Jimmy Melia

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Jimmy Melia
Personnel
Surname James Melia
birthday November 1, 1937
place of birth Liverpool ,  England
position Half-forward (left)
Juniors
Years station
1953-1954 Liverpool FC
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1954-1964 Liverpool FC 268 (77)
1964 Wolverhampton Wanderers 24 0(4)
1964-1968 Southampton FC 139 (11)
1968-1972 FC Aldershot 135 (14)
1972 Crewe Alexandra 4 0(0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1963 England 2 0(1)
Stations as a trainer
Years station
1969-1972 FC Aldershot
1972-1973 Crewe Alexandra
1975 Southport FC
1979 Cleveland Cobras
1982-1983 Brighton & Hove Albion
1983-1986 Belenenses Lisbon
1986 Stockport County
1 Only league games are given.

James "Jimmy" Melia (born November 1, 1937 in Liverpool ) is a former English football player and coach . As a half-left offensive player, he was initially a member of the 1964 championship team at Liverpool FC . He later worked as a coach in many countries and his greatest success was the entry into the final of the English Cup with Brighton & Hove Albion under his direction.

Athletic career

Club career

Born in the northern Liverpool district of Scotland Road , Melia was part of a large family and grew up with five brothers and five sisters. However, he was the only one who pursued football and did so very successfully at a young age. He was captain of the student team in Liverpool and, together with Bobby Charlton, in the English school selection. On his 17th birthday, he signed his first professional contract with Liverpool FC . The "Reds" had just been relegated to the second division and were clearly in the shadow of their local rivals from Everton . Against this background, the commitment of the talented Melia was considered a respectable success, especially since he had always been an Everton fan at a young age and emulated Wally Fielding who was active there . Melia then had to wait until Christmas 1955 in Liverpool to make his first team debut. In the 5-2 win against Nottingham Forest under coach Don Welsh , he scored a goal and set up another goal. He played four out of five games before returning to the British Army to do his military service. Further probation opportunities did not materialize at first, but in the following season 1956/57 the teenager developed under Welsh's successor Phil Taylor to a regular player. As a left half- forward , he ousted John Evans , where he convinced above all with his high level of commitment and a pronounced game intelligence. Equipped with a high risk of scoring, he was in the season 1958/59 with 21 goals in 40 games to top scorer of his team. He set a record by becoming the youngest player in the club's history to reach the milestone of one hundred appearances.

The meanwhile third just failed attempt at promotion had the consequence that a new coach was signed with Bill Shankly . Under Shankly Melia moved to the right side, where he was used on the offensive in both the half position and on the wing . Shankly justified this with the fact that he lacked players with experience on the flanks, who should serve the storm duo of Roger Hunt and Dave Hickson up front . When Melia was not coping so well with the new assignment, Shankly replaced him with veteran Billy Liddell . After two months of no action, Jimmy Harrower made room for Melia in his old half-left position - on the right wing towards the end of the season, Ian Callaghan emerged as the new hope. When Liverpool FC won the second division championship in the 1961/62 season and thus returned to the top division, Melia was represented in all 42 championship games. In his debut year in the First Division, Melia only missed three games before injuring himself in December of the following season, 1963–64. It was his first serious injury, but it had such a lasting effect that he should only play three times for Liverpool and lost his place to Alf Arrowsmith . A short time later he moved to league rivals Wolverhampton Wanderers in March 1964 , but on the way to the English championship of Liverpool FC he had amassed enough stakes to receive an official medal.

Melia's stay with the "Wolves" was short-lived. After the resignation of coach Stan Cullis , his successor Andy Beattie quickly sorted him out, so that Melia moved south to Southampton FC before the end of the year . The then second division team failed in the 1964/65 season, but already in the following season 1965/66 he harmonized particularly well with players like Terry Paine and Martin Chivers and together the runner-up behind Manchester City could be won. In the fight to stay in the First Division, Melia continued to be an important player and his preparatory work helped Ron Davies and Martin Chivers score a total of 51 goals - he scored four times, including a header to make it 2-1 - Victory against Arsenal on December 27, 1966. In November 1968 he then lost his regular seat to Mick Channon and shortly afterwards he moved to FC Aldershot , where he also gained his first experience in the coaching field. He later took over as head coach and in this role he returned to Liverpool in July 1971 for a third round encounter in the FA Cup .

English national team

Melia made two full international caps for England in 1963 . His debut against arch rivals from Scotland ended on April 6 with a 1: 2 home defeat. His second and last appearance was almost two months later in Basel and he also scored a goal in the 8-1 victory over Switzerland . In the following years he was no longer considered by coach Alf Ramsey , who experimented with numerous players in his own country in the run-up to the 1966 World Cup .

Coaching activities

After his release in Aldershot in January 1972, he was also hired by Crewe Alexandra as a game coach. There he let his active career fade away and then exercised the office of coach worldwide, including in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and the United States. He was active in the USA after scouting for the Southern California Lazers as head coach for the Cleveland Cobras in 1979. He then worked again as a scout in England for Brighton & Hove Albion and in the 1982/83 season he also took over the main responsibility there. He and his men even reached the 1983 Cup final, in which they were defeated by Manchester United in the replay - before he had "eliminated" his former club from Liverpool 2-1 in the round of 16. After Brighton's relegation to the second division in 1983 , he moved to Portugal to Belenenses Lisbon , where he spent three more years. In 1986 he briefly coached Stockport County in the English fourth division. Later he moved permanently to the USA and there he became technical director at the Liverpool Academy in Texas.

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual references / footnotes

  1. ↑ a b "Player Profile: Jimmy Melia" (LFCHistory.net)
  2. ↑ Interview with Jimmy Melia (LFCHistory.net)
  3. ^ "Southern California Lazers" (NASLHistory)
  4. ↑ "American Soccer League Players" (nasljerseys.com)
  5. ↑ "Introducing ... Jimmy Melia" (LFCHistory.net)
personal data
SURNAME Melia, Jimmy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Melia, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English soccer player and coach
DATE OF BIRTH November 1, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH Liverpool , England