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 lea ...

. A forward, 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 competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the c ...

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

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

international. Since December 2023, Quinn has departed from this role at Solihull Moors FC

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. The team compete in the ...

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

-born Quinn was sold to Second Division

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

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 in the League Cup 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. The team compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded in 1894, the club competed in the Southern League and Western L ...

after eleven seconds, equalling the club's fastest-ever goal by Bill Slater at

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, the cl ...

46 years earlier. These exploits led

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club (), commonly known as West Brom or The Albion, is a professional association football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the Englis ...

to sign Quinn for £500,000. He made his Albion debut in a 1–1 home draw against Bury on 21 February 1998. He scored twice in a 2–1 win over

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

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, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

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

Bristol Rovers Bristol Rovers FC is a men's professional football club in Bristol. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club is affiliated to Bristol Rovers W.F.C., whose team play in the FA Women's National Leag ...

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

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

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. 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. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

, 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 a professional association football club based in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Peterborough United formed in ...

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 association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

. 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 Scott McGleish (born February 10, 1974) is a Scottish footballer who plays for Leverstock Green, in addition to serving as an assistant manager. In a career spanning 31 years across four decades, McGleish has made over 900 league appearances. H ...

. In March 2007 Quinn joined

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The club was formed in ...

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, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and

Serbia & Montenegro The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

. He also represented the B team, and played at youth level from U16 to U21.

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 The Municipality of Princeton is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It was established on January 1, 2013, through the consolidation of the Borough of Princeton, New Jersey, Borough of Princeton and Pri ...

. 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 The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

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 soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

side Central Jersey Spartans, shortly before their dissolution. In the summer of 2015, he joined

National League National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

team,

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

, 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 assistant manager at club Oldham Athletic and the sporting director at club The New Saints. A midfielder with a 12-year career in t ...

. 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

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

, working alongside

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

. He held this role until his departure from ''the Moors'' was announced in December 2023.

References

External links

*
Profile - James Quinn
Irish FA * UpThePosh! The Peterborough United Database {{DEFAULTSORT:Quinn, James 1974 births Living people Footballers from Coventry Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's international footballers Men's 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 Tilburg 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 Association football coaches from Northern Ireland Tranmere Rovers F.C. non-playing staff English expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's association footballers from Northern Ireland English people of Irish descent Northern Ireland men's B international footballers Northern Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Northern Ireland men's youth international footballers