Jimmy Melia
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | James Melia | ||
| Date of birth | 1 November 1937 | ||
| Place of birth | Liverpool, England | ||
| Height | 5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) | ||
| Playing position | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1952–1954 | Liverpool | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1954–1964 | Liverpool | 269 | (76) |
| 1964 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | 24 | (4) |
| 1964–1968 | Southampton | 139 | (11) |
| 1968–1972 | Aldershot | 135 | (14) |
| 1972 | Crewe Alexandra | 4 | (0) |
| Total | 571 | (105) | |
| National team | |||
| 1963 | England | 2 | (1) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1969–1972 | Aldershot | ||
| 1972–1973 | Crewe Alexandra | ||
| 1975 | Southport | ||
| 1979 | Cleveland Cobras | ||
| 1982–1983 | Brighton & Hove Albion | ||
| 1983–1986 | C.F. Os Belenenses | ||
| 1986 | |||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Jimmy Melia (born 1 November 1937) is an English former footballer who spent most of his career playing for Liverpool and went on to become a manager.
Melia joined the Reds straight from St. Anthony's School as a 15-year-old, when manager Don Welsh saw the potential in the young schoolboy international's feet, Melia signed professional forms on his 17th birthday, 1 November 1954. After 23 appearances for Liverpool's reserve team, Melia made his début aged 18 on 17 December 1955 at Anfield in a 2nd Division fixture against Nottingham Forest. The visitors came up against an in form Billy Liddell who scored a hat-trick in the 5–2 victory, Jimmy also scored his first goal for the club in the 48th minute, John Evans got the other.
Although Melia received rave reviews about his performance, Welsh held him back and brought him in to the set up slowly; it wasn't until the following season that he got a real run in the side starting 27 matches. Melia followed this up with a 36 match season scoring 10 goals; he had made his name and would be difficult to shift.
Melia, along with the rest of the staff at Anfield, would feel dejection three seasons on the run as they just missed out on promotion on each occasion. It was all too much for manager Phil Taylor who resigned in 1959. He was followed by the man who would return Liverpool to the top division, Bill Shankly.
Shankly liked Melia and used him as part of his plan for Liverpool to rule English football. The first attempt at promotion fell short again by eight points as Cardiff City finished second behind champions Aston Villa. The frustration continued in 1960–61 as, for a fifth straight time, Liverpool finished third, seven points adrift of winners Ipswich Town and six short of Sheffield United.
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