Footballer, coach and manager and businessman
Born: 20 March, 1935;
Died: 14 March, 2017
JIM McAnearney, who has died, aged 81, was one of those journeymen Scottish footballers who were, up until the advent of the English Premiership, the backbone of the game down south.
He was born and raised in Dundee, and in 1951 the St Stephen's BC youngster followed his elder brother Tommy south to Sheffield Wednesday. He was just 16, but, on his 17th birthday, he signed professional forms with the Owls, for whom he played for eight seasons.
An inside forward (midfielder in today's parlance), he faced tough competition at Hillborough. The likes of Jackie Sewell and Albert Quixall – later to join Manchester United – Redfearn Froggat and John Fantham would all win full England honours, but when any of these were unavailable, McAnearney would slot into the Owls first team.
He only played 40 first team games for Wednesday, between his debut, in a 1-1 Hillsborough draw with Liverpool on 24 February, 1954 and his final game, a 2-1 loss at Bristol Rovers on 30 April, 1959. His brother Tommy was a more frequent member of the first team, it has to be said.
From Sheffield, Jim McAnearney moved south, to Plymouth Argyle, for whom he played nearly 150 games over four seasons. His next stop was Watford, before he returned to Yorkshire, to play out his senior career with Bradford City. In all, he made 204 senior appearances, scoring 68 goals, but, mainly he was a purveyor of chances for his team mates.
He was one of the first players to gain coaching qualifications, achieving his FA coaching badge when he was only 23 years old, so a move into coaching and management was a logical next step.
He was still a registered Bradford City player when, in March 1968 he was appointed joint caretaker-manager, with Tony Hallett, following the sudden death of Grenville Hair.
The following season found him at Rotherham United, as coach to Tommy Docherty – succeeding the Doc as boss in November, 1968 and managing the Millers until 1973.
From Millmoor, he took the short hop back to Hillsborough as a coach with his first club, Sheffield Wednesday, where he had a short spell as caretaker-manager in 1975.
He later managed Frickley Athletic, Scarborough and Hallam FC, his final role in football.
McAnearney continued to live in Sheffield, where he started and ran a successful machine tool hire business.
His final years were blighted by Alzheimer's. He is survived by wife Jean, children Karen and Paul and three grand-children and one great-grand-child.
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