Jim Arnold (footballer)
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | James Alexander Arnold | ||
| Date of birth | 6 August 1950 | ||
| Place of birth | Stafford, England | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Rising Brook | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| Stafford Rangers | |||
| → Sandbach Ramblers (loan) | |||
| 1979–1981 | Blackburn Rovers | 58 | (0) |
| 1981–1985 | Everton | 48 | (0) |
| 1982–1983 | → Preston North End (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 1985–1986 | Port Vale | 53 | (0) |
| Kidderminster Harriers | |||
| Rocester | 1 | (0) | |
| Workington | |||
| Total | 166 | (0) | |
| National team | |||
| 1979 | England C | 2 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
James Alexander Arnold (born 6 August 1950) is an English former football goalkeeper, noted for his highly intelligent positional ability. He made 165 league appearances in a seventeen-year career in the Football League.
He arrived in the professional game in 1979, at the late age of 29, when he signed with Blackburn Rovers from Stafford Rangers. Two years, one promotion out of the Third Division, and 58 league appearances later, he moved on to Everton. He spent four years as Everton's back-up keeper, as the club won the First Division title and the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. He was loaned out to Preston North End during the 1982–83 campaign, and signed with Port Vale in August 1985. Voted the club's Player of the Year in 1985–86, he announced his retirement from full-time football in November 1986. He did though later turn out for non-league sides Kidderminster Harriers, Rocester and Workington. He won the FA Trophy with Stafford Rangers and Workington.
After leaving Rising Brook, Arnold played for non-league Stafford Rangers, and also appeared on loan for the Sandbach Ramblers. During his time at Stafford Rangers he appeared in two separate FA Trophy finals at Wembley. In 1976 Stafford lost to Scarborough 3–2 after extra-time; Arnold saved a John Woodhall penalty in this match. In the 1979 final Arnold played as Stafford beat Kettering Town 2–0. He was signed by Blackburn Rovers manager Howard Kendall in 1979. Arnold kept a club record nineteen clean sheets in 1979–80, as Rovers won promotion out of the Third Division as runners-up, with only the top two clubs in the Football League, Liverpool and Manchester United, conceding fewer than 36 league goals. Just 29 league goals were conceded in 1980–81, a record only beaten by Lincoln City, as Rovers missed out on promotion from the Second Division by just three points.
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