| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1959-04-27)27 April 1959 (age 66) | ||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Maryhill | |||
| 1978–1979 | Celtic | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1979–1982 | Celtic | 0 | (0) |
| 1982–1985 | Greenock Morton | 119 | (3) |
| 1985–1988 | Dundee | 83 | (2) |
| 1990 | Dundee | 8 | (0) |
| 1990–1992 | Partick Thistle | 72 | (4) |
| 1992–1996 | Dundee | 108 | (0) |
| Total | 390 | (9) | |
| International career | |||
| 1986 | Scotland U21[1] | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1988–1989 | Falkirk | ||
| 1993–1996 | Dundee | ||
| 1996–1998 | Hibernian | ||
| 2002–2005 | Dundee | ||
| 2007 | Norwich City (caretaker) | ||
| 2009–2010 | Brechin City | ||
| 2011–2014 | Clyde | ||
| 2014–2018 | Greenock Morton | ||
| 2018–2021 | Dumbarton | ||
| 2021 | Ayr United | ||
| 2022–2023 | Clyde | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
James Duffy (born 27 April 1959) is a Scottishfootball coach and former player, who was most recently the director of football atScottish League Two clubClyde.
During his playing career he played forCeltic,Greenock Morton,Dundee (three spells) andPartick Thistle.
His managerial career has involved spells withFalkirk, Hibernian,Dundee (two spells – first as player-manager),Brechin City, Greenock Morton,Dumbarton andAyr United. Duffy also had a briefdirector of football role atHearts and an extensive coaching career including spells in English football.
Duffy was born inGlasgow, growing up in theMaryhill area of the city (specifically theWyndford estate) where he was a childhood friend and neighbour ofCharlie Nicholas.[2][3] Like Nicholas, Duffy began his senior career withCeltic. Duffy, however, was unable to follow his friend into the Celtic first team and moved toGreenock Morton. His career developed greatly there, and in 1985 he was namedScottish PFA Players' Player of the Year despite Morton being relegated.
He moved toDundee, only for his career to apparently be ended by injury aged only 28. After brief spells as Airdrieonians assistant manager in 1988, and then as manager ofFalkirk,[4] he made a playing comeback withDundee before joiningPartick Thistle. Duffy then returned to Dundee for a third spell in 1992 as player/assistant manager toSimon Stainrod. Duffy then succeeded Stainrod to become player-manager in the autumn of 1993.
Duffy ledFirst Division side Dundee to theScottish League CupFinal in November 1995, but the team lost 2–0 toAberdeen. Duffy followed this with an unsuccessful spell as manager ofHibernian. After working forChelsea andPortsmouth as a coach, he returned yet again to Dundee for a second stint as manager in 2002.
He was appointed manager on 4 July 2002.[5] During his second spell as manager atDens Park he again led Dundee toHampden, this time for the2003 Scottish Cup Final againstRangers, which Dundee lost 1–0. As Rangers also won theScottish Premier League, Dundee qualified for theUEFA Cup.
During November 2003 the club went intoadministration due to the gross financial mismanagement by the club's owners, Peter and Jimmy Marr. Going into administration meant that Dundee lost most of their talented players, but the team battled on and managed to avoid relegation that season. Inthe following season, however, Dundee struggled with a threadbare squad and were relegated on the last day of the season. Duffy stayed on with the blessing of the board to try to get the club back into the SPL at the first attempt.[6] However, on 24 August 2005, the board then decided to sack Duffy after just four games of the new season, even though Dundee were top of theScottish First Division.[7]
He joined the coaching staff atHearts at the end of January 2006 and was promoted todirector of football two weeks later on a contract until the end of the2005–06 season.[8] Duffy spent barely a month in that position, however, as he was dismissed by the club, along with managerGraham Rix, on 22 March 2006.[9]
On 9 February 2007, Duffy was appointed the Assistant Manager toPeter Grant at Norwich.[10] When Grant left Norwich on 9 October, Duffy was made caretaker manager. But after recording losses againstBristol City,Burnley andWBA he was not awarded the job on a full-time basis. Duffy left Norwich afterGlenn Roeder was appointed Norwich manager on 30 October.
Duffy was appointed asBrechin City manager in January 2009, replacingMichael O'Neill, who had left the club to managerShamrock Rovers a month earlier.[11] Duffy resigned after Brechin were beaten 3–0 on aggregate byCowdenbeath in theFirst Division play-offs in May 2010.[12]
Duffy was appointed temporary manager ofClyde on 6 February 2011.[13] Duffy appointed his formerPartick Thistle teammateChic Charnley as his assistant two day later.[14] He succeeded in lifting Clyde off the bottom of theThird Division briefly, but finished the season last, and agreed to stay with the club for the 2011–12 season.[15] He was appointed permanent manager on 28 April 2011.[16] Duffy chose to stay at Clyde because of job security in a time where an average managerial reign at a club in Britain lasts approximately less than 15 months and in agreement with the Clyde board, progression on the field would take time for the club .[17]
At the start of the 2011–12 season, Duffy's Clyde defeated his ex managing teamBrechin City 4–2 away andEast Stirlingshire 7–1. On 1 February 2012, Duffy was appointed on to the club's board.[18] His Clyde team could only muster back-to-back two ninth-place finishes in seasons 2011–12 and 2012–13.[19][20]Nairn County of theHighland League knocked his Clyde team out of theScottish Cup after a replay in October 2012.[21]
Duffy was awarded manager of the month inLeague Two for October 2013 after an unbeaten month with Clyde in the league andScottish Cup,[22] The team stretched that unbeaten run to ten games between October and December,[23] but a 3–1 home defeat toPeterhead on 7 December ended that run.[24] They secured aLeague Two play-off spot in the penultimate league match of the season with a 4–0 home defeat ofAlbion Rovers,[25] but were beaten byEast Fife after a penalty shootout in the semi-finals.[26] Soon afterwards, Duffy resigned as manager of Clyde to take a similar position atMorton.[27]
Duffy took over fromKenny Shiels asGreenock Morton manager on 19 May 2014.[27] He signed a two-year contract with the club.[28] His first match was a 1–0 home win overSpartans in theScottish Challenge Cup on 26 July 2014.[29] Three wins and a defeat in the league saw Duffy awarded manager of the month inLeague One for November 2014.[30] His Morton team, however, did suffer a shocker in theScottish Cup at the hands ofSpartans in a 2–1 defeat in November,[31] a Spartans team that had knocked out his former clubClyde in the previous round.[32] He eventually led the Ton to theScottish League One title which was clinched on the final day in a closely fought contest in the2014–15 season, his first silverware as a manager.[33] After leadingForfar Athletic on goal difference going into the last game, Morton recovered from 1–0 down againstPeterhead to win 3–1 at home on the last day to win the title by three points and clinch automatic promotion to theScottish Championship.[34]
After successfully keeping Morton in the Championship, Duffy signed a new two-year deal on his 57th birthday,[35] He was awarded the Championship Manager of the Month for October 2016.[36]
After reaching the play-offs, Duffy was nominated for the SPFL Manager of the Year.[37] Whilst he did not win that award, he was named Ladbrokes Championship Manager of the Season in May 2017.[38] Duffy was sacked on 29 April 2018 after a run of defeats saw Morton fail to make theScottish Premiership playoffs, finishing 7th in the Championship.[39]
Duffy was appointed Dumbarton manager in October 2018, following the sacking ofStephen Aitken.[40] His first match in charge was a 4–0 victory againstEast Fife.[41] After a difficult start to his time with the club, theSons ended the2018–19 season in sixth place in Scottish League One, losing just twice in their final 15 games. They again finished sixth in the2019-20 season, which was curtailed by the worldwideCOVID-19 pandemic. Duffy left Dumbarton at the end of the 2020–21 season, when they avoided relegation by winning play-off ties withStranraer andEdinburgh City.[42]
Duffy joinedAyr United as assistant toDavid Hopkin, then became caretaker manager in September 2021 when Hopkin resigned.[43] On 1 October, Duffy was appointed Ayr United manager on a permanent basis.[44] Duffy was relieved of his duties on 20 December.[45]
After eight years, Duffy was re-appointed manager ofClyde on 7 November 2022, replacing long-term managerDanny Lennon.[46] Despite, only losing one of their final six league matches, the Bully Wee were relegated toScottish League Two after defeat in the playoff final toAnnan Athletic.[47]
On 24 May 2023, Clyde announced that Duffy had been promoted todirector of football as part of 'a review of the football department' with the implementation of a 'new approach'.[48] Three months later, on 18 August 2023, Clyde announced that Duffy had left the club with immediate effect.[49][50]
Duffy suffered a heart attack in June 2020.[51]
Honours[edit]Player[edit]
Manager[edit]
Individual[edit]
|
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Falkirk | September 1988 | October 1989 | 53 | 27 | 11 | 15 | 050.94 |
| Dundee | August 1993 | December 1996 | 137 | 57 | 42 | 38 | 041.61 |
| Hibernian | 1 January 1997 | 31 January 1998 | 46 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 017.39 |
| Dundee | 4 July 2002 | 24 August 2005 | 142 | 44 | 38 | 60 | 030.99 |
| Brechin City | 9 January 2009 | 19 May 2010 | 45 | 18 | 10 | 17 | 040.00 |
| Clyde | 6 February 2011 | 19 May 2014 | 145 | 48 | 29 | 68 | 033.10 |
| Greenock Morton | 19 May 2014 | 29 April 2018 | 181 | 80 | 40 | 61 | 044.20 |
| Dumbarton | 21 October 2018 | 24 May 2021 | 94 | 33 | 18 | 43 | 035.11 |
| Ayr United | 9 September 2021 | 20 December 2021 | 20 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 035.00 |
| Clyde | 7 November 2022 | 24 May 2023 | 29 | 4 | 10 | 15 | 013.79 |
| Total | 892 | 326 | 219 | 347 | 036.55 | ||