Jimmy Goodfellow

Early career

Goodfellow signed for Newcastle United, despite being a Sunderland fan, but was released by the club at the age of 17 without making a first-team appearance. He moved into non-League football, signing for Consett, before moving to Northern League side Crook Town in March 1962. In 1964, he scored Crook Town's first goal at Wembley when he scored against Enfield in the Amateur Cup final victory; the headed goal was credited to Matt Lumsdon in some newspaper reports. Goodfellow became unhappy with the way the team was selected at Crook Town, being chosen by a committee rather than the club's manager, and agreed to join Bishop Auckland when manager Lawrie McMenemy asked him to do so. During his time as a semi-professional and amateur player he worked at the Vickers naval yard on the River Tyne.

Port Vale

Goodfellow got the call to move into league football at the age of 23 when he was signed to Jackie Mudie's Port Vale. He scored his first goal in the Fourth Division on 1 October 1966, in a 2–2 draw with Barrow at Holker Street. He went on to finish the 1966–67 campaign with seven goals in 28 appearances. Stanley Matthews then took charge at Vale Park, with disastrous consequences; Goodfellow scored twice in 31 games in 1967–68, as the club slipped to 18th place. New boss Gordon Lee then revitalised the club. However, after two goals in 36 games in 1968–69, Goodfellow joined Workington on a free transfer in May 1969.

Workington

The "Reds"…

A highly consistent player, his one weakness was his lack of goals. Goodfellow self-deprecatingly described himself as "a non-running, non-tackling, non-heading midfielder".

Len Ashurst asked Goodfellow to join him as his assistant manager at Newport County. The duo would go on to lead the "Exiles" to promotion out of the Fourth Division in the 1979–80 season, the Welsh Cup title in 1980, and to reach the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1981. However, he was sacked in November 1981. Ashurst himself was sacked three months later, and after being appointed as manager of Cardiff City in March 1982 he again installed Goodfellow as his assistant. Goodfellow helped Ashurst lead Cardiff to promotion into the Second Division in 1982–83. Ashurst would leave in March 1984 to take over at Sunderland, his hometown club. Goodfellow was appointed joint-caretaker manager of Cardiff, alongside senior player Jimmy Mullen. At the end of the season he was named as the club's permanent manager, with Mullen as his assistant. However, Goodfellow had a poor start to his tenure as City manager, losing eight of the first nine games of the 1984–85 season, and was sacked after just over two months in charge and replaced by Alan Durban. After his dismissal he joined Plymouth Argyle as physiotherapist, before joining up with Lawrie McMenemy again for an ill-fated spell at Sunderland. Two years after leaving Ninian Park, he was asked to return to Cardiff as the club's physiotherapist and coach by then manager Frank Burrows. He remained in the backroom staff when manager Eddie May led Cardiff to the Third Division title in the 1992–93 season. Goodfellow…

Playing statistics

Managerial statistics