James Henry "Jimmy" Bloomfield (15 February 1934 – 3 April 1983) was an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 football player and manager.

Born in Notting Hill

Notting Hill

Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...

, North Kensington

North Kensington

North Kensington is an area of west London lying north of Notting Hill Gate and south of Harrow Road.North Kensington is the key neighbourhood of Notting Hill...

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, Bloomfield started his career at non-league Hayes

Hayes F.C.

Hayes F.C. was an English football club based in Hayes, in Greater London. The club started out as Botwell Mission in 1909 taking its present name in 1929. The team nickname, The Missioners was a salute to the history of the team. The club played in the Conference South for their last few seasons...

 before joining Second Division

Football League Second Division

From 1892 until 1992, the Football League Second Division was the second highest division overall in English football.This ended with the creation of the FA Premier League, prior to the start of the 1992–93 season, which caused an administrative split between The Football League and the teams...

 side Brentford

Brentford F.C.

Brentford Football Club are a professional English football club based in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow. They are currently playing in Football League One....

 in October 1952. After Brentford were relegated in 1954, Bloomfield was snapped up by Arsenal

Arsenal F.C.

Arsenal Football Club is a professional English Premier League football club based in North London. One of the most successful clubs in English football, it has won 13 First Division and Premier League titles and 10 FA Cups...

 for £8,000 as a replacement for Jimmy Logie

Jimmy Logie

James Tullis "Jimmy" Logie was a Scottish footballer.Born in Edinburgh and raised in the city's Grassmarket, Logie first played for Scottish junior side Lochore Welfare, before being signed by London giants Arsenal in June 1939...

.

Bloomfield made his debut at the start of the season, against Everton

Everton F.C.

Everton Football Club are an English professional association football club from the city of Liverpool. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football...

 on 25 August 1954, though he only played 19 times that season, and it wasn't until 1955–56

1955-56 in English football

The 1955–56 season was the 76th season of competitive football in England. The First Division was won by Manchester United, the fourth time they had won that particular accolade.-Awards:Football Writers' Association...

 did he become a first-team regular. A powerful inside forward

Inside forward

In football, the position of inside forward was popularly used in the late nineteenth and first half of the 20th centuries. The inside forwards would support the centre forwards, running and making space in the opposition defence, and, as the passing game developed, supporting him with passes...

 with a high work rate and accurate passing, Bloomfield was part of Arsenal's attack from 1955 to 1960, one of Arsenal's few stars during a mediocre period for the club. He won caps for England at U23 level (but never at full level) and the Football League XI, and also played in the London XI

London XI

The London XI was an association football representative team, specially created to take part in the 1955-58 edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, the precursor of today's UEFA Europa League although not recognized by UEFA....

 that lost the first Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup

The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The competition was the idea of Swiss pools supremo Ernst Thommen, Ottorino Barassi from Italy, and the English Football Association general secretary Stanley Rous, all of whom later became senior officials...

 final against FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona

Futbol Club Barcelona , also known as Barcelona and familiarly as Barça, is a professional football club, based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain....

 in 1958

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1955-58

The first Inter-Cities Fairs Cup took place over three seasons from 1955 to 1958. The competition began with a group stage with each team playing home and away against each other. Due to the competition rules which stated only one side from each city was allowed to compete, many cities with several...

.

Bloomfield played 227 times for Arsenal, scoring 56 goals. However, with the arrival of George Eastham

George Eastham

George Edward Eastham, OBE is an English former footballer. He is known for playing for Newcastle United, Arsenal and Stoke City, as well as a non-playing member of England's 1966 World Cup-winning squad...

 in 1960, Bloomfield lost his place in the team, and was sold to Birmingham City

Birmingham City F.C.

Birmingham City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, they became Small Heath in 1888, then Birmingham in 1905, finally becoming Birmingham City in 1943.They were relegated at the end of the...

 in November that year. Bloomfield spent four seasons with the Blues, reaching and losing another Fairs Cup final in 1961 (this time to Roma

A.S. Roma

Associazione Sportiva Roma, commonly referred to as simply Roma, is a professional Italian football club based in Rome. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma have participated in the top-tier of Italian football for all of their existence but one season in the early 50s...

). He helped Birmingham win the 1963 League Cup, scoring a goal in the final itself as Birmingham overcame local rivals Aston Villa. In the summer of 1964 he returned to Brentford, and later had spells with West Ham United

West Ham United F.C.

West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club based in Upton Park, Newham, East London. They play in The Football League Championship. The club was founded in 1895 as Thames Ironworks FC and reformed in 1900 as West Ham United. In 1904 the club relocated to their current...

