James McIntyre

June 1928 – 17th February 1931

Jimmy McIntyre became the first manager to win the Third Division championship with two different clubs, Southampton in 1922 and Fulham in 1932. If he had achieved that level of success at Coventry he would have become a legend at Highfield Road. As it was he did drag the club out of the dreadful slough that had become the norm in the 1920s. 

Born in Walsall in 1881 his first football experience was with local teams Darlaston and Wednesbury Old Athletic. He was an average forward and appeared for Notts County, Northampton, where he played alongside the great Herbert Chapman, and Reading before joining City in 1905. He scored 19 goals in 24 games in the Birmingham League before retiring after just one season. In 1907 he became assistant trainer, and promoted to trainer a year later. He was also refereeing in the Coventry and North Warwickshire League around this time. In 1912 after four years as City’s trainer he moved to a similar role at Southampton.

After the First World War he was appointed manager at the Dell and Saints entered the Football League in 1920, narrowly missing promotion in their first season. In 1921-22 they won the Third Division championship to gain promotion but in December 1924 McIntyre left football suddenly to run an hotel in Edinburgh.

Coventry tempted him back into football as their manager in the summer of 1928 and he was given a sum of money to strengthen the side. He spent a record £1700 on former England forward Billy Kirton from Aston Villa and also bought defender Laurie Crown, forward Jimmy Loughlin from West Ham and his old goalkeeper Frank ‘Shadow’ Allen from the Dell. He also introduced a stricter disciplinary and fitness regime. The new team quickly settled, the crowds started to flock back and the Telegraph described them ‘the best eleven Bantams since the war’.

City finished 11th that season, their best finish in nine years in the league, and the following season they pushed hard for promotion and 6th place was reward for a very good season. As ever at Highfield Road however, trouble was brewing behind the scenes. Chairman Walter Brandish had won a power struggle for control of the club and he and McIntyre were often at loggerheads. McIntyre, who had a reputation for disliking meddlesome directors, survived until February 1931 when, despite the club lying in mid-table, he was sacked after a vote at a board meeting.

Within months Jimmy was appointed manager at Fulham and in his first full season won them promotion with Frank Newton, the centre-forward he signed from Stockport County, scoring 43 goals. The following season the Cottagers narrowly missed promotion to Division One but all was not well off the field. Early the following season he sold Newton to Reading without discussing it with the board and bought veteran Jack Lambert from Arsenal for a record £2500. After months of behind the scenes wrangling he was finally sacked in February 1934. 

This was his last job in football and he returned to live and work in Southampton. 

From: June 1928
First game: 25th August 1928 v Norwich City H, Division Three (South), won 3-0

Until: 17th February 1931
Last game: 7th February 1931 v Walsall H, Division Three (South), won 2-1

119 games as manager

	Lge	Pl	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Win %	Pos
1928-29	Div 3S	42	14	14	14	62	57	42	33.3	11th
1929-30	Div 3S	42	19	9	14	88	73	47	45.2	6th
1930-31	Div 3S	27	12	4	11	57	46	28	44.4	12th
Totals		111	45	27	39	207	176	117	40.5

FA Cup: 8 games (3 wins, 2 draws, 3 losses)