Jim McLaughlin (football manager)

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Jim McLaughlin (born 1941 in Derry, Northern Ireland) is a former Northern Irish footballer and was later a football manager in the League of Ireland.

As a player he played for his home town club Derry City, Birmingham City and Shrewsbury Town and played for Northern Ireland on the international stage making his debut at Wembley.

As a manager he had great success and during his nine year stay at Dundalk FC he led them to 3 Leagues and the FAI Cup 3 times including the double in the 1978/79 season. In 1983 Jim took over at Shamrock Rovers and led the Milltown club to 3 leagues and 2 FAI cups in 3 seasons including 2 back to back doubles.

On the 13th of May 1986 he left Rovers to go home and manage Derry City where he led the team to a domestic treble in 1989. His managerial spell at the club lasted from 1987 until 1991. He later went on to co-manage Shelbourne FC with Pat Byrne where another League was won in 1992. In 1993 he took over at Drogheda United where he stayed for 3 seasons getting relegated twice and promoted in 1994/95.

He had another spell with Dundalk but could not prevent them from being relegated and so his managerial career came to a close in May 1999.

In 2002 Jim was awarded the FAI Special Merit Award [1]

In the same year he was the Shamock Rovers Hall of Fame recipient.

In 2005 he became a Shamrock Rovers Legend [2]