Jimmy did not feature in either of the League clashes between Falkirk and Celtic the following season, the Hoops winning 3-0 at Brockville in November 1966 and 5-0 in Glasgow in March 1967 on their way to winning the quintuple of trophies and becoming the champions of Europe. And he would miss out on both games in 1967/68 as Celts recorded 3-0 wins on both occasions.
By this time, he was playing with the reserves and moving towards a coaching career, taking over as caretaker manager of Falkirk between the resignation of John Prentice and the appointment of Willie Cunningham in the autumn of 1968. The new manager promptly stripped him of his coaching responsibilities, and when Jimmy spoke of this with a journalist, he was suspended for two weeks for breach of contract, a decision subsequently refuted by the SFA.
Jimmy played with the second-string Bairns at Celtic Park as they lost 2-1 to a strong Hoops line-up in the semi-final of the Reserve League Cup on Saturday, 14 December 1968 but his days at Brockville were now numbered. Rowan was freed on 4 May 1969 and was appointed as chairman of the Scottish Professional Footballers Association the following day. His SPFA colleagues would include Harry Hood and Alex Ferguson.
Jim then returned to Clyde, signing up at Shawfield as a player-coach on Friday, 8 August 1969, albeit that would be the shortest stay of his career, as headed across the city to sign for Partick Thistle for one final stint as a player on Sunday, 14 September 1969. In another strange quirk of fate, he made his debut against the Bully Wee at Shawfield six days later in a 2-1 defeat, whilst Harry Hood was scoring to give Celtic a first League win at Ibrox since September 1957. Rowan played in nine successive games for the Jags before succumbing to injury in a 1-0 defeat to St Mirren at Love Street on Saturday, 15 November 1969. That would prove to be Jimmy’s final senior match as Thistle endured a torrid time to finish bottom of the table.
Rowan was appointed manager of East Stirlingshire on Thursday, 26 March 1970, the Firs Park outfit finishing third from bottom of the Second Division in his only full season there. He was relieved of his duties on Monday, 30 August 1971, 48 hours after a 6-2 home defeat by Hamilton Academicals in the League Cup. Jimmy would then carry out scouting duties for his old pal Jock Stein at Celtic whilst coaching with Clyde but there would be one last match in the big time for him, taking over as interim manager at Shawfield following the resignation of Archie Robertson before the League Cup tie with Montrose on Wednesday, 29 August 1973. Stan Anderson would duly be appointed to the Clyde manager’s job two days later and Jimmy would remain on the coaching staff at Shawfield until his retiral from the game in 1975. He then commenced a successful second career in the licensed trade.
Jimmy’s former Celtic teammate John Hughes paid him a lovely tribute following his death on 21 June 2015, just a month short of his 80th birthday.
“Jim was a lovely man, very caring and very helpful. Despite the brevity of his Celtic career, he remained a very big Celtic fan and used to say to me that if he was in the house when an Old Firm game was on TV, he had to go out for a walk as he couldn’t bear the tension! Also, Jim was quite a religious man, involved with his church St John’s in Uddingston where he lived and the St Vincent de Paul Society charity.”
Peter Goldie on Jimmy Rowan
“Jimmy Rowan was one of my best friends when he was there. He signed from Shettleston Juniors and after a few games in the first team he was let go. He was an inside forward and played for quite a few years afterwards with Stirling Albion.”
Hail Hail,
Matt Corr
David Potter’s new book, Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style is featured in the new edition of the Celtic View which is out now and available from the Celtic Stores. You can also pick up the Willie Fernie book there too or order direct from Celtic Star Books, link below…
