Jay McEveley

Blackburn Rovers

McEveley started his career with Everton, where he played in the same youth team as Wayne Rooney. McEveley never played for the club and moved to Blackburn Rovers, where he was seen as a development player. He made his first team Rovers debut against Walsall as part of a 2–2 draw in the League Cup. To gain competitive match experience McEveley was sent out on loan three times whilst at Blackburn, spending time at Burnley; Gillingham, where he scored once against Stoke; and Ipswich, where he scored once against Plymouth Argyle. He intermittently featured in the Blackburn first team during this time, including in a match against Liverpool in October 2004 when his challenge resulted in a broken leg for Djibril Cissé. McEveley developed a history of unfortunate involvement in serious injuries – to himself and others. McEveley was the other party in a training ground incident that left Hakan Şükür, trialist at Blackburn, with a broken leg, Mark Delaney also suffered a serious knee injury after a clash with McEveley. McEveley himself has also suffered a number of serious knee injuries.

Derby County

As he struggled to hold down a regular place at Blackburn, McEveley signed for promotion-chasing Championship side Derby County during the January 2007 transfer window for a fee rumoured to be in the region of £600,000. Replacing previous first choice left back Mo Camara, McEveley played regularly for the Rams as they eventually finished third and…

McEveley represented England U-20 at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, but subsequently represented Scotland at the U-21 level, and B level. He made his full international debut for Scotland in the 1–0 win over South Africa on 22 August 2007, and won his third cap during the 1–1 draw with Croatia at Hampden Park, significant as manager George Burley's first match with the side. McEveley's next appearance in a Scotland squad was not until Craig Levein's first competitive match in charge, as he was called up as a late replacement for the match against Lithuania in September 2007.

James Michael McEveley was born on 11 February 1985 in Liverpool, Merseyside.

Born in Liverpool, McEveley is married to his wife, Carla, with whom he has a son and two daughters.