Jimmy Mullen (football manager)

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Jimmy Mullen
Personal information
Full name	James Mullen
Date of birth	November 8, 1952 (age 54)
Place of birth	Jarrow, England
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
	Sheffield Wednesday Rotherham → Preston (loan) Cardiff City Newport County
Teams managed
1986-1987 1989-1990 1991-1996 1996-1997 2003-2004	Newport County Blackpool Burnley Sligo Rovers Colwyn Bay Telford United Bromsgrove Rovers
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of August 3, 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of August 3, 2006.

Jimmy Mullen (born November 8, 1952 in Jarrow) is a football manager.

In his playing days, Mullen spent most of his career at Sheffield Wednesday, and was their captain when they won promotion from Division Three in 1979/80. The following season, however, he went one better with Rotherham, captaining the Millers to the Division Three title.

After a short loan spell at Preston, he moved to Cardiff, where he again won promotion in 1982/83. He hung up his boots while at Newport County, where he also had a short spell as manager.

He was assistant manager to Ian Porterfield at Aberdeen from 1986 to 1988.

In April 1989, Mullen was asked to take charge of Blackpool for the last five games of the season after the departure of Sam Ellis. With the help of Len Ashurst, he guided the Seasiders to four victories and avoided relegation. Soon afterwards, Mullen was given the job on a full-time basis.

In light of Ellis' success and popularity at Bloomfield Road, Mullen only lasted eleven months before being replaced by Graham Carr. One notable signing made by Mullen in his short stay at the seaside was David Eyres from non-league Rhyl.

In 1990/91, Mullen was offered and accepted the assistant-manager role at Burnley by manager Frank Casper. Casper resigned eight games into the 1991/92 season, and Mullen was put in temporary charge of team affairs.

Mullen managed to guide the Clarets to promotion to the new Division Two as the old Fourth Division champions.

His success continued in 1993/94. Burnley won promotion to the First Division via the play-offs, and Mullen's hero-like status was confirmed.

His fourth season at the Turf would prove a difficult one. Mullen survived eight consecutive defeats in the New Year of 1995, but it resulted in the Clarets returning to Division Two.

After another unsuccessful 1995/96 season, Mullen was given the sack by the Burnley board.

He then took over at Irish side Sligo Rovers during the 1996-1997 campaign and stayed until the end of the season before departing for family reasons and began to work for the Welsh FA while assisting Neville Southall with the Welsh under-19s.

Mullen later managed Welsh outfit Colwyn Bay but was sacked after only one season in charge. He also managed Market Drayton and Telford United.

His most recent managerial position was at Bromsgrove Rovers, until his resignation in 2006.

[edit] External links

• Clarets MAD Hall of Fame

Preceded by: John Relish	Newport County Manager 1986-1987	Succeeded by: John Ryan
Preceded by: Sam Ellis	Blackpool Manager 1989-1990	Succeeded by: Graham Carr
Preceded by: Frank Casper	Burnley Manager 1991-1996	Succeeded by: Adrian Heath