James Alfred McIntyre (31 October 1881 – 1954) was an English footballer who became manager at

Southampton Southampton () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire, S ...

, Coventry City and

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...

Playing career

McIntyre was born in

Wednesbury Wednesbury () is a market town in Sandwell in the county of West Midlands, England. It is located near the source of the River Tame. Historically part of Staffordshire in the Hundred of Offlow, at the 2011 Census the town had a population of ...

, Staffordshire. He was a journeyman player of some repute, playing as an inside-forward, and had spells with West Midlands teams Witton Albion, Darlaston Town and

Wednesbury Old Athletic Wednesbury Old Athletic, often referred to as W.O.A.C., was an English association football club based in Wednesbury, West Midlands (Staffordshire at the time). There were three clubs that had this name. Original club The first began life as t ...

. In 1901, he joined

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is t ...

(his home-town club), before spending the 1902–03 season in the First Division at Notts County. He then had a spell at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

before joining Coventry City as a player in 1905, where he scored hat-tricks in his second and third games for the club. After his playing days were over he worked at the

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary betw ...

car factory in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed ...

and spent one season refereeing in the Coventry & North Warwickshire League, also turning out for Dudley & Bournbrook, before returning to Coventry City as an assistant trainer in 1907. Within one season he was promoted to chief trainer and his initial association with Coventry lasted seven years, during which time he produced a number of young players for their Southern League team.

Management career

Southampton

His success at Coventry impressed the directors at

, where George Swift had resigned and they secured his services in April 1912. Engaged as trainer, under secretary Ernest Arnfield who acted as "manager", McIntyre faced the difficult task of restoring the Saints to their former success in the Southern League. Due to the lack of funds following Swift's spending spree in the previous season, McIntyre was only able to sign three new players; the only successful recruit was

Len Andrews Leonard Thomas Alford Andrews (9 December 1888 – 21 January 1969) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside forward. During his career he had two spells with both Southampton and Reading, as well as playing for Watford. ...

, whose signing from

was "''one of the best moves of McIntyre's managerial career''" as Andrews went on to become the "Saints" most consistent forward in the three seasons leading up to the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

, as well as being an expert penalty taker. Saints gradually began to improve their League position but with the outbreak of war in 1914 and the abandonment of League football in April 1915, all progress came to a halt. McIntyre returned to Coventry for the duration of the war, working in a munitions factory. With the resumption of League football in 1919 he returned to The Dell, this time as team manager and, with practically a new squad, he set about building a team for the future. Saints were admitted into Division 3 of the Football League in 1920, and just missed out on promotion in their first season, but in 1922 McIntyre successfully guided Southampton into Division Two. Saints finished equal on points with Plymouth Argyle and took the title on goal average, helped in no small manner by 5–0 victories over Southend United and Newport County, a 6–0 defeat of Charlton Athletic and an 8–0 hammering of Northampton Town on 24 December 1921 (which is still Saints' biggest win in the Football League). In each of these matches

Arthur Dominy Arthur Albert Dominy (11 February 1893 – 23 September 1974) was an English professional footballer, who played as an inside-forward, and football manager, spending most of his career with Southampton. Playing career Southampton He played hi ...

scored twice, whilst Bill Rawlings scored three against Charlton and put four past Northampton, on his way to becoming top scorer for the season, contributing 30 of the team's 68 league goals. Saints total of only 21 goals conceded in a 42 match season was a

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 ...

record which stood until 1979 and remains a record for Southampton. Goalkeeper Tommy Allen did not concede a goal in any of the final seven games of the season (five wins and two draws) and by the time the defence was finally breached by Leeds United on 28 August 1922 he had gone 845 minutes without conceding a goal. In March 1922, just as Saints fans were confident of gaining promotion, McIntyre shocked them by announcing a four player transfer with wingers Fred Foxall and Joe Barratt moving to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

in exchange for

Jack Elkes Albert John "Jack" Elkes (31 December 1894 – 22 January 1972) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside left for various clubs between the two world wars. Playing career Elkes was born in Snedshill, Oakengates, Shropshi ...

(a forward) and

George Getgood George Getgood (15 November 1892 – 22 July 1970), also known as George Goodman, was a Scottish professional footballer who played as a half-back for various clubs in the 1920s. Playing career Getgood was born in Coylton, Ayrshire. He j ...

