Jimmy Calderwood

Jimmy Calderwood

Personal information
Full name	James Calderwood
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Go Ahead Eagles (manager)
Youth career
1971–1972	Birmingham City
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1972–1980	Birmingham City	145	(4)
1979	→ Cambridge United (loan)	8	(0)
1979–1980	Sparta Rotterdam	10	(0)
1980–1982	Willem II Tilburg	44	(1)
1982–1987	Roda JC	124	(1)
1987–1989	Heracles Almelo	33	(7)
Managerial career
1996–1997	Willem II Tilburg
1997–1999	NEC Nijmegen
1999–2004	Dunfermline Athletic
2004–2009	Aberdeen
2010	Kilmarnock
2011	Ross County
2012	Go Ahead Eagles
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

James "Jimmy" Calderwood (born 28 February 1955) is a Scottish former footballer and currently the manager of Go Ahead Eagles. Calderwood played for English clubs Birmingham City and Cambridge United (on loan) and Dutch clubs Sparta Rotterdam, Willem II Tilburg, Roda JC and Heracles Almelo. After retiring as a player, Calderwood stayed in the Netherlands and became a coach, becoming a manager of Willem II Tilburg and NEC Nijmegen.

He returned to his native Scotland in 1999 to become manager of Dunfermline Athletic, guiding them to the 2004 Scottish Cup Final. Calderwood left Dunfermline that summer to become manager of Aberdeen, a position he held for five seasons. Aberdeen performed relatively well in the SPL under Calderwood and reached the last 32 of the 2007–08 UEFA Cup, but suffered a number of domestic cup defeats by lower league opponents. He then had brief stints with Kilmarnock and Ross County, helping each club retain their league status. Calderwood returned to the Netherlands in March 2012, with Go Ahead Eagles.

Playing career

Born in Govan, Glasgow, Calderwood started his professional career with Birmingham City as an apprentice in 1971, making his first team debut against Stoke City in 1972. He made 159 appearances for the club before spending a short time on loan at Cambridge United in 1979. His contract with Birmingham was cancelled at the end of the 1979–80 season, and he accepted an offer to move to the Netherlands, where he spent almost 10 years playing for Sparta Rotterdam, Willem II Tilburg, Roda JC and Heracles Almelo before retiring in 1989.

Managerial career

Netherlands

Calderwood first became a coach in 1991, of amateur club Rietvogels of Almelo. A year later he became an assistant coach of professional club FC Zwolle, before moving in 1993 to Cambuur Leeuwarden. He returned to Willem II Tilburg in 1995, initially as assistant coach before becoming the manager of the club a year later. A year later, he moving to the managerial position at NEC Nijmegen.

Dunfermline

After a two year spell with NEC, Scottish First Division side Dunfermline Athletic moved to make him their new manager. Calderwood spent five seasons at East End Park, where he led the club to promotion to the SPL in his first season in charge. He also led them to their highest ever SPL position, finishing fourth in 2003–04. That season the side also reached the 2004 Scottish Cup Final, guaranteeing their return to European competition for the first time in 35 years as opponents Celtic had already earned Champions League qualification.

Aberdeen

In the summer of 2004 Willie Miller, returning to Pittodrie as Director of Football, brought Calderwood to Aberdeen to replace Steve Paterson as manager. Calderwood oversaw an improvement in Aberdeen's fortunes on the playing field. They narrowly missed out on qualifying for European competition in 2004–05 and 2005–06 but finished the 2006–07 league campaign in third place, ensuring UEFA Cup qualification in 2007–08.

In December 2007, Calderwood led Aberdeen to the last 32 of European competition for the first time since 1986 with a surprising 4–0 demolition of FC Copenhagen at Pittodrie. With this great achievement, the Dons were rewarded by drawing FC Bayern Munich. Calderwood's team drew 2–2 with Bayern at Pittodrie on 14 February 2008, but Bayern pulled off a convincing 5–1 win against Calderwood's team in Germany the following week. Calderwood signed a 3½ year contract to end a month of speculation about his future. Along with Calderwood, Assistant Manager Jimmy Nicholl and Coach Sandy Clark both signed similar 3½ year contracts.

Calderwood took Aberdeen to that season's Scottish Cup semi final where they lost 4–3 to Dumfries First Division side, Queen of the South. This was despite two goals and an assist from Barry Nicholson playing against his home town club.

The 2008–09 season saw Calderwood come in for some stern criticism following the club's poor start to the campaign. The Dons failed to win any of their opening four home matches, and were beaten 4–2 by Kilmarnock in the League Cup. Fans became impatient with some claiming it was time for a fresh start just as the team recovered form and with the Dons comfortably into the race for 3rd place. On Sunday 18 January 2009 Calderwood led Aberdeen to a memorable victory over Celtic by 4–2 in a match that propelled Aberdeen to third in the league. However, just 3 league wins followed in the next 16 and Calderwood left the club "by mutual consent" on 24 May 2009, after the team had qualified for a place in the UEFA Europa League with a 2–1 victory over Hibernian.

Kilmarnock

Calderwood was appointed manager of Kilmarnock on 14 January 2010, succeeding Jim Jefferies. He agreed a contract with the club until the end of the 2009–10 season. Calderwood managed to secure Kilmarnock's SPL status for another season, but left the club in the summer after disagreeing with chairman Michael Johnston about the player and coaching budgets.

Ross County

On 16 February 2011, Calderwood agreed to fill the managerial post at First Division club Ross County until the end of the season.

Go Ahead Eagles

Calderwood was appointed coach of Go Ahead Eagles in the Eerste Divisie on 30 March 2012. He left the Deventer club after they were knocked out of the promotion play-offs by FC Den Bosch after the second leg of their double-header on May 13.

Calderwood is currently seeking a return to football at the earliest opportunity.

Managerial awards

Dunfermline Athletic

• Scottish Cup
  • Runners-up (1): 2003–04

• Scottish First Division
  • Runners-up (1): 1999–2000

Ross County

Scottish Challenge Cup

• • Winners (1): 2010-11

Manager awards

• SPL Manager of the Month (5):
  • March 2002
  • April 2004
  • August 2004
  • February 2006
  • April 2006

Managerial statistics

As of 7th May 2011.

Team	Nation	From	To	Matches	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %
Willem II Tilburg	Netherlands	1996	1997	?	?	?	?	?
NEC Nijmegen	Netherlands	1997	1999	?	?	?	?	?
Dunfermline Athletic	Scotland	30 November 1999	28 May 2004	202	77	47	78	38.1
Aberdeen	Scotland	28 May 2004	24 May 2009	227	94	60	73	41.4
Kilmarnock	Scotland	11 January 2010	31 May 2010	23	7	4	12	30.43
Ross County	Scotland	17 February 2011	7 May 2011	17	7	6	4	41.18

External links

• Jimmy Calderwood management career statistics at Soccerbase