James Letson Frizzell (16 February 1937 – 3 July 2016) was a Scottish

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is t ...

player and manager. Frizzell was appointed a patron of

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic be ...

's supporters' trust, Trust Oldham in 2004.

Playing career

Frizzell began his career at Greenock Morton as a forward in 1957. Three years later, he joined

, where he played 318 matches and scored 57 goals initially as a forward and then in the wing-half and full-back roles.

Managerial career

A managerial career was started in March 1970 when Frizzell became manager of

, following a spell as a coach under

Jack Rowley John Frederick Rowley (7 October 1918 – 28 June 1998) was an English footballer who played as a forward from the 1930s to the 1950s, mainly remembered for a 17-year spell with Manchester United. He was nicknamed "The Gunner" because of his pr ...

. At the time, the club was near the bottom of

Division Four The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

, with the distinct possibility of having to re-apply for League status. He then guided the team to nine wins and six draws in the remaining 22 matches and a comfortable midtable finish. In the following season Oldham achieved promotion to

Division Three The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the f ...

and in 1974 they won the Third Division championship. The club survived in the Second Division bar only a couple of flirts with relegation, yet despite his success at the helm of the club, Frizzell was surprisingly dismissed in June 1982. He was at the time the second longest serving manager in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

. After a year unemployed, Frizzell was invited to join

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

as an assistant to

Billy McNeill William McNeill (2 March 1940 – 22 April 2019) was a Scottish football player and manager. He had a long association with Celtic, spanning more than sixty years as a player, manager and club ambassador. McNeill captained Celtic's ' Lisbon L ...

. He became manager after the exit of his former boss in October 1986. Frizzell was sacked in May 1987 as the team was relegated to the Division Two under a serious financial crisis. He returned to the club in 1994 to work as chief scout but left in 1998.

Death

Frizzell died on 3 July 2016.

References

External links

*
Jimmy Frizzell
at Trust Oldham * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frizzell, Jimmy 1937 births 2016 deaths Scottish footballers Greenock Morton F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish football managers Oldham Athletic A.F.C. managers Manchester City F.C. managers English Football League managers Association football inside forwards Footballers from Greenock