, Plymouth Argyle

Plymouth Argyle F.C.

Plymouth Argyle Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Plymouth, Devon, that plays in Football League Two.Since becoming professional in 1903, the club has won five Football League titles, five Southern League titles and one Western League title. The 2009–10 season was the...

 and Leyton Orient

Leyton Orient F.C.

Leyton Orient F.C. are an English professional football club in East London. They currently play in Football League One and are known to their fans as the O's.Leyton Orient have spent one season in the top flight of English football, in 1962–63...

.

In 1969 he became Orient's player-manager, and won the Third Division

Football League Third Division

The Football League Third Division was the 3 tier of English Football from 1920 until 1992 when after the formation of the Football Association Premier League saw the league renamed The Football League Division Two...

 in his second full season, using only 18 players in the process1969–70

1969-70 in English football

The 1969–70 season was the 90th season of competitive football in England.-First Division:Everton won their seventh title, finishing nine points clear of Leeds United with Chelsea in third and newly promoted Derby County in fourth...

. He was appointed by newly-promoted Leicester City

Leicester City F.C.

Leicester City Football Club , also known as The Foxes, is an English professional football club based at the King Power Stadium in Leicester...

 in 1971, and kept the Foxes in the First Division

Football League First Division

The First Division was a division of The Football League between 1888 and 2004 and the highest division in English football until the creation of the Premier League in 1992. The secondary tier in English football has since become known as the Championship....

 for six years. They also reached the FA Cup

FA Cup

The Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...

 semi-finals in 1973–74

1973-74 in English football

The 1973–74 season was the 94th season of competitive football in England.-First Division:Don Revie marked his last season as Leeds United's manager by guiding them to league championship glory, before taking over from Sir Alf Ramsey as the England national football team manager, with England...

 (which they lost, after a replay, to Liverpool

Liverpool F.C.

Liverpool Football Club is an English Premier League football club based in Liverpool, Merseyside. Liverpool has won eighteen League titles, second most in English football, seven FA Cups and a record seven League Cups...

). During his 6 year stint at Leicester, Bloomfield created a side of free-flowing skilful football on a shoe-string budget, featuring the likes of Frank Worthington

Frank Worthington

Frank Stewart Worthington is a former English footballer. Frank was born into a footballing family in Shelf near Halifax, West Riding of Yorkshire. Both of his parents had played the game and his two older brothers, Dave and Bob, became professional footballers, both began their careers with...

, Keith Weller

Keith Weller

Keith Weller was an English footballer. He is considered to be one of Leicester City's greatest ever players. Following seven operations for cancer, he died in the United States in 2004 aged 58.-England:...

 and Len Glover

Len Glover

Leonard "Lenny" Glover was a flamboyant left winger who played, amongst others, for Leicester City. Considered one of the greatest players to don a Leicester City shirt and once described as the "best uncapped winger in the world", the acerbic and quick witted Cockney is often referred to in...

 and is still considered one of the club's all-time great managers. After his departure in 1977, Leicester went straight down the next season under Frank McLintock

Frank McLintock

Francis "Frank" McLintock MBE is a Scottish former football defender who played for Leicester City, Arsenal and QPR.-Leicester City:...

.

Bloomfield returned to manage Orient again in 1977, and his second spell in charge included a run to the FA Cup semi-finals in 1977–78

1977-78 in English football

The 1977–1978 season was the 98th season of competitive football in England, from August 1977 to May 1978:-First Division:Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest side took on the First Division by storm, by winning the League Cup on 22 March and confirming themselves as league champions the following month...

, where they were defeated by Bloomfield's old club Arsenal. Bloomfield left in 1981 following a dispute with the club chairman, Brian Winstone, over the sale of Nigerian international winger John Chiedozie

John Chiedozie

John Chiedozie is a former professional player who played for Leyton Orient, Notts County, Tottenham Hotspur, Derby County, Chesterfield and representing Nigeria at international level on nine occasions....

. After that he was a coach at Luton Town

Luton Town F.C.

Luton Town Football Club is an English professional football club based since 1905 at Kenilworth Road, Luton, Bedfordshire. The club currently competes in the fifth tier of English football, the Conference National, for the third consecutive season during the 2011–12 season.Formed in 1885, it was...

, until his sudden death in Chingford

Chingford

Chingford is a district of north east London, bordering on Enfield and Edmonton to the west, Woodford to the east, Walthamstow and Stratford to the south and Essex to the north. It is situated northeast of Charing Cross and forms part of the London Borough of Waltham Forest...

, Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, in 1983, from cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

at the age of 49.