Career
James started his career as a left winger with Burnley making his league debut in November 1970 against Nottingham Forest. Altogether, he played 54 times for Wales and scored 10 goals. In 1975 he signed for Derby County for a then club record fee of £310,000 before signing for Queens Park Rangers in 1977 in exchange for Don Masson.
He made his QPR debut against WBA in October 1977 and went on to play 28 league games, scoring 4 goals.
In 1978 he returned to play with Burnley but left when they were relegated to the third division and signed for Swansea City helping them from the third division to the first division. He had spells with Sunderland, Bury and Newport County before in 1986 he returned to Burnley for a third spell, he became youth team manager as well as playing a bit part role.
He retired from playing in 1989 after being sacked as youth team manager. James became a coach at Bradford City before succeeding Gary Simpson as manager of Gainsborough Trinity in October 1993.
He was the manager at Morecambe but was sacked after only 5 months in charge.
In October 1995 he was appointed manager of Southern League Premier Division side Ilkeston Town. After winning his first three matches in charge, the team then went 20 games without a victory and James left the club in February 1996 to be replaced by Keith Alexander. On 29 September 1997, James took over from Tony Greenwood as manager of Accrington Stanley.
He spent five months in charge at the Crown Ground before resigning in February 1998 due to other work commitments.
James also had two spells in charge of League of Wales club Llanelli, who he saw relegated in 2002-2003. In 2001-2002 he coached Garden Village of the Welsh Football League to the Second Division championship title with a final day victory at Chepstow Town.
He currently works as a football pundit for British Broadcasting Corporation radio and television along with a regular programme on Real Radio. The British Broadcasting Corporation suspended James for a period due to controversial remarks made in a regular newspaper column regarding Cardiff City.
In December 2009, James was appointed manager of Welsh Football League Division One side Aberaman Athletic.
He was appointed as Director of Football at Welsh Football League Division One side Haverfordwest County in 2011 but resigned after less than 2 months.