Taylor Peter Taylor may refer to: Arts * Peter Taylor (writer) (1917–1994), American author, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction * Peter Taylor (film editor) (1922–1997), English film editor, winner of an Academy Award for Film Editing Politi ...

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

and

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

, and was assistant manager to Clough during his 44-day reign at

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

. In honour of his contribution, Gordon was allowed to lead out the Forest players at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

for the

1980 Football League Cup Final The 1980 Football League Cup Final was the final match of the 1979–80 Football League Cup, the 20th season of the Football League Cup, a football competition for the 92 teams in The Football League. The match was played at Wembley Stadiu ...

. Gordon retired as a football coach in May 1981. He was portrayed by

Maurice Roëves John Maurice Roëves (; 19 March 1937 – 14 July 2020) was a British actor. He appeared in over 120 film and television roles, in both the United Kingdom and the United States. His breakthrough performance was as Stephen Dedalus in the 1967 ...

in the 2009 film ''

The Damned United ''The Damned United'' is a 2009 British sports drama film directed by Tom Hooper and adapted by Peter Morgan from David Peace's bestselling 2006 novel ''The Damned Utd'' – a largely fictional book based on the author's interpretation of Bria ...

'', which focuses on Clough's management of Derby and Leeds.

References

Scottish footballers Wishaw Juniors F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Newcastle United F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Footballers from West Lothian 1915 births 1996 deaths English Football League players Derby County F.C. non-playing staff Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff Nottingham Forest F.C. non-playing staff Association football wing halves Association football coaches People from Fauldhouse {{Scotland-footy-midfielder-1910s-stub