Jimmy Andrews. February 1st 1927 – September 12th 2012
Everyone at Kenilworth Road was saddened to learn of the death of former Hatters coach and assistant manager Jimmy Andrews at the age of 85.
Invergordon born Jimmy started his football career at Dundee but moved to West Ham where he made a name for himself as a tricky winger after making his League debut in November 1951.
At Upton Park he was a part of a group that included Malcolm Allison and Noel Cantwell who were all deep thinkers about the game and went on to carve out long careers in coaching and management once their playing days were over.
Jimmy went on to play for Leyton Orient and QPR, where he first met up with future Luton manager Alec Stock, before coaching at Chelsea, Millwall and Tottenham.
Soon after Stock arrived at Kenilworth Road in 1969 he called for Jimmy who, by chance, had just finished a coaching stint at Coventry – it also helped that he lived in Harpenden.
The Stock and Andrews combination presided over a Town team that won promotion from the old Division Three (now League One) in 1970 and narrowly failed in a further promotion attempt twelve months later. As coach, Jimmy bought the best out of the likes of Malcolm Macdonald, Don Givens, Chris Nicholl and Luton legend John Moore.
Jimmy left Luton just before Stock in 1971 and eventually became manager of Cardiff for four years before taking up a scouting role at Southampton. Settling in Cowbridge near Cardiff, Jimmy coached local teams and played a lot of golf.
Our condolences go out to his friends and family.