James John Stewart Imlach (6 January 1932 – 3 October 2001) was a Scottish professional

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 left-winger for numerous clubs in England. He is best known today as the subject of an award-winning biography by his son, Gary Imlach, titled ''My Father and Other Working Class Football Heroes''. Another son, Mike Imlach, had a brief professional career in the 1980s.

Club career

Early career

Imlach was born in the fishing town of

Lossiemouth Lossiemouth () is a town in Moray, Scotland. Originally the port belonging to Elgin, Moray, Elgin, it became an important fishing town. Although there has been over 1,000 years of settlement in the area, the present day town was formed over the ...

, on the

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; , or ) is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of the north of Scotland. It is the largest firth in Scotland, stretching from Duncans ...

coast. He became the first man in five generations of the family name who chose not to become a

fisherman A fisherman or fisher is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million Commercial fishing, commercial and Artisan fishing, subsistence fishers and Fish farming, fi ...

. He started his professional football career with Scottish Highland Football League Club, Lossiemouth F.C. He then moved south to Bury FC at the age of 20. Bury paid £150 for his services in May 1952. He stayed at

Gigg Lane Gigg Lane is a football ground in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, built for Bury F.C. in 1885. The first match was played on 12 September 1885 between Bury and a team from Wigan. One of the world's oldest professional football stadiums, Gi ...

for two seasons.

Derby County

He joined

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club in Derby, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. One of the 12 founder members of the English Football ...

in a player-exchange deal. However the "Rams" were relegated out of the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

at the end of the 1954–55 season. Imlach had a falling out with the club over a housing dispute as his promised accommodation was given to new signing John Buchanan. He was retained by the club on reduced wages.

Nottingham Forest

He joined

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

for £5,000 in 1955. He was part of the

City Ground The City Ground is a association football, football stadium in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England, on the banks of the River Trent. It has been home to Nottingham Forest F.C., Nottingham Forest since 1898 and has a capacity of 30,455. ...

club's 1959

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 ...

winning team providing the pass or assist for the first goal in the final by

Roy Dwight Royston Edward Dwight (9 January 1933 – 9 April 2002) was an English footballer. He scored the opening goal in the 1959 FA Cup Final for Nottingham Forest. Career Fulham Dwight joined Fulham in 1950 as an apprentice, signing on the same day ...

. Forest were 2–0 up after 14 minutes.

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

hit back midway through the second half after Dwight broke his leg in the 33rd minute. Forest had further personnel issues when cramping reduced

Bill Whare William Whare (14 May 1925 – 28 May 1995) was a professional footballer from Guernsey who played as a right-back. Career Born in Guernsey, Channel Islands, Whare spent his entire professional career with Nottingham Forest, making 298 appearanc ...

to little more than a hobbling spectator. Imlach helped Forest protect their 2–1 lead to lift the trophy at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

Later career

He moved to the vanquished cup final opponents

, for £8,000 in 1960. He then wound down his career with short spells at

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 ...

(1960–62),

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 ...

(1962–64),

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

(1964–65), Chelmsford City (1965–66) and Crystal Palace again (1966–67).

International career

The first Nottingham Forest player ever to be selected by Scotland, Imlach made four appearances for the Scottish national side in 1958, against

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, the latter two games taking place at the

1958 FIFA World Cup The 1958 FIFA World Cup was the 6th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Sweden from 8 to 29 June 1958. It was the first and only FIFA World Cup to be played in a Nordic country. Br ...

finals in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. However, prior to the 1970s,

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

were only issued to those who appeared in matches against the other home countries, so Imlach never received a cap. In 2005, Imlach's son

Gary Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name Places ;Iran * Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;United States *Gary (Tampa), Florida *Gary, Ind ...

was at the forefront of a popular campaign to have Imlach and others, such as

Eddie Turnbull Edward Hunter Turnbull (12 April 1923 – 30 April 2011) was a Scottish professional football player and manager. He played as a forward for Hibernian and Scotland, forming part of the Hibs " Famous Five" forward line. He then had successful s ...

, retrospectively awarded caps. After concerted public pressure, the

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (; also known as the Scottish FA and the SFA) is the governing body of football in Scotland and has the ultimate responsibility for the control and development of football in Scotland. Members of the SFA incl ...

bowed to the popular will in 2006 and officially capped all players affected by the previous rule.

Coaching career

When Imlach stopped playing he became a trainer and spent the next 12 years coaching at

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 ...

, Everton,

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 ...

and Bury. His time with Everton was the longest spell, Imlach acting as first assistant trainer then first team trainer for the "Toffees" between 1969 and 1976. In 2009 a street of new houses in his home town of Lossiemouth – Imlach Way – was named in his honour.

Honours

Nottingham Forest *

: 1958–59

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Imlach, Stewart 1932 births 2001 deaths People from Lossiemouth Footballers from Moray Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Men's association football wingers Lossiemouth F.C. players Bury F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Dover F.C. players Chelmsford City F.C. players English Football League players 1958 FIFA World Cup players Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Notts County F.C. non-playing staff Everton F.C. non-playing staff Highland Football League players Bury F.C. non-playing staff 20th-century Scottish sportsmen