Career
He was capped once for England. Born in Southport, Lancashire, Rimmer joined as a schoolboy in 1963, turning professional two years later. He spent eleven years at Old Trafford, chiefly as Alex Stepney"s understudy – he was on bench in the 1968 European Cup final.
With Stepney prevalent between the sticks, Rimmer only played 46 times for United in total.
In October 1973 he was loaned to Swansea City. With the Swans he impressed as first-team goalkeeper, enough so that Arsenal signed him from United in February 1974, eyeing him as a long-term replacement for Bob Wilson.
Rimmer made only one appearance in 1973-1974 (keeping a clean sheet on his debut against Liverpool). After Wilson announced his retirement at the end of that season, Rimmer became Arsenal"s Number.
1 for the next three seasons, and was a near ever-present for the Gunners.
After Tottenham Hotspur manager Terry Neill took over at Arsenal, he signed Pat Jennings from his old club and Rimmer was duly sold to In all he played 146 games for Arsenal. At Villa, Rimmer was Number.
1 for the next six seasons, winning a First Division winners" medal in 1981.
The following year Villa reached the European Cup final, but Rimmer was injured after only nine minutes and had to be replaced by the young Nigel Spink. Villa nevertheless beat Bayern Munich 1-0, meaning Rimmer became the second (after Saul Malatrasi) player in history to get a European Cup winners" medal at two different clubs, despite the fact that he only played in one match.
Rimmer left Villa in 1983 to rejoin old club Swansea City. After retiring from playing, he became Swansea"s goalkeeping coach, having a brief spell as manager following the sacking of Kevin Cullis, before being replaced by January Molby.
He then spent several years in People"s Republic of China, to work as goalkeeping coach for the Chinese national team and Dalian Shide.
After coaching in Canada for a period of time, Rimmer retired from football and lives in Swansea.