Jimmy Ryan is pictured above playing for Luton Town during the match against
Derby County.
|
| Manchester Utd: |
1962-1963 |
Played |
0 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1963-1964 |
Played |
0 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1964-1965 |
Played |
0 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1965-1966 |
Played |
4 |
Scored |
1 |
goal |
(Division 1) |
| |
1966-1967 |
Played |
4 |
Scored |
1 |
goal |
(Division 1) |
| |
1967-1968 |
Played |
8 |
Scored |
2 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1968-1969 |
Played |
6 |
Scored |
1 |
goal |
(Division 1) |
| |
1969-1970 |
Played |
1 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
| Transferred in April 1970 |
| |
| Luton: |
1969-1970 |
Played |
0 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 3) |
| |
1970-1971 |
Played |
38 |
Scored |
3 |
goals |
(Division 2) |
| |
1971-1972 |
Played |
11 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 2) |
| |
1972-1973 |
Played |
39 |
Scored |
4 |
goals |
(Division 2) |
| |
1973-1974 |
Played |
40 |
Scored |
7 |
goals |
(Division 2) |
| |
1974-1975 |
Played |
31 |
Scored |
7 |
goals |
(Division 1) |
| |
1975-1976 |
Played |
15 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 2) |
| |
1976-1977 |
Played |
10 |
Scored |
0 |
goals |
(Division 2) |
1976–1979 Dallas Tornado 97 (21)
1979–1982 Wichita Wings (indoor) 101 (73)
Total 406 Games (119 goals)
Born in Stirling, Ryan started his career with Cowie Hearts. At the age
of 17, he was spotted by
a scout and invited for an initial two-week
trial with English club Manchester United. The tria
l was extended to a
month and Ryan signed as an apprentice with the club on 7 December
1962.
A month later, he signed his first professional contract, but it
was not until May 1966 that he
made his first-team debut, playing on the
right wing in the final four league games of the 1965–66 season.
He
scored his first goal in the third of those games, the third goal in a
6–1 home win over Aston Villa.
He played for Manchester United for four more seasons and was part of
the team that won the
1966–67 Football League and 1967–68 European Cup.
However, being in competition for a position with George Best (among
others) meant that his
appearances were limited and he left the club for
Luton Town in 1970, along with Don Givens.
In five seasons with
Manchester United, he played 27 times and scored four goals. He played
for
Luton Town until 1976, when he left to play four seasons in the
North American Soccer League with
the Dallas Tornado. In 1979, the NASL
players decided to strike for better pay, but Ryan was the
only Tornado
player to honor the strike. At the end of the 1979 season, Ryan moved
to the
Wichita Wings of the Major Indoor Soccer League where he
finished his career with three indoor
seasons.
After living in the United States for eight years, Ryan returned to
England to take over as manager
of the Luton Town reserve team.
Following Luton's dismissal of Ray Harford in 1990, Ryan was
promoted
for an 18-month spell as manager, saving the club from relegation on the
last day of
two successive seasons. However, he was sacked at the end
of the 1990–91 season and replaced
by David Pleat. About a month later,
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson invited Ryan to
return to the
club as reserve team manager.
He held the position until 2000, when he
was promoted to coach the first-team. After assistant
manager Brian Kidd
left to manage Blackburn Rovers in December 1998, Ryan stood in as
Ferguson's
assistant until Steve McClaren's appointment in February
1999, taking full charge of the side for
their 3–2 defeat at home to
Middlesbrough on 19 December 1998, which Ferguson missed in order
to
attend a funeral. Ryan was named as assistant manager again after
McClaren left to manage
Middlesbrough in 2001, but remained in the post
for just one season until Carlos Queiroz took over.
From 2002, he was
named as the club's Director of Youth Football, a position he held until
his
retirement in June 2012. (Wikipedia under their Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.)