Melrose: James Millsopp (Jim)

1987-1988 (Player Details)

Forward

Born: Glasgow: 07-10-1958

Debut: v Manchester City (h): 26-09-1987

5’9” 10st (1987)

A Scottish Schoolboy International, who went to Whitehill School, Glasgow, Melrose began with Eastercraigs and Sighthill Amateurs, before joining Partick Thistle in July 1975, making his Scottish League debut as a sixteen-year-old. He won eight Under-Twenty-One caps and made one appearance for the Scottish League, scoring the second goal in a 4-2 win on 18th March 1980 as the Scottish League defeated the Irish League 4-2. All his representative honours came while with Partick Thistle making his Under-Twenty-One debut in Berne in a 0-2 defeat by Switzerland in the European Championships on 30th March 1977. He gave way in the sixty-fifth minute to David McNiven of Leeds. He scored his first International goal in his second game on 17th September 1978 at Pittodrie, Aberdeen, as Scotland won 3-1. His third cap came soon after, in the first of three European Championships he played in during the 1978-79 season, as Scotland hammered Norway at Easter Road, Edinburgh on 24th October 1978. This was followed a little over a month later by a 3-0 win over Portugal in Lisbon on 28th November, when he started but was replaced by Murdo McLeod of Celtic, and the third was at the Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo on 7th June 1979 when they played a 2-2 draw with Norway. His final three appearances came in the 1979-80 season when he came on as a substitute for Robert Russell of Rangers in a 2-2 draw with Belgium in Edinburgh and scored his second and final International goal. Scotland next went down to West Germany, in a Friendly at Dortmund, 0-1 on 26th February 1980 and his final appearance soon followed as Scotland played out a 0-0 draw with England at Pittodrie on 4th March 1980, in a European Championship qualifier. He got both goals as Partick went down 4-2 to Aberdeen in the Scottish Cup Semi-Final at Hampden in April 1978. He moved to Leicester City for £25,000 in July 1980. In his five years at Firhill he scored thirty-one goals in one hundred and twenty-two League games, of which nineteen were as a substitute. However in all games for the Jags he netted sixty-five goals in one hundred and eighty-two games, which established him as a goalscorer, but maybe not as prolific as he would have liked. After making his Leicester debut on 16th August 1980 in a 0-1 home defeat by Ipswich Town, he became an almost instant hero at Filbert Street, as in his second home game Leicester beat Liverpool 2-0 at Filbert Street but on 31st January 1981, he scored the winner for the Foxes in front of Liverpool’s famous Kop. Despite taking maximum points from the almost invincible Reds and Melrose top scoring with nine goals in twenty-eight starts and four games from the bench, Leicester could not avoid relegation when they finished one place from the bottom in a close contest. His second season saw him improve on his first season's tally with eleven goals in thirty-five league games, eleven of which had been from the bench, as he forged a good goalscoring partnership with leading scorer Gary Lineker and he was second highest scorer as Leicester finished eighth in the Second Division. After twenty-one goals in seventy-two League appearances, including fifteen as a substitute, and four goals in eight F.A. Cup games and one goal in six League Cup games, he played his final game for the Foxes in a 6-0 home win over Carlisle United on 11th September 1982. He was involved in a player-exchange with Coventry City’s Tom English, and again soon found favour with his new fans. After making his debut in a 0-1 defeat at St Andrew's by Birmingham City on 18th September 1982, the following week, on 25th September, he scored a hat-trick on his home debut for the Sky Blues, in a 4-2 win over Everton. His final game was also against Everton as Coventry were beaten 0-1 at Goodison Park on 2nd May 1983 before a £100,000 transfer in March 1983 took him to Celtic, following the departure of Hoops striking hero Charlie Nicholas to Arsenal. While at Highfield Road, he scored eight goals in twenty-four League appearances, three as a substitute, and two goals in three League Cup appearances and two F.A. Cup games. The pacy Melrose made his debut for the Bhoys in a 1-0 Glasgow Cup defeat to Rangers on 13th August 1983. His League debut followed the following week on 20th August 1983 and he celebrated it with his first goal as Celtic beat Hibernian 2-0 at Easter Road. Despite impressive performances for the reserves and steady first team outings Melrose was never