(a half-back). The move was a success, however, as Southampton were able to claim the title by overtaking Plymouth Argyle on the final day of the season. In their first season in Division 2, Saints started badly, with two draws and four defeats in the first six games (failing to score in the first five games), but Saints rallied and finished mid-table in Division 2, with the unusual record of: Played 42, won 14, drew 14, lost 14, goals for 40, goals against 40, points 42. They also had a run in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

, where they got through each of the first three rounds after replays (over First Division

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

, ChelseaGiant Killers 1923
/ref> and Second division Bury), before going out to

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium ...

after a second replay. In the 1923–24 season, Saints were starting to find their feet in Division 2 and only missed out on promotion by three points, with Rawlings again top scorer with 19 league goals. The following season was frustrating for the Saints who seemed to have lost the ability to score goals and, in December 1924 McIntyre suddenly resigned as manager and moved to

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

to run an hotel. His departure took the directors by surprise – they announced that the board would take over the manager's job for the rest of the season, with help from secretary

George Goss George Goss is a former naval officer and football manager, who was manager of Southampton F.C. for the 1936–37 season. Goss served in the Royal Navy during World War I, and played football for the naval side. On leaving the navy, he joined t ...

Coventry City

He soon returned to football, taking over as manager at his former club Coventry City in June 1928. His presence was quickly felt as the club ended the 1929–30 season in its best ever league position, finishing sixth in Third Division (South). But after a long-running dispute with the board over the sale of several star players, McIntyre was sacked in February 1931.

Fulham

He was quickly snapped up by

and he took them out of the Third Division (South) in 1932. From the outset, the Cottagers led the Third Division table and by April were worthy champions. It was a record-breaking season for Fulham and McIntyre became the first manager to win promotion from Division Three with two different clubs. McIntyre acquired several players from his former club,

, with Bill Fraser,

Arthur Haddleton Arthur Haddleton (6 April 1910 – 5 January 1971) was an English footballer who played as a centre forward for various clubs in the 1930s. Despite showing promise in the early part of his career, he eventually achieved very little, although he ...

and Bert Jepson moving to

Craven Cottage Craven Cottage is a football ground in Fulham, West London, England, which has been the home of Fulham F.C. since 1896.According to the club'official website The ground's capacity is 22,384; the record attendance is 49,335, for a game against ...

in June 1932, followed by

Mike Keeping Alexander Edwin Michael Keeping (22 August 1902 – 28 March 1984) was an English footballer and manager. He coached Real Madrid CF from January 1948 to October 1950. His father was the Olympic medal winning cyclist Frederick Keeping. Playing ca ...

and

Johnny Arnold John Arnold (30 November 1907, Cowley, Oxford – 4 April 1984, Southampton, Hampshire) was an English cricketer and Football player. Cricket career John Arnold was an attacking opening batsman for Hampshire for 20 years from 1930, when he ...

in February 1933, for a combined fee of £5,000. McIntyre boasted that this was "the best deal I ever brought off". The revival continued in 1932–33 when another spirited promotion attempt only failed in the closing weeks, with Fulham finishing in third position in Division 2. Fulham's high hopes for the 1933–34 season were never fulfilled; supporters blamed this on the shock transfer of top scorer Frank Newton to

in September and his replacement with the £2,500 signing of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

's veteran striker Jack Lambert, who failed to make any impact. A run of bad results over the New Year led to McIntyre's surprise dismissal in February 1934.

After football

McIntyre never got another job in football. He returned to

and worked for the Folland Aircraft Company and died, aged 72, in Surrey, England.

Honours

As manager

Southampton *

Football League Third Division South The Third Division South of The Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to o ...

champions: 1921–22 Fulham *

champions: 1931–32

References

5. Hornby, Mark (2020). SUPREMOS: Jimmy McIntyre. Coventry City Football Club. https://www.ccfc.co.uk/news/2020/july/supremos-james-mcintyre/

External links

*
Feature on Fulham F.C. website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcintyre, Jimmy 1881 births 1959 deaths People from Darlaston English footballers Walsall F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Reading F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players English football managers Southampton F.C. managers Coventry City F.C. managers Fulham F.C. managers Date of death missing Darlaston Town F.C. players English Football League managers Wednesbury Old Athletic F.C. players Southern Football League managers Association football inside forwards Sportspeople from Wednesbury