Robert Andrew Mimms (born 12 October 1963) is an English football coach and former player who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Mimms' career lasted twenty years, and is best known for his tenure with

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

, where he was a member of 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 ...

winning squad in 1995. He also played top flight football for Everton,

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

and

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

as well as a spell in the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

with

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

. Mimms also turned out in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for Halifax Town,

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

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 ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional association football club in Preston, Lancashire, England. They currently play in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English footbal ...

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

. He was capped three times at

England U21 The England national under-21 football team, also known as England under-21s or England U21(s), is the national under-21 association football team of England, under the control of the Football Association. It is considered to be the feeder team ...

level. Since retiring from playing, Mimms has worked as a goalkeeping coach for

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

, Blackburn Rovers,

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 ...

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

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 ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. They compete in the , the second level of the English football league system. They play their home ...

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (; ), also known as Tatanagar, is a major industrial city in eastern India. It is the List of cities in Jharkhand by population, largest city in the state of Jharkhand. With a population of 629,658 in the city limits and 1.3 million ...

, ATK,

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

and

SC East Bengal East Bengal Football Club, commonly referred to as East Bengal, is an Indian professional football club based in Kolkata, West Bengal. The club competes in the Indian Super League, the top flight of the Indian football league system. The clu ...

Playing career

Born in

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, Mimms began his

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

career as an apprentice at Halifax Town. However, he failed to break into the first team and joined

in November 1981 for a fee of £15,000. In 1985, he was sold to Everton, who had just won the league title and

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

. During the 1980s, Mimms played for no less than eight different clubs, as he went out on loan from Everton more than once. However, due to an injury to

Neville Southall Neville Southall (born 16 September 1958) is a Welsh Manager (association football), football manager and former international association football, footballer. He has been described as one of the best Goalkeeper (association football), goalk ...

, Mimms played in goal for Everton in the final weeks of the 1985–86 season. Everton were top of the league for most of the last three months of the season, but were pipped to the title on the last day by local rivals

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

. Liverpool won the FA Cup as well that season, beating Everton 3–1 in the final, with Mimms in goal for the losers. He played as Everton shared the

1986 FA Charity Shield The 1986 FA Charity Shield (also known as the General Motors – FA Charity Shield for sponsorship reasons) was the 64th Charity Shield, a football match contested by the holders of the Football League First Division and FA Cup. This edition featu ...

with Liverpool and won the 1987 FA Charity Shield against

Coventry City Coventry City Football Club is an English professional football club based in Coventry, West Midlands. The club plays in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club is nicknamed The Sky Blues after the sky blue colou ...

. He was later sold to

in 1988, following the retirement of

Ray Clemence Raymond Neal Clemence (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is one of the few players to have made over 1,000 career ...

, and had more first team chances at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

than he had been given at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a Association football, football stadium in Walton, Liverpool, Walton, Liverpool, England, it was the home of Premier League club Everton F.C., Everton from 1892 until 2025. It is now the home of Everton F.C. (women), Everton's ...

. In December 1990,

manager

Don Mackay Don, don or DON and variants may refer to: Places *Don (river), a river in European Russia *Don River (disambiguation), several other rivers with the name * Don, Benin, a town in Benin * Don, Dang, a village and hill station in Dang district, Gu ...

signed him for a fee of £250,000 from

making him Blackburn's most expensive transfer at the time. He was signed in the early stages of

Jack Walker Jack Walker (19 May 1929 – 17 August 2000) was a British industrialist and businessman. Walker built his fortune in the steel industry, amassing a personal fortune of £600 million. He then went on to become the owner and benefactor of Blac ...

's backing of Blackburn, and just weeks before Walker took full control of the Second Division club. Blackburn had a slow start to the 1991–92 season, and Mackay was sacked in early September, being replaced the following month by

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time as well as one of Celtic's, Liv ...

. Dalglish made several substantial signings during the season and Blackburn reached the playoff final where they beat

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

1–0, ending 26 years outside the top flight. Mimms was one of the players who kept his place in the team throughout the season. Mimms was an integral part of this team. However, Jack Walker was not one to rest on his laurels and after the club's promotion vast amounts of money were spent to recruit the finest talents in the country to

Ewood Park Ewood Park () is a Association football, football stadium in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, and the home of Blackburn Rovers F.C., founding members of the English Football League, Football League and Premier League, who have played there since ...

. Players such as

Alan Shearer Alan Shearer (born 13 August 1970) is an English Association football, football pundit and former professional player who played as a striker (association football), striker. Widely regarded as one of the best strikers of all time and one of t ...

, Stuart Ripley,

Graeme Le Saux Graeme Pierre Le Saux ( ; born 17 October 1968) is an English former professional footballer and television pundit. As a versatile left sided player he played most of his career at left back with two spells at Chelsea, Blackburn Rovers, Southamp ...

and Kevin Gallacher were brought to the club and Mimms was a key part of the team which finished fourth in the 1992–93 season, just missing out on a

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

place. In November 1993,

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

goalkeeper

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 ...

was brought in as the new number one. From then on, Mimms was rarely selected in the starting line-up, his four appearances in the 1994–95 season not being enough for a title medal, and in early 1996 joined

, where he played just once. He then dropped into the lower divisions, playing for

, hometown club

and finished off his playing career at

in 2001.

Coaching career

Between 2001 and 2008, Mimms worked as goalkeeping coach at

, before returning to Blackburn to fulfil the same role in August 2008, until he was sacked on 27 December 2012. During the pre-season preceding the 2013–14 season, Mimms was appointed goalkeeping coach at

. In February 2014, he left his role at Oldham to join the

as their new goalkeeping coach. In October 2014, Mimms was appointed as goalkeeping coach at

side

. After leaving West Ham, he had short spells coaching at

and

, and in November 2016, joined the coaching staff at

following goalkeeper coach Gary Walsh's move to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The team have p ...

. He left the club in January 2017, following the sacking of head coach

Mike Phelan Michael Christopher Phelan (born 24 September 1962) is an English professional football coach and former player who was most recently (until 31 December 2024) assistant head coach for EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle. Born in Nelson, L ...

. After leaving Hull City, he joined

in the

Indian Super League The Indian Super League (ISL) is a professional association football league in India and the highest level of the Indian football league system. Administered by the All India Football Federation (AIFF) and its commercial partner Football Sport ...

as a goalkeeper coach under

Steve Coppell Stephen James Coppell (born 9 July 1955) is an English professional football manager and former player. As a player, Coppell was a highly regarded right winger known for his speed, technical ability and work rate. He won domestic honours with ...

in September 2017. In June 2018, he joined ATK with Coppell as a goalkeeper coach. After the sacking of Coppell, he also left the club after the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

in April 2019. In June 2019, he was appointed as the goalkeeper coach of

. He became goalkeeping coach of

, but left his role in September 2021. In October 2022 Mimms signed a twelve-month contract with the

Fiji Football Association The Fiji Football Association is the governing body of football in Fiji. It came into existence in 1961. It is the overseeing body of the Fiji National Team and its leagues. History Football started to be played in Fiji ever since the arrival o ...

to be the Fiji national goalkeeper coach and to work closely with the other goalkeeping coaches in Fiji. In May 2023 Mimms was head coach of the Fiji national under-20 football team at the

2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 23rd edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth Association football, football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since i ...

Honours

Everton *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

(shared),

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

runner-up: 1985–86 Blackburn Rovers * Football League Second Division play-offs:

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mimms, Bobby 1963 births Living people Footballers from York English men's footballers England men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Halifax Town A.F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Everton F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players York City F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Blackburn Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Oldham Athletic A.F.C. non-playing staff West Ham United F.C. non-playing staff Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Hull City A.F.C. non-playing staff Association football goalkeeping coaches