able to establish himself as a regular starter. The move did not prove particularly successful and he had a loan spell with Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 1984, where he scored two goals in seven League games, one as a substitute, before returning to Parkhead. It had been a case of falling at the last hurdle in the 1983-84 season, as Celtic and Melrose lost both of the Cup Finals that year, to Rangers in the Scottish League Cup on 25th March 1984 by 2-3, and the Scottish Cup to Aberdeen on 19th May 1984 by 1-2, so Melrose had three runners-up medals to show for his time at Parkhead, as they finished second behind Aberdeen for the League title. Despite impressive performances for the reserves and steady first team outings Melrose was never able to establish himself as a regular starter and he played his last game for Celtic on 21st August 1984 in a 3-2 win at Dunfermline Athletic. The move had not prove particularly successful and he had a loan spell with Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 1984, where he scored two goals in seven League games, one as a substitute, before returning to Parkhead. Manchester City, managed by Billy McNeill, moved to take the player on a permanent deal and after forty-nine appearances and eleven goals in all games for the Bhoys Melrose departed for Maine Road for £40,000 on 7th November 1984. He had made thirty League appearances, including ten as a substitute and scored seven goals, one goal in two starts and two games from the bench in the Scottish Cup, three goals in six starts and two games from the bench in Scottish League Cup games and he made three starts and four substitute appearances in the Glasgow Cup and other games without scoring while at Celtic. He made his City debut at Maine Road on 10th November 1984 in a 1-0 win over Birmingham City and he helped them get promotion to Division One in 1984-85. He did not stay long at Maine Road, playing his final game on Boxing Day 1985 in a 1-0 home win over Liverpool and, after eight goals in thirty-four League games, including seven as a substitute, and two League Cup goals in two starts and one from the bench, one goal in two starts and two as substitute in the Full Members Cup and one game in the F.A. Cup without scoring. He joined Charlton Athletic in March 1986 for £50,000, also helping them to win promotion to Division One in 1985-86, when he scored five goals in eleven starts. Although Melrose was leading goalscorer with fourteen League goals in thirty starts and four from the bench, Charlton did not fare well in the First Division and were involved in play-offs to maintain their top status. Two Melrose goals gave them victory over Ipswich Town in the semi finals and Melrose was on target again as the two-legged final with Leeds United ended 1-1 on aggregate. He scored a last-minute winner in the first leg at the Valley against Leeds, which helped Charlton scrape through the play-offs at the end of the dramatic 1986-87 season. In the replay at Birmingham's St Andrews ground Charlton fell behind in extra time but still managed to recover to win 2-1 with both goals coming from the centre half Peter Shirtliff. However, within months of condemning United to more Second Division football, he joined Leeds for £50,000. He had played forty-eight League games, four as a substitute, and scored nineteen League goals at the Valley. He became a Leeds player in September1987, but was mainly confined to the Reserves and his brief stay at Elland Road was not a particularly happy one and he joined Shrewsbury Town for £45,000 in March 1988, after a month on loan. At Shrewsbury he received a fractured cheekbone in an on-field assault by another former Leeds player, Chris Kamara, then at Swindon Town, which saw Kamara become the first professional player to be prosecuted for such an act, for which he received a £1,000 fine. He scored three goals in forty-nine League appearances, including twenty-two as a substitute, at Gay Meadow but in August 1990 he left Shrewsbury for Macclesfield Town, then of the GM-Vauxhall Conference League. He only started two games and came off the bench on a further four occasions after making his debut as a substitute on 25th August 1990 in a 2-0 home win over Wycombe Wanderers and moved to Curzon Ashton just two months later after having a trial with St Mirren. In 1992 he went to Hailsowen Harriers where he finished his professional career and later Managed Cheshire side, Bollington Athletic. He later became chief scout at Leicester City. In June 2009 he was said to have been the head of a consortium that wished to take over Stockport County.