Career
Born in Linton, Morpeth, Northumberland, Kelly started his career at Watford, who then played in Division Three South. He signed for Blackpool on 15 October 1954 for £15,000 and the promise of playing Watford in a friendly with the Seasiders, who were then playing in the First Division, the top flight in England. Kelly recalled of the events: "On the Friday I signed for Blackpool, within 24 hours I had travelled from London to Bramall Lane and was playing against Sheffield United.
The following summer he toured with a Football Association XI, playing against Bermuda on 12 May 1955.
In October 1955 he had a transfer request turned down, and another request in January 1956 was also turned down. In the 1959-1960 season he became Blackpool"s club captain.
He then gained his coaching certificate at Lilleshall. In May 1961, after 244 league and cup games for Blackpool, Kelly emigrated to Australia, where he joined South Coast United in New South Wales.
He then became player-coach of South Coast United and went on to coach the Australian national team, as well as the New South Wales Federation.
He was offered a new contract but chose instead to go back to England in 1965. He returned to the Fylde coast playing non-League football in the Lancashire Combination with Fleetwood in the 1966-1967 season. In the summer of 1968 he returned to Australia for a second spell.
In 1965 Kelly established an insurance broker company, Jim Kelly & Company
Limited, in Blackpool. The company still bears his name. Kelly died on 10 August 2003, aged 71.
