James Barry Knowles (born 25 April 1959) is an English 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 lea ...

who played as a full-back. He most notably played for

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

between 1984 and 1988, and was part of the team that won the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, officially known as the Vertu Trophy for sponsorship reasons, is an annual English football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL League Two and U-21 teams from the Premier Le ...

in 1985 and reached the quarter-finals of the FA Cup in 1986. Causing him to become a Wigan Legend. Knowles started his career at Southport, making 72 league appearances for the club. He then moved on to Runcorn, winning the

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English Association football, football league that was founded in 1968. Together with the Isthmian League and the Southern Football League, Southern League it forms levels seven and eight of the English footba ...

with the club. He signed for Wigan from Barrow in October 1984. He was part of the team that won the Freight Rover Trophy in 1985. After retiring, he worked as a youth coach at

, Everton, and

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 ...

. On 17 February 2015 he was appointed as head of youth development of

Bharat FC Bharat Football Club (also known as Kalyani Bharat Football Club) was an Indian professional football club based in Pune, Maharashtra. Founded in 2014, the club usually competed in I-League, then top tier of Indian football league system. The t ...

in the

I-League The I-League is the men's second professional football division of the Indian football league system behind the Indian Super League. Administered by the All India Football Federation, it is currently contested by 13 clubs. It operates as a s ...

. In July 2016, he joined DSK Shivajians.

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* 1959 births Living people Footballers from Wigan English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Southport F.C. players Runcorn F.C. Halton players Barrow A.F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players English Football League players {{England-footy-defender-1950s-stub