Jimmy Carter (footballer)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter*.jpg
Carter at Millwall in 2015
Personal information
Full name James William Charles Carter
Date of birth (1965-11-09) 9 November 1965 (age 56)
Place of birth Hammersmith, London, England
Position(s) Winger
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1983–1985 Crystal Palace 0 (0)
1985–1987 Queens Park Rangers 0 (0)
1987–1991 Millwall 110 (11)
1991 Liverpool 5 (0)
1991–1995 Arsenal 25 (2)
1994 → Oxford United (loan) 5 (0)
1994–1995 → Oxford United (loan) 4 (0)
1995–1998 Portsmouth 72 (8)
1998–1999 Millwall 16 (0)
Total 237 (21)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

James William Charles Carter (born 9 November 1965) is an English former footballer. Playing as a winger, Carter featured for Crystal Palace, Queens Park Rangers, Millwall, Liverpool, Arsenal, Oxford United and Portsmouth throughout his career.[1] Following his retirement from football, Carter has been heavily involved in the world of property investment. Since 2015 Carter has been a member of the commercial sales team at Millwall.[2][3]

Early life[]

Carter was born on 9 November 1965, of mixed ancestry. His British surname came from a 17th-century ancestor who moved to India and married an Indian woman.[4] His father Maurice originated from Kanpur in India, and was brought up in Lucknow. After being orphaned at 14, Maurice joined the merchant navy, came to England, and married Jimmy's English mother. When they divorced, Maurice brought up Jimmy and his brother 'as Indian kids'.[4] Maurice (who died in January 2009) encouraged Jimmy to make it as a footballer, waking him early on frosty mornings to train.[4]

Career[]

Carter began his professional career aged 14 at Crystal Palace, who released him when 19,[4] and then had a brief spell with Queens Park Rangers, but failed to make a league appearance for either club.

Millwall bought Carter from QPR in 1987 for £15,000 and gave him his Football League debut in a 0–0 draw with Oldham at The Den in the Second Division. He quickly established himself in the Millwall first team and was an integral part of the team which gained Millwall promotion to the top flight in 1987–88, the first time ever in Millwall's 100-year history.[1][5] In December of that season, Sheffield United defender, Chris Wilder was sent off for a crude tackle on Carter.[6]

Carter whilst playing for Millwall in 1989

Carter was part of a side that included players such as Teddy Sheringham, Tony Cascarino and Terry Hurlock. Millwall made a strong start to the 1988–89 season where went top of the league at the beginning of October and remained in the top four most of the season, before a failure to win any of their final 10 league games saw them slip to tenth, their lowest position all season. They were relegated in bottom place the following season, but Carter initially stayed with Millwall.

Carter left Millwall on 10 January 1991, when Kenny Dalglish signed him for Liverpool for a fee of £800,000. Dalglish resigned shortly after, with Ronnie Moran taking temporary charge of the team for two months until Graeme Souness took over in April. Carter would play eight first team games for Liverpool, and after just nine months at Anfield he was sold in a £500,000 deal to Arsenal,[7] the club he supported as a young boy, on 8 October 1991.[1]

He spent nearly four years at Highbury, but was never a regular first team player. Anders Limpar, Eddie McGoldrick and Glenn Helder were Arsenal's regular players in Carter's preferred position during his time at Arsenal. During his time there, Arsenal won the FA Cup and the League Cup in 1993 and in 1994 went on to win the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, but Carter played no part in those finals, nor in the less important European Super Cup or FA Charity Shield matches. By contrast, he played the entirety of the club's surprise cup defeat to Wrexham in January 1992. In the following season Carter was loaned out to Oxford United. In all the winger made 29 appearances for the Gunners, scoring two goals.[1]

In the summer of 1995, with Graham having left the club for disciplinary reasons in February and new manager Bruce Rioch rebuilding the team, Carter signed for Portsmouth, where he spent three years. In 1998, Carter re-signed for Millwall, but did not have the same impact as his first spell there, with the club now languishing in Division Two. He was forced to retire from football at the end of the 1998–99 season as a result of a serious back injury. Carter made 149 appearances for Millwall, scoring 13 goals in all for the Lions.[1][8]

Carter has appeared for Arsenal in the Masters Cup Football competition for veteran players shown live on Sky Sports. He also plays for the Arsenal Charity Team, a team of ex Arsenal players and celebrities.[9]

Personal life[]

He was the first British Asian to play in the Premier League,[4] although this was not known at the time as Carter did not publicly disclose his background and his name did not make it obvious.[10]

Honours[]

Millwall

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e "Jimmy Carter". Arsenal.com. Archived from the original on 2 February 2017. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  2. ^ "Who's Who". Millwall FC.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012.
  3. ^ "Where Are They Now? Millwall's Second Division champions 1987-88". The League Paper.com.
  4. ^ a b c d e Sanghera, Mandeep (6 January 2021). "Nobody knew he was the Premier League's first British Asian". BBC Sport. Retrieved 6 January 2021.
  5. ^ a b "Where are they now: Millwall's Second Division Champions 1987-88". The League Paper.com.
  6. ^ Millwall advance their Christmas goal rush, The Times, 29 December 1987
  7. ^ "Liverpool career stats for Glenn Hysén - LFChistory - Stats galore for Liverpool FC!". www.lfchistory.net.
  8. ^ "Join the Jimmy Tour". Millwall FC.co.uk.
  9. ^ "Ex-Arsenal stars help charity achieve its goal in Ghana". Enfield Today.co.uk.
  10. ^ Daniel Kilvington (2016). British Asians, Exclusion and the Football Industry. Routledge. p. 3. ISBN 9781317569039. Retrieved 4 November 2018.

External links[]

Retrieved from ""