This is something of a summary of the career experience of the man welcomed to Queen of the South last week as the new Manager, Jim McIntyre.

Before joining the pro footballing ranks, Jim McIntyre worked as a joiner for three years having been rejected as a boy by Dundee United and Hearts. While this was all character building stuff, McIntyre wasn`t to be denied his place as a pro footballer. He joined Bristol City aged 19 in 1991 then in the second tier of the English league pyramid having previously played with Duntocher BC. He joined the Bristol side under Jimmy Lumsden and after Lumsden`s departure was under the management of Denis Smith. Upon Smith`s arrival he brought Andy Cole to the club who instantly demonstrated his insatