Jimmy Cochrane (footballer, born 1935)

James Cochrane (born 26 October 1935) is an English former professional footballer who played in the Football League for Birmingham City and Walsall.[1]

Cochrane was born in Kingswinford, which was then in Staffordshire,[1] and attended Brierley Hill Secondary School.[2] He made his name in schools football, as inside right and playmaker in the Brierley Hill, Sedgley & District Schools team that reached the final of the English Schools' Football Association Trophy in 1951.[2][3] Cochrane, together with his schools' team captain and future England international Trevor Smith,[4] joined Birmingham City in the summer of 1951, and signed professional forms when he turned 17.[3]

He made his first-team debut on 7 March 1953, aged 17 years 4 months, in the Second Division match at Huddersfield Town which finished 1–1, and kept his place for the next game.[5] On his next appearance, a year later, standing in for Wales international Noel Kinsey, Cochrane scored the opening goal in a 2–0 win home win against West Ham United.[6] His progress was interrupted by his National Service commitment; after two years spent as a cook, he returned to the club overweight and unfit, and never played for the first team again.[3]

In June 1958 Cochrane joined Fourth Division club Walsall as part of Brian Taylor's transfer to Birmingham. He scored once in six league games before dropping into non-league football at the end of the 1958–59 season with Wellington Town and then Stourbridge. He was still only 23.[3][7]