Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | James Christopher McLaughlin | ||
Date of birth | 22 December 1940 | ||
Place of birth | Derry, Northern Ireland | ||
Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) | ||
Playing position | Striker | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1957–1958 | Derry City | ? | (13) |
1958–1960 | Birmingham City | 0 | (0) |
1960–1963 | Shrewsbury Town | 124 | (56) |
1963–1967 | Swansea Town | 123 | (45) |
1967 | Peterborough United | 8 | (2) |
1967–1972 | Shrewsbury Town | 173 | (21) |
1972–1974 | Swansea City | 28 | (2) |
1974–1979 | Dundalk | 113 | (4) |
National team | |||
1961–1966 | Northern Ireland | 12 | (6) |
1963–1964 | Northern Ireland U23 | 2 | (2) |
Teams managed | |||
1974–1983 | Dundalk | ||
1983–1986 | Shamrock Rovers | ||
1986–1991 | Derry City | ||
1993–1996 | Drogheda United | ||
1997–1999 | Dundalk | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
James Christopher McLaughlin (born 22 December 1940) is a Northern Irish former footballer and was later a football manager in the League of Ireland.
The 16-year-old McLaughlin made his Irish League debut for home-town club Derry City in the 1957–58 season. He scored in his first match, against Crusaders, and was his club's top scorer, with 16 goals, in that debut season. He joined English First Division club Birmingham City as an apprentice in the summer of 1958.
After two years of reserve team football he moved on to Shrewsbury Town. In his first season there McLaughlin netted twenty goals for his club. Having gained three youth caps with Derry City his efforts at Shrewsbury did not go unnoticed by the IFA and he was capped by them twice at under-23 level.
He went on the international stage scoring on his debut against Scotland in October 1961. McLaughlin scored two goals against England in 1964 despite breaking two fingers early in the game. In total, he won 12 caps and scored six goals with Northern Ireland.
Early in the 1963–64 season McLaughlin moved to Swansea Town, for whom he scored the winner in a FA Cup quarter-final tie at the Kop end at Anfield, and then in 1966–67 to Peterborough United. He then moved back to Shrewsbury for three more seasons, before becoming coach there. In 1972 McLaughlin moved back to Swansea as player-coach firstly and then as secretary.
His sixteen and a half-year reign in England came to an end when in November 1974 he accepted an offer to player/manage Dundalk FC [1] and that was to be the beginning of his managerial career.