JIMMY CLARK

Full Name: James McNicholl Cameron Clark

Born: 11 December 1913

Came from: Sunderland   Went to: Royal Air Force

First game: 23 October 1937   Last game: 08 June 1940

Appearances: 56 (56/0)   Goals: 0

Born in Cathcart, then in Renfrewshire but in modern-day south-east Glasgow, not far from Mount Florida and Hampden Park.

He started his career locally with Clydebank Juniors before making the big step up to English top-flight side Sunderland, where he played 49 times in a two-year spell at Roker Park. During this time, he collected a Football League First Division championship medal in the 1935-36 season, the last of the club's six such titles to date. He did, however, miss out on selection for the 1937 FA Cup Final.

The centre-half left the north-east to continue his career, arriving at Home Park as a Bob Jack signing in time for the 1937-38 season. However, his career with Argyle was cut short when he joined the RAF in 1939 to serve as a bomber pilot during the Second World War. He still managed 16 appearances for the club in the 1939-40 South West Regional League.

In total, he played 56 times for Argyle across three seasons, also playing under Jack Tresadern and Rollo Jack.

After the war, he moved to South Africa and initially continued playing there, joining Durban-based Garrison in 1944 and Cape Town-based Youngsfield in 1945. Both sides had military connections, so it is possible that he continued his wartime service in South Africa. From 1946-49 he was then with Pretoria-based Arcs, formally known as Arcadia Shephards. He spent the final stages of his playing career with Johannesburg-based Wanderers from 1950-59, playing into his forties.

He then moved into management in the country, with his first job coming with Cape Town City from 1961-63. He was the club's inaugural manager, and their very first league match in 1962 was against his former club, Wanderers, attracting a bumper crowd of 5,000 to Hartleyvale Stadium. Within a few years, they were regularly pulling in crowds of over 20,000.

In 1964, he also managed the 'Castle Knights', a select South African team chosen to play against Real Madrid at Rand Stadium in Johannesburg during the Spanish side's two-match tour of the country. The visitors won 5-2, with Ferenc Puskás in their side.

In 1965, he moved to Durban City for two years, winning two Bowls, the South African equivalent of the League Cup in England. He then moved to fellow Durban side Addington in 1968 and, in 1969, also spent a season in charge of Johannesburg-based Jewish Guild.

He later took on assistant-manager roles, firstly with another Johannesburg-based side, Southern Suburbs, with whom he picked up another Bowl win between 1970 and 1971, before his final move across the city to Lusitano, a club formed by the city's large Portuguese community, where he was in charge from 1973-74 for what appears to have been his last role in football.

Outside of the game, he became the country's manager of Consol Glass before retiring in 1975. He is believed to have moved in retirement to the south of France, where he is reported to have passed away in 1980, when he would have been in his late 60s.