JIMMY MCANEARNEY

Born: 20 March 1935

Came from: Sheffield Wednesday   Went to: Watford

First game: 16 January 1960   Last game: 16 November 1963

Appearances: 147 (147/0)   Goals: 37

Born in Dundee, inside forward Jimmy McAnearney was one of three footballing brothers who began their careers at Sheffield Wednesday, Jackie and Tom completing the familial trio.

After playing local youth football for St Stephen's Boys' Club in his native Scotland, he moved South, signing for Wednesday in October 1951, along with older brother Tom, turning professional on his 17th birthday. He made his debut in February 1954 and scored 10 goals in 38 games, spending a total of eight years with the club. He had found a consistent breakthrough at Hillsborough difficult to achieve, but with the likes of Jackie Sewell and Albert Quixall as competition, that is perhaps not surprising. Brother Jackie was released earlier, having not made an appearance, whereas Tom went on to make over 300 appearances and became a stalwart for the Hillsborough side, in over a decade with the club.

Arriving at Home Park as a Jack Rowley signing in January 1960, joining Wednesday team-mate George Kirby, who also signed on at Home Park, McAnearney became the brains of the Argyle attack in the early 1960s. A slightly built player, blessed with great vision, he enabled strikers Wilf Carter and Kirby to score numerous goals from his assists. He made an immediate impact by scoring on his debut, a 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough at Home Park in January 1960. It is also worth noting that two months later, he also became one of the few Argyle players to score against Liverpool at Anfield, when his goal saw the club come away from Merseyside with a 1-1 draw. His most prolific season was 1961-62, when nine of his 11 goals came in a 14-game spell in the middle of the campaign. In total, he spent five seasons at Home Park, serving under the same number of managers.

In that fifth season (1963-64), he had played 13 times, scoring three under Andy Beattie, but before the end of 1963, he took the opportunity of a move to Watford. He stayed at Vicarage Road for three years, playing 86 times and scoring 19 goals before returning to Yorkshire with Bradford City.

In two years at Valley Parade, he played 45 times and found the net five times. He had gained his full FA Coaching Badge in 1958, at the age of 23, and was one of the youngest and earliest players to do so - certainly ahead of his time in that respect.

His breakthrough in coaching was to come sooner than expected. While playing for Bradford, he was to spend a brief spell managing the club alongside fellow City team-mate Tom Hallett in early 1968. This followed the sudden death of the incumbent manager, and former Leeds legend Grenville Hair, aged just 36, following a heart attack during training in March 1968. The pair remained at the helm until Jimmy Wheeler was appointed in June of the same year.

Unperturbed by the unexpected start to his managerial career, he left Bradford to join Rotherham United in May 1968, initially as chief coach to Tommy Docherty, 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 in 1975) and Leeds United before going on to manage Frickley Athletic, Scarborough (1981-82) and Hallam, back in Sheffield.

After his managerial career finished in the 1980s, McAnearney founded a successful machine tool hire business back in Sheffield. He remained living in the city where his career had started and died in March 2017, at the age of 81, after suffering from Alzheimer's in his final years.