With no managerial experience, and on a steep learning curve regarding the League of Ireland, he proved to be a quick learner. A left-winger, who had a good innings in English football with Swansea, Shrewsbury and Peterborough and won 12 caps with Northern Ireland, he suffered a severe setback on his FAI Cup debut as a manager in 1975. “Defeat in the first round by amateurs Home Farm was one of the greatest learning experiences I ever had,” he recalled. “I had been lured over from England with talk about eight full-time professionals. After that game, there were meetings going on all over the town and I was told we couldn’t afford this or we couldn’t afford that. Two of the professionals were let go. After that experience I realised it was all about success.”
The following season, he ended the club’s 10-year trophy-drought by capturing the League title with practically a new team and, in 1977, he guided them to FAI Cup glory. McLaughlin, who had reverted to left-back at this stage, was still a key player in these successes. He also made an astute change which had a big bearing on their semi-final success. “In the drawn game against St Pat’s, Neil Martin caused havoc, so, for the replay, I put Tom McConville on him and he dominated him. Tom may not be better than him in the air, but he ensured that, if he wasn’t going to get the ball, Martin wasn’t getting it either.”
Always keen to strengthen his squad, McLaughlin approached Dermot Keely to sign, much to Keely’s surprise, as he was used to them hurling abuse at each other. “Jim played mainly at left-full, but when the going got tough he went mad,” Keely recalled. “The forwards would disappear as they usually do and McLaughlin would come up the field and hurl abuse at me, trying to unsettle me, and I’d tell him to get back in his box, with a few well chosen expletives. So you could have knocked me down when he called and asked me to sign.”
In the 1988-89 season, Derry City made a clean sweep of the major trophies, League, League Cup and FAI Cup, the first to do so
A trophy-winning partnership was formed as the Dundalk defence of Richie Blackmore in goal, Tom McConville and Martin Lawlor at full-back, and Keely and Paddy Dunning at centre-back, was the best he League had seen. They became known as the “mean machine”. As McLaughlin commented: “They were ruthless – they wouldn’t give you a sausage.” And what a start they had, landing a League and Cup double in Keely’s debut season.
McLaughlin’s ability to spot talent and make the most of it was a huge factor in his success as a manager, and in Mick Fairclough he had a classic example. The former Drogheda and Huddersfield forward was the victim of a brutal tackle from a Watford player, which finished his English League career at the age of 22. He attempted a comeback with Dundalk in 1978 but found his knee wasn’t up to it. “Jim McLaughlin then put me in touch with Bobby McGregor in Belfast and it was like a miracle after that, as four or five specialists had said I’d never play again,” he recalled.
Mick was playing for CIÉ against Telephones when McLaughlin saw him again. “It was a very physical game and he was throwing himself around even though he was a cripple,” he said. “Why not risk it at a higher level if you’re prepared to do that? He was dying to have a go so it only took two seconds to persuade him to sign.” A little over a year later, it was Fairclough’s goal that clinched another FAI Cup success for Dundalk in 1981, while the following year he was the club’s leading scorer with 20 goals (15 in the League) as they added another title.
In 1983, McLaughlin moved on to Shamrock Rovers, and quickly restored their fortunes, guiding them to their first League title in 20 years in 1984, and losing out on a double when UCD beat them 2-1 in a final replay, with the winning goal arriving in the 95th minute. The double arrived the following season when, prompted by astute new signings Paul Doolin and Noel Larkin, the Hoops claimed both League and Cup, the latter courtesy of Larkin’s final goal. It was a fitting end to McLaughlin’s reign at Milltown. The following month he was persuaded to move to Derry City as general manager by his former player Noel King, who was City’s manager.
Derry were the good-news story for Irish football, with their ability to attract huge crowds on their return to the senior game after years in the wilderness. They duly won the First Division title in 1987, earning promotion to the Premier Division, and were losing Cup finalists in 1988. By then, McLaughlin had taken over from King as manager, and he set about dismantling the side King had built. King believed Derry players should be full-time and based in Derry, but McLaughlin was more pragmatic. “I believe first of all in ability,” he said, “so it doesn’t matter whether players are part-time or full-time. The stability in life that goes with a good job can be a help.”
He retained only four of King’s full-timers and bolstered them with a group of players from his former club, Shamrock Rovers. With those proven performers, and locals Paul Curran, Felix Healy and Liam Coyle, plus Ballymena’s Jonathan Speak, he had an unbeatable formula. In the 1988-89 season they made a clean sweep of the major trophies, League, League Cup and FAI Cup, the first to do so.
Two seasons later, McLaughlin had switched to Shelbourne and linked up with Pat Byrne as co-manager. Once again, he hit the jackpot, as Shelbourne, on the back of an excellent away record (only one defeat), finished five points ahead of his former club, Derry, for their first League title in 30 years.
When the news broke on August 15 that Jim McLaughlin had died, the response from the Irish football public was that we had lost the League of Ireland’s greatest manager. The record shows that it is hard to argue with that.
McLaughlin is survived by his wife, Reina, daughter Jane, sons Paul, Sean and Martin..