James Irvine is a Scottish former football player who played as a forward.
Education
Irvine was raised in West Lothian, where he attended Street Mary"s School in Bathgate. He started his senior football career with Dundee United, then in the Second Division, initially on a part-time basis as he completed a motor mechanic apprenticeship.
Career
He showed early footballing promise and was capped by Scotland at Schoolboy level In 1961 his goalscoring attracted the attention of Bill Shankly who was desperate to sign a striker but injury at acrucial time put paid to any transfer and Shankly instead bought Ian Street John from Motherwell. However at the end of the 1963-1964 season, Middlesbrough manager Raich Carter bid £25,000 for Irvine"s services and he moved to Teesside.
Boro were a mid-table Division Two at the time but despite Irvine becoming a regular goalscorer, they slumped to relegation in 1965-1966.
A bust-up with then manager Stan Anderson over him being rushed back too soon after injury (including an appearance in a specially arranged friendly for Irvine"s benefit against Brian Clough"s Hartlepool United at Hutton Road, Middlesbrough"s training ground) led Irvine to return to Scotland in 1967, joining John Harvey"s Heart of Midlothianfor £10,000. A coachload of Middlesbrough Football Club Jim Irvine fans went to Hearts to see his debut for the Edinburgh side.
He appeared in his first major final in his first season with the Maroons, after playing in every match en route to the 1967-1968 Scottish Cup final. However, Dunfermline proved too strong in the Hampden showpiece, winning 3-1.
His following two seasons were decimated by a series of injuries and he was released in 1970.
He joined Division Four Barrow but retired when they were voted out of the Football League in 1972. After his playing retirement he returned to Bathgate, where he found work as a spray-painter.