Jimmy Littlejohn

James Adam Littlejohn (8 July 1910, Glasgow – 24 August 1989, Dundee) was a Scottish football player and manager.

Jimmy Littlejohn
Personal information
Full name James Adam Littlejohn
Date of birth (1910-07-08)8 July 1910
Place of birth Glasgow, Scotland
Date of death 24 August 1989(1989-08-24) (aged 79)
Place of death Dundee, Scotland
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Position(s) Centre half
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1934–1939 St Anthony's
1934–1939 St Johnstone 52 (0)
1939 Cowdenbeath 0 (0)
Teams managed
1942–44 Dundee United
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Career

He won Scotland junior international caps before joining St Johnstone in 1934.[1] He moved to Cowdenbeath in 1939, but signed for Dundee United under wartime conditions.[2]

He was influential in the club's unexpected progress to the final of the Emergency War Cup at Hampden Park, when he led the side following an injury to captain Jerry Kerr (United lost 1–0 to Rangers). That was the only season he played for United, but he was invited to join the board in 1942 and after the abrupt departure of manager Jimmy Allan in October of that year, he was asked by fellow directors to take over. He remained in post for just over two years, a period in which United struggled in the North Eastern League as they found it difficult to attract the better players available during the unusual conditions of wartime. Littlejohn handed over the manager's job to one of his players, Charlie McGillivray, in November 1944, but remained a director.

With the exception of three years when he stepped down due to ill health, he was a board member for the rest of his life, though his greatest contribution to Dundee United was the establishment of Taypools. It was he who spotted the scheme's potential, and without its invaluable financial input it is unlikely that the club could have become established in Division One during the 1960s.

His son, Bill, was a director at Tannadice from 1989 to 2002 and the club's chief executive between October 2000 and January 2002.

References
  1. John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. Jimmy Littlejohn Player Profile, Arab Archive
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.