Jamie Fullarton

Image taken from www.holmesdale.net 

Name: James Fullarton

DOB: 20/07/74

POB: Bellshill

Position: Centre midfield

Clubs: St Mirren, Bastia, Crystal Palace, Bolton, Dundee United, Stockport, Chesterfield, Woodland Wellington

International caps: 19 (under-21) 

The combative midfielder often flew
around the pitch barely in control of his own body, continuously
hurrying and riling the opposition. To label him as all guts and no
skill, however, would be unfair. He was a constant in the Scotland
under-21s team of the early to mid-90s and would earn moves to the French
top flight and English Premiership. Calling him a Scottish Lee
Cattermole would be a good comparison, and just like the Sunderland
midfielder it was his style of play that would ultimately stop him
from reaching the top. While Cattermole’s problem is his inability to
reel him his ill-discipline, for Fullarton it was his unfortunate
tendency to limp from one serious injury to another. Eventually, his
legs couldn’t cope with the flying challenges he continuously put
them into and he retired from professional football in 2004 at the
age of 30.

Fullarton was the victim in one of
the most horrific injuries Scottish top flight football has ever
seen. Trying to resurrect his career with a struggling Dundee United
side, the midfielder went into an innocuous looking challenge with
Kilmarnock’s James Fowler. In the collision Fullarton caught his
studs in the grass and broke his ankle. He suffered a double fracture
and dislocation that had his foot jutting out at a horrible angle. In
order to relieve the pain the paramedics quickly administered
painkillers. Unfortunately it caused a lack of blood circulation in
his foot as the limb started to turn black, later emerging that he
was minutes away from losing his foot to amputation. The United
physio had to manually set the leg back into place, putting Fullarton
in excruciating pain, before pulling down on the foot and keeping it
set in that position until the player entered the operating theatre.
Fullarton was back playing in six months but the momentum had been
halted and any chance of him recovering his early career promise was
gone for good.

He came through the ranks to play 25
league games as a 18-year old in the First Division under new St
Mirren manager Jimmy Bone. The club had just been relegated to the
top flight and were forced to release veteran players and blood their
youngsters. Barry Laverty and Martin Baker would also break into
the side at the same time. The youthful Buddies side performed
admirably and came within two points of making an immediate return to
the top flight; finishing fourth behind Dunfermline and promoted
sides Kilmarnock and Raith Rovers. The next season he played an even
greater role, 37 of 44 league games, but it was a frustrating term for the team who finished sixth.

It was at this point in his career when
the first injury struck, breaking a bone in his leg while on
international duty with the Scotland under-21 side. It would keep him
out for most of the 1994-95 season, where St Mirren continued their
downward trend by finishing in seventh place of a 10 team league,
only seven points from relegation. Things improved somewhat next
season with Fullarton’s full return but not enough to convince the
player that his future belonged in Paisley. The Bosman ruling had
just came into effect and in August of 1996 the 22
year old decided to follow the lead set by Paul Lambert and moved abroad.

Bastia in France were the side that
took a chance on a rare Scottish import. The fans appreciated his
work rate even if they never fully took to the foreigner who
lacked the basic technical abilities to succeed in the French top
flight. The latter half of the season saw him taking up residence on
the substitutes bench and he was moving off again in the summer, this
time to the English Premiership with recently promoted Crystal
Palace.

The Eagles had just gained promotion to
top flight and splashed the cash on expensive foreign imports
including Atilio Lombardo, Michele Padovano and Tomas Brolin.
Fullarton was there to add some steel and made 24 appearances in his
first season with the club. Unfortunately they couldn’t stave off
relegation amid some uncertainty in the background staff when Steve
Coppell moved upstairs to the Director of Football position and a combination of Lombardo and Brolin took over as joint mangers.

Life back in the second tier soon
brought familiar injury problems for Fullarton who required surgery
on his knee and missed most of Terry Venables unsuccessful tenure. In the
latter half of the campaign he went on loan to Bolton in attempt to
get himself fit. Strangely, Colin Todd often utilised him on the wing
and the loan deal was not a success. Upon his return the club
continued to flounder with the perilous financial situation getting
worse by the day. Outspoken businessman Simon Jordan stepped in to
take the club out of administration and installed former club hero
Alan Smith as manager following Steve Coppell’s departure.

Palace were a disaster under Smith the
second time around with the team close to dropping into the third
tier of English football. Fullarton was not around to see the last
day dramatical win over Stockport that saved their skin, having been
jettisoned early in the campaign after a bust up with the new owner.
Jordan later wrote in his autobiography:

“Alan Smith was having trouble with
certain players and struggling to get control over them. One
particular player was getting up his nose, Jamie Fullarton, a
Scottish international and barrack-room lawyer. Every club had one
and Alan wanted to get rid of him.

“I sent Fullarton a letter about
his conduct and he ignored it. So I had Kevin Watts remove him from
the training ground in front of all the players.”

Jordan then stated that he sold him to
Dundee. Geographically that is correct, however he should have added
the “United” for the sake of clarity. New boss Alex Smith was
looking to push United back up the table after the terrible run under
Paul Sturrock and Fullarton was one of his first signings. Fortune
for player and club would not improve. United again struggled and
Fullarton suffered the ankle injury. He returned in May that season
but the time away from the game brought various niggles that kept him
returning to the physio’s room the following season. At the end of
the 2001-02 campaign he was released by United and joined Southend.

The return to England saw the final
serious injury of his career. Playing in a match at Chesterfield he
tore his knee apart, requiring reconstructive surgery and effectively
putting an end to his career. His tried one more match (ironically
with Chesterfield the following year) and a brief stay in Singapore
with Woodland Wellington (what a name) before giving up for good.

Where is he now? Almost
immediately he moved into youth coaching; working for the SFA as a
youth development coach and on the staff at Bristol Rovers. He then
returned to Palace last summer to take over as a head of youth
development before being head-hunted for the same position at Bolton.

Show: An Elephant’s Graveyard

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