Jimmy Willis

Football player infobox
playername = Jimmy Willis
fullname = James Anthony Willis [B.J. Hugman, "The 1996-97 Official PFA Footballers Fact File", Harpenden: Queen Anne Press, 1996, p. 224]
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1968|7|12|df=y
cityofbirth = Liverpool
countryofbirth = England
height = height|ft=6|in=0
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Defender
youthyears = 1985–1986
youthclubs = Blackburn Rovers
years = 1986–1987
1987–1988
1988–1991
1991–1997
1992
clubs = Halifax Town
Stockport County
Darlington
Leicester City
→ Bradford City (loan)
caps(goals) = 00 (0)
10 (0)
90 (6)
60 (3)
09 (1)
manageryears = 2001–2002
managerclubs = Bamber Bridge
nationalyears =
nationalteam =
nationalcaps(goals) =

James Anthony "Jimmy" Willis (born 12 July 1968) is an English former footballer, who played for Halifax Town, Stockport County, Darlington, Leicester City and Bradford City. During his career he scored goals in all of the top five divisions of the English football league system.

Career

Born in Liverpool, Willis served his apprenticeship at Blackburn Rovers, before he signed for Halifax Town in 1986. His impact at both Halifax and subsequent club Stockport County was limited, although he came into his own at Darlington where he won medals for both the Conference and Football League Fourth Division triumphs despite suffering from a broken leg in 1991. [cite news
url=http://archive.thenorthernecho.co.uk/2004/1/30/63388.html
title=Can we afford to lose 120 years of history?
date=2004-01-30
accessdate=2008-05-13
publisher=The Northern Echo] Willis' form at Feethams netted him a £100,000 move to Leicester City in late 1991, although he initially struggled at the higher level and was even loaned out to Bradford City. Eventually, however, Willis adapted to the higher standard of football and was the man of the match in the play-off final of 1994 when Leicester secured promotion.cite news
url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-fc/liverpool-fc-news/2007/11/08/goal-king-jimmy-willis-in-a-league-of-his-own-100252-20080346/
title=Goal king Jimmy Willis in a league of his own!
date=2007-11-08
accessdate=2008-05-07
publisher=Liverpool Echo] In 1996, Willis was set to join Burnley but the deal collapsed at the last minute because of contractual problems. [cite news
url=http://archive.thisislancashire.co.uk/1996/3/26/856398.html
title=Big guns for sale
date=1996-03-26
accessdate=2008-05-13
publisher=Lancashire Evening Telegraph] However, a year later, Willis was forced to retire from the game because of injury.

Willis briefly came into the media spotlight again in 2007 when it was reported on Sky Sports that Steve Finnan was the only player to score in the top five divisions of English football. However, as reported in the "Liverpool Echo", Willis had scored for Darlington in both the Conference and the Fourth Division, for Bradford in the Third Division and for Leicester in the First Division (second tier of football) and the Premier League.

Willis dreams of breaking into football management, and briefly had a spell in charge of Bamber Bridge of the Unibond League. He was appointed manager in November 2001, taking over from Tony Greenwood, but only lasted two months until he left because of the financial problems at the club. [cite news
url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2002/01/28/sfnuni29.xml
title=UniBond League: Point of no return for Bridge
date=2002-01-28
accessdate=2008-05-13
publisher=Daily Telegraph
first=Gary
last=Slater] [cite news
url=http://archive.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/2002/1/23/131099.html
title=Avenue hope to stretch glory run
date=2002-01-23
accessdate=2008-05-13
publisher=Telegraph & Argus]

Honours

*Football Conference (V): 1990
*Division Four (IV): 1991
*Division One (II): Playoffs 1994

References

External links

*soccerbase|8569|Jimmy Willis