Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | James John Stewart Imlach | ||
Date of birth | 6 January 1932 | ||
Place of birth | Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland | ||
Date of death | 7 October 2001 | (aged 69)||
Place of death | England | ||
Height | 5 ft 6 in (1.68 m) | ||
Playing position | Winger | ||
Youth career | |||
Lossiemouth | |||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1952–1954 | Bury | 71 | (14) |
1954–1955 | Derby County | 36 | (2) |
1955–1960 | Nottingham Forest | 184 | (43) |
1960 | Luton Town | 8 | (0) |
1960–1962 | Coventry City | 73 | (11) |
1962–1964 | Crystal Palace | 35 | (2) |
1964–1965 | Dover | 3 | (2) |
1965–1966 | Chelmsford City | ||
1966–1967 | Crystal Palace | 16 | (1) |
Total | 426 | (75) | |
National team | |||
1958 | Scotland | 4 | (0) |
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
James John Stewart Imlach (6 January 1932 – 7 October 2001) was a Scottish professional footballer 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.
Imlach was born in the fishing town of Lossiemouth, on the Moray Firth coast. Stewart became the first man in five generations of the family name that chose not to become a fisherman. He started his professional football career with Lossiemouth FC, a Highland League club, before moving south at the age of 20 when Bury paid £150 for his services in May 1952. Two years later he joined Derby County in a player-exchange deal. However the "Rams" were relegated out of the Second Division at the end of the 1954–55 season, and 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. He joined Nottingham Forest for £5,000 in 1955. He was part of the City Ground club's 1959 FA Cup winning team, providing the cross for the first goal in the final by Roy Dwight, before a move to the vanquished opponents that day, Luton Town, for £8,000 in 1960. He wound down his career with short spells at Coventry City (1960–62), Crystal Palace (1962–64), Dover (1964–65), Chelmsford City (1965–66) and Crystal Palace again (1966–67).