James McAnearney (20 March 1935 – 14 March 2017) was a Scottish

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 ...

player and manager. McAnearney played 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 ...

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. The team currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. The club has played ...

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

, who he also briefly managed in 1968 with Tom Hallett. He later managed

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 ...

Frickley Athletic Frickley Athletic Football Club is a football club based in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, England. They are members of the and play at Westfield Lane. History The club was formed on 30 July 1908, and became a member of the South Yorkshire Lea ...

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

and

Hallam Hallam may refer to: Places * Hallam, Victoria, Australia ** Hallam railway station UK * Hallamshire, an area in South Yorkshire, England, UK ** Royal Hallamshire Hospital ** Sheffield Hallam (UK Parliament constituency) ** Sheffield Hallam Univer ...

, and worked as a coach at Sheffield Wednesday (where he was also caretaker manager) and

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The team compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league system. Leeds United have won the League Championship th ...

. In later life he established and ran a tool/engineering business.

Early and personal life

McMcAnearney was born in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. His older brother

Tom Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name. Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tom'' (1973 film), or ''The Bad Bunch'', a blaxploitation film * ''Tom'' (2002 film) ...

was also a professional footballer.

Club career

After playing for St Stephen's, McAnearney signed for

in October 1951, at the same time as older brother Tom, and turned professional on his seventeenth birthday. He made his professional debut on 24 February 1954, scoring 10 goals in 40 games in all competitions, and spending a total of eight years with the club. He signed for

in January 1960, scoring 37 goals in 147 games in all competitions, before leaving for

in November 1963. He moved to

in September 1966.Frost, p. 401 He scored 5 goals in 50 games in all competitions for Bradford City. He scored 68 goals in 304 league appearances.

Coaching career

He gained his full FA Coaching Badge in 1958, at the age of 23, one of the youngest players to do so. While playing for Bradford City spent a brief spell managing the club alongside Tom Hallett in early 1968, following the sudden death of manager

Grenville Hair Kenneth Grenville Arthur Hair (16 November 1931 – 7 March 1968) was a footballer who played his entire professional career for Leeds United between 1948 and 1964. He later became the manager of Wellington Town and Bradford City. He died of a ...

in March and before

Jimmy Wheeler Ernest Alfred Henry Remnant (16 September 1910 – 8 October 1973), known professionally as Jimmy Wheeler, was a British variety theatre comedian and pioneer of radio and television. Earlier in his career he worked with his father in the double ...

was appointed as the new permanent manager in June. He left Bradford to join

in May 1968, initially as chief coach to

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times bet ...

, but then as manager between November 1968 and 1973. He later worked as a coach at Sheffield Wednesday (where he was also caretaker manager after the departure of Steve Burtenshaw) and

, and also managed

and

Later life

After his coaching career finished in the 1970s, McAnearney founded a tool engineering/machine company in Sheffield. He died on 14 March 2017, at the age of 81.

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAnearney, Jim 1935 births 2017 deaths Footballers from Dundee Scottish men's footballers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Plymouth Argyle F.C. players Watford F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players English Football League players Men's association football inside forwards Scottish football managers Bradford City A.F.C. managers Rotherham United F.C. non-playing staff Rotherham United F.C. managers Sheffield Wednesday F.C. non-playing staff Sheffield Wednesday F.C. managers Leeds United F.C. non-playing staff Frickley Athletic F.C. managers Scarborough F.C. managers Hallam F.C. managers 20th-century Scottish sportsmen