Jimmy Quinn

James Martin Quinn (born 18 November 1959) is a Northern Irish former footballer and manager.

Quinn was capped 46 times for his country and is one of Northern Ireland's top goalscorers, scoring twelve goals at senior level.

Quinn began in non-league football with Whitchurch Alport and joined Nantwich Town in the 1979 close season from where he moved on to Congleton Town.

He stepped up to League football at Swindon Town, John Trollope signing him from non-league Oswestry Town for £10,000 in December 1981, the first of three spells at Swindon's County Ground.

He had to wait three months for his debut, coming on as a substitute in a 2–2 draw with Walsall, on 9 March 1982.

He made his full debut at the end of the season, forming an attacking partnership with Paul Rideout, in a 3–2 win over Oxford United on 4 May.

It did not help Swindon, who were relegated to the Fourth Division at the end of the season, for the first time in their history.

It took Quinn another whole season before he became a first team regular.

He bagged a brace in a 7–0 demolition of Kettering Town in the FA Cup, and was given his chance in the next league match, when he again scored twice against Mansfield Town.

Another goal in his next game cemented his place in the starting line-up, and Quinn missed just four of the remaining matches of the season.

He really shone in the FA Cup, scoring six goals in five games, including one in a 2–1 home defeat by Second Division Blackburn Rovers.

His performance obviously impressed them – at the end of the season Rovers signed Quinn for £32,500.

After scoring 23 goals in 83 appearances for Rovers, Lou Macari persuaded Quinn to return to the County Ground in December 1986, for a fee of £50,000.

He went straight into the starting line-up, and helped Swindon to a playoff place in the Third Division, with ten goals.

Quinn missed the play-off final replay versus Gillingham through injury, but Swindon sealed promotion to the Second Division.

The following season, Quinn was in fine form, scoring 31 goals in all competitions.

His goals included a volley from outside the area against Northern Ireland's neighbours Republic of Ireland, and the goal which helped Northern Ireland qualify for the 1986 World Cup; his goal against Romania in a 1–0 was followed up by a 0–0 draw against England to secure qualification for a second successive World Cup Finals.

When his contract expired in June 1988, Macari did his best to persuade Quinn to stay, but his efforts proved fruitless.

Quinn agreed terms with Leicester City, and a tribunal set the fee at £210,000.

Quinn's stay at Leicester lasted less than nine months, and he scored a mere six goals from 31 appearances, most of which were as a substitute.

In March 1989, he moved to Bradford City for £210,000, where he scored 14 goals in 35 games before moving again in December 1989, this time to West Ham United, who had recently been relegated from the First Division.

The fee was £320,000, the highest sum paid for Quinn during his career.

During his time at the club, Quinn scored eighteen league goals in forty-seven games, playing a part in their return to the First Division.

It was here that Quinn earned his nickname of "Jimmy the Tree", as he did not seem very mobile on the pitch although he did score a good return of goals helping West Ham return to the First Division in 1991.

However, Quinn did not play in the top flight, instead transferring to AFC Bournemouth of the Third Division at the start of the 1991–92 season.

Although he only spent a single season at the south coast club, he scored nineteen goals in forty-three games.

He signed for Reading from Bournemouth in July 1992.

He went on to make 294 appearances for the Royals, scoring 94 goals in the process.

The pinnacle of his league football career was winning the Second Division "Golden Boot" award for the 1993–94 season, having scored 40 goals for Reading, who were promoted as champions.

Quinn was known for his towering aerial presence and a keen eye for goal.

Reading were promoted from the Second Division in the summer of 1994 with the help of 35 league goals from 34-year-old Quinn (the top scorer in the entire Football League), and were comfortable in the First Division when manager Mark McGhee acrimoniously left Reading in the following December.

In total, Quinn played 578 games in the Football League, scoring 210 goals.

He also scored twenty-two goals in forty-six appearances in the FA Cup, and sixteen goals in thirty-five appearances in the League Cup.

In a vote to compile Reading's best-ever eleven, Quinn was voted the best striker with 35.4% of the vote.

He scored five goals in his final (2003–04) league season playing for Shrewsbury, during which he turned 44 years of age.

He also enjoyed a successful club career, scoring 210 goals in the Football League, and has enjoyed some success as a manager, including winning promotion to the Football League with Shrewsbury Town in 2004 and taking Reading to the brink of the Premier League in 1995.

He currently lives in Winsford, Cheshire with his youngest son Alex who is 15 and goes to the Winsford Academy.

Quinn had a club career spanning eighteen years for a number of lower division clubs, during which he was a prolific scorer at centre forward.

After his League career ended, Quinn turned out for a number of non-league clubs and his career went full circle when he returned to Nantwich Town, playing for the club beyond the age of 46 and helping the Dabbers on their run to the 2006 FA Vase Final before finally hanging up his boots at the end of that season.

Quinn was a full international for Northern Ireland for 11 years, winning 46 caps and scoring 12 goals, making him one of the highest scorers in their history.