Sadness at death of former Derry City player and manager Jimbo Crossan

Local football legend Jimbo Crossan has sadly died.  

Jimbo was part of Derry City's Irish Cup winning team of 1964 and the league title winning team of 1965. He also memorably scored a stunning goal in City’s European Cup victory over FK Lyn at the Brandywell and was the first manager to lead the Candystripes into the League of Ireland.

After retiring from the game, Jimbo served the local Derry & District League as Chairman for over 40 years.

Memorable Career

Jim Crossan certainly had a lot to live up to when he made his debut for Derry City on October 13 1962. The youngest of four brothers to play for the club, the name Crossan is one that has been indelibly linked with Derry City for its entire history.

The most junior of Eddie, Liam, and John, Jim made his debut at 22 years of age after starting his senior career elsewhere with Coleraine and then Sligo.

With his diminutive five-foot five stature, he proved to be one of the strongest and most resolute defenders in City’s history from 1962 to his eventual departure in 1967.

A capable defender right across the back line, Crossan found himself moved about the pitch in the early years of his career, a pattern that would follow him from Coleraine all the way to City before he eventually settled down at centre half.

By the beginning of Crossan’s second season at the club, City had the makings of a team who were going places. Fay Coyle was proving an absolute bargain as he fired in goal after goal while Matt Doherty Junior had returned and picked up where he left off as one of the league’s more clinical attacking players.

The league title was still two years away but City achieved their most notable success in 1964 by winning the Irish Cup for the first time in a decade, beating Glentoran 2-0 in the final.

Crossan played in every game of that cup run, and became a member of a unique list of men to win the Irish Cup with their home town team (Matt Doherty, Fay Coyle, Frank Campbell, Johnny Ferris and Willie Curran) in a success which only emphasised the belief in the squad that they could go on to greater things.

“We conceded only one goal in that cup run,” he recalled. “We beat Carrick, then we beat Distillery and we got Banbridge in the semis. We went to Solitude and it was an absolute mud heap. They had a guy playing for them called Best who had been scoring goals for fun in the ‘B’ Division but we won 2-0 and then it was onto the final where we beat Glentoran 2-0. Carrick were the only team to score against us.”

The next step was an obvious one for the City players and indeed the City fans, who could be heard saying on the crest of the cup success, ‘First the cup, next the league’.

It was the Holy Grail for Derry City fans, a desperation that was felt just as keenly by the players, who now had the belief that they could go on and challenge.

“Believe it or not, before the season started we actually sat down and discussed what it would take to win the league. Dougie Wood said we would have to win all our home games and draw all our away games and we would be champions and that’s the way we approached it. We knew we would be there or thereabouts and after we signed a few new players we just set about it.”

City started the 1964/65 season just as they meant to with an encouraging start that had all the signs of a potential title challenge.

Before they could concentrate on the league charge, the Cup winners had the small matter of Europe to deal with for the first time and a trip to Steaua Bucharest in the Cup Winners Cup, another milestone achievement for the club.

“Bucharest was tremendous. We had a long time to think about it because Glentoran had already won the league that year and it didn’t matter how we did in the cup final, we were in Europe. But it was mind boggling. I remember standing outside the hotel and asking people if they spoke English, but nobody did except these two young fellas whose mother was an English teacher. Everywhere we went we needed a chaperone, but they took us out to entertain us one night at the circus and we had a great time. There was a clown there telling jokes and we were all laughing away but we hadn’t a clue what he was saying. We had a tremendous night.

“In saying that, I thought it was a horrible place for the inhabitants. Food was very scarce, and wages were low and the players had to live on fruit for the couple of days that we were there. It was a good tourist spot because everything was so cheap but the inhabitants had a tough life.

“Busty Blake and myself did manage to get out of the hotel without anyone noticing and we saw a 60-year-old lady replacing broken cobbles in the street. It was heart-breaking to see. The stadium where we played was built by the locals themselves, just local labour. It was built in 80 days and it held about 80,000 people. It was a lovely stadium and the football was a real outlet for them. It was a great experience and one I’ve never forgotten.”

The enthusiasm of such an unforgettable and ground breaking trip would be hampered by the fact that City had it all to do in the second leg after going down to a 3-0 score line.

The second leg presented City with an unenviable task and they surged at the Romanians in front of a packed Brandywell, going in at 0-0 at half time. With a mountain to climb in the second half, City’s hopes were finally ended by two quick goals from Crainicenau to end their first ever European adventure.

Domestically, three games proved crucial for City in the first half of the season and they passed each test with flying colours, with Christmas time victories over Glentoran and Coleraine and a 6-1 demolition over fellow title challengers Glenavon at the Brandywell.

With Glenavon and Coleraine slipping away at a crucial time City entered their last four games needing only one win to seal the title and they did so with victory over Ards, to capture the league title for the first time in the club’s history, the first of three pieces of silverware that season.

“I remember the night we won the league,” Jimbo said. “That was a great night. There were unbelievable scenes in the changing rooms afterwards and I saw some things that you would never have believed, all unprintable. It was a great team, and a great year. People talk about the League of Ireland team winning the treble but we won three trophies in 1965 – the league, the Gold Cup and the Northwest cup. It wasn’t ‘the treble’ but it was a treble.

“We were just so solid and we went about every single game the same way, and I think if that team hadn’t been allowed to break up to the extent it was, we would have gone on and won a few more league titles.”

City prepared for a trip to Oslo to face Norwegian side FK Lyn in another European adventure as a result of the league triumph.

The first half of that game justified City’s confidence as they scored three away goals to match Oslo’s haul for a sensational half time score line of 3-3.

City’s Bobby Gilbert was having one of the games of his life and his two first half goals clearly unsettled the home side and the home fans, who had appeared to be expecting a comfortable win for their team. Two more goals for Lyn after the break gave them a cushion going to Ireland for the second leg, but Derry City’s unforgiving centre-half remained of the opinion that City could progress.

“Big Bobby Gilbert proved a real handful for Lyn’s keeper that night and he got a couple of goals. They themselves got a couple of dodgy goals but I remember after the game speaking to Desmond Sidebottom. He said to me, ‘Well, young Crossan, what do you think?’ and I remember telling him, ’Well, Mr Sidebottom, I reckon we’re going to beat this crowd easy at the Brandywell’, and I genuinely meant that.

“Sidebottom smiled, gave me a £20 note and told me that every player had earned it and although he gave Willie Ross the money to give to the players, he gave me mines personally. Funnily enough, not until a few years ago did I find out that I was in fact the only player to get that £20. I was speaking to Fay Coyle and he told me that Ross didn’t think his players had earned the bonus at all and so he held it back. I was the only one to get it.”

Such was Gilbert’s impact in Norway that Lyn decided to change their keeper for the second leg, playing six foot plus Martinsen instead of the experienced Brathan to combat the lofty striker’s aerial threat. Unbeknownst to them however, Gilbert was injured for the tie, and it was Fay Coyle who would play on what would be an uncomfortable night for the visitors in front of another packed Brandywell.

The decision to back Martinsen went catastrophically wrong for Lyn as one of the smallest players on the pitch, Joe Wilson scored two first half headers to give City the initiative.

It was far from straightforward though and after Stavrum pulled a goal back on the stroke of half time, City went into the break a goal behind, although still confident of victory.

The second half would prove to be scintillating for City and they did indeed storm to victory with three more goals to humble their Norwegian opposition. But few if any in the entire ground could have backed the identity of City’s third goal scorer, which set them on their way just minutes after the restart, nor indeed, could the scorer himself.

“It was just one of those nights. We went out at half time needing a goal but we were confident we could get it. I never thought I would score myself though, but the reason I did was down to Matt Doherty. I had dispossessed one of their forwards and ran up the pitch and Doherty was telling me to pass it inside to him. I told him there was no one coming toward us so there was no point. He then used an expletive in my direction and I just saw red and whacked the ball. I didn’t even see it go in because Doherty was on top of me, using more expletives. That was a great moment; to score a goal in Europe and I thought it wouldn’t get better than that.”

Jimbo’s relationship with Derry City went downhill at the start of the next season however.

Crossan soon found himself in dispute with the club who accused him of playing in the summer cups and suspended him without pay for a period which would last three months. The case was eventually taken to the IFA who sided with the player and the wages that were denied Crossan were returned.

It seemed as if Crossan’s time was at an end with the club but he returned briefly in 1971 as an assistant to Doug Wood, before the third era of Willie Ross and the end of City’s association with the Irish League.

The wilderness years of 1972-1985 are undoubtedly a bruise on the club’s history but despite the depths to which the club were forced to sink, there remain stories of how a few fought to keep the club in existence, going from the Saturday Morning League to the Intermediate League before eventually being accepted into the League of Ireland.

One of the men involved in retaining the club’s existence was Crossan, who, with the help of others carried the club forward in the face of constant refusal and downright stubbornness from the powers in Irish football.

“I had a chance meeting with Willie Ross whilst I was out shopping one day. We were chatting about old times and he asked me if I was up to anything. When I told him no he asked me if I would be interested in coming back to manage the team, because they were thinking about applying for the Northwest League.

“I agreed and the team were accepted into the third division of the league, and in the first year they won the Joe Williamson Cup. Joe was a former chairman of Derry City so that was nice for the players to win it. We applied for the Intermediated League the next season because we were just too good for the Northwest League and that was just as successful. The team that played there was basically the bare bones of the team who would eventually enter the League of Ireland. We had Terry Kelly, Kevin McKeever, Curran, McLaughlin and Barry McCreadie.”

Crossan managed the team for a number of years as it fought to get back to the level where the club belonged, a long and arduous fight that would eventually pay off in the early eighties when things finally started to go right for the club again.

After drawn out talks with both the IFA and the League of Ireland, it was confirmed in May 1985 that Derry City Football Club had been accepted into the Southern League. Senior football was back, and not a moment too soon.

“The euphoria was fantastic and I’ve always maintained that the re-introduction of Derry City into the League of Ireland ended the ritual of stone throwing in places like William Street every Saturday afternoon,” Jimbo stated.

“When you look back, you can see that that all stopped around that time and I think it’s because youngsters had finally had something to look forward to, and that was Derry City playing football. They had also something to aspire to, and that was playing football for their home town club.”

City’s former centre half retained the management position as the Candystripes entered the League of Ireland with victory over Home Farm on September 8 that year, but his stay at the helm would prove short lived. Nonetheless, Crossan’s role in the epic battle of getting the club back into senior football remained appreciated. It still does.

Memories of Europe, cup triumphs and a league victory are the highlights of a defender’s career which would last on and off for over twenty years with his home town club.

The youngest of four, the Crossan brothers certainly had their impact on Derry City Football Club, but it was Jim, now Jimbo, whose contributions would remain unforgettable, just as his time at the club will always be remembered by the player.

“No one can take it away from me. Possibly the greatest day of my life was the day that I, with others, helped achieve senior status for the club once again. I’ve always looked at Derry City as my team. It will always be my team and no one can ever change that.”