Jim Magilton

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Personal information
Jim Magilton
Full name	James Magilton
Date of birth	May 6, 1969 (age 37)
Place of birth	Belfast, Northern Ireland
Height	6'1"
Position	Manager Midfielder
Club information
Current club	Ipswich Town
Number	29
Youth clubs
1986-1990	Liverpool
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1990-1994 1994-1997 1997-1999 1999 1999-2006	Oxford United Southampton Sheffield Wednesday → Ipswich Town (loan) Ipswich Town	150 (34) 130 (13) 27 (1) 11 (1) 262 (15)
National team
1991	Northern Ireland	49 (5)
Teams managed
2006-	Ipswich Town
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Jim Magilton (born May 6, 1969 in Belfast) is a Northern Irish footballer who is currently manager of Ipswich Town in the Football League Championship.

Until 2006, Magilton was a midfield player who represented Northern Ireland at an international level 52 times. He played for Oxford United, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton and ended his career after seven-and-a-half years at Ipswich.

He joined as an apprentice at Liverpool alongside the likes of Steve McManaman and Mike Marsh, but, unlike those two, as he developed through the youth and reserve sides, found his first team chances extremely limited with the club full of top international players and continuing its incredible success under the stewardship of Kenny Dalglish.

He decided a move away was best for his career and was transferred to Oxford United in October 1990 at the age of 21. There he made 150 League appearances before going to Southampton in February 1994. In 1997, after making 130 League appearances with Southampton, he moved to Sheffield Wednesday, and finally to Ipswich in 1999, first on loan, then as a permanent signing. Held in high regard by Ipswich Town fans, one of the highlights of his career at Portman Road was his hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers in the 1999/2000 play-off semi-final, securing the club's place in the play-off finals.

The 2005-06 season was Magilton's last at Ipswich as a player and his sign-off was an emotional circuit of the pitch to resounding acclaim.

Fully believing his intended move into coaching would take him away from the town, his departure from the club coincided with that of the manager, Joe Royle. Having sought a coaching role elsewhere, Magilton made a tentative approach to the Board at Ipswich to fill the managerial vacancy, and, following a series of testing interviews, he was appointed as Ipswich manager on June 5, 2006.

Whilst registered as a player, he has said that he will play no more games for the first team, but hopes to turn out for the reserve side.^[1]

Magilton's first competitive task as a manager was to host Crystal Palace, and their new manager Peter Taylor; the subsequent 2 - 1 loss presaging a disappointing start to the season with two further defeats. But since then Magilton has overseen a brilliant revival, continually rising up the table aided by signings such as Sylvain Legwinski.