Adamson: James (Jimmy)

1978-1980 (Manager Details) (Manager Details)

Adamson was born on 4th April 1929 in Ashington. He played for his local club while working as a miner. He joined Burnley in 1946 and signed professional forms in January 1947, but hisplaying career was interupted by National Service and he served in the RAF. Burnley were well served by Reg Attwell and Adamson found it hard to break into the first team but when Attwell was injured he made his Burnley debut in February 1951 at the age of almost twenty-two. He finally established himself as a regular in the strong Burnley side. He made four hundred and twenty-six League appearances and scored seventeen goals for the Turf Moor team, who were his only club. He Captained the side for many years and led them to the Football League Championship in the 1959-60 season, to a losing 1962 FA Cup Final and in Europe. He was elected Footballer of the Year in 1962 but his sole representative honour was one England 'B' cap, in a 2-2 draw with Scotland 'B' at Easter Road on 11th March 1953, although he did also represent the Football League once, at Bloomfield Road Blackpool on 12th October 1960 in a 5-2 win over the Irish League. Adamson was a classy player, not blessed with great pace, but a great reader of the game with a good touch and a top passer of the ball. He was also a versatile player and dependent on who else was in the side could play equally well at right-half or centre-half although he will always be remembered by fans who saw him as a right-half in the number four shirt. He played his last game for Burnley in February 1964. He was already recognised as a top coach and was Walter Winterbottom's assistant in the 1962 World Cup in Chile and was offered the England Manager's job before Alf Ramsey but turned it down. He preferred to stay in the back room staff at Burnley and worked alongside Manager Harry Potts for a number of years before succeeding him as Manager in February 1970. At the end of that 1969-70 season he announced that Burnley would be the ‘Team of the Seventies’ but they were promptly relegated after twenty-four years at the top level. This made him unpopular with the Turf Moor fans but he survived and two years later they were back and playing the best football seen at Burnley since the Championship. They stormed to promotion with only four defeats all season and in the following season came within a point of Europe and reached the FA Cup Semi-Final. Their football was a joy to watch and the following season, despite having to sell both Martin Dobson and Geoff Nulty, they did even better and were in second place in March until a series of injuries cut short their Championship bid. Always short of money Burnley sold their best players and were relegated in 1976, but Bob Lord had already sacked Adamson before that became a reality. After a short period out of work in May 1976, he was offered and accepted the Manager’s position at Sparta Rotterdam although he later decided against the move and never reached Holland. In November 1976 he was made Manager of Sunderland, but was unable to prevent them from being relegated from the First Division. He left Sunderland in November 1978, to take over at Leeds United after Jock Stein had resigned. He built on a steady start already made by Leeds and took them to fifth spot in his first season and a place in the League Cup Semi-Finals where they narrowly fell to Southampton. It was a false dawn as Adamson sold talented players such as leading goalscorer John Hawley, Scottish International Full-back Frank Gray and the charismatic and influential England International playmaker Tony Currie. His own signings Alan Curtis for £370,00 from Swansea, Brian Greenhoff for £360,000 from Manchester United, Derek Parlane for £200,000 from Rangers and Alex Sabella for £400,000 from Sheffield United, all failed to gel and after initial promise the Leeds fans voted with their feet as the gates tumbled and crowd demonsatrations ensued. Although Leeds had managed an eleventh spot in his first full season of 1979-80, the fans felt they deserved better. Adamson tried to carry on but in September 1980 he bowed to the inevitable and resigned as Leeds only won one of their first five League games and languishing in bottom spot as well as being knocked out of the League Cup at the first hurdle by Aston Villa. After Leeds he retired from the game and returned to live in Burnley with his wife May, but he left the game altogether. Turf Moor remembered him and the Jimmy Adamson Suite was opened in his honour. He died on 8th November 2011 at the age of eighty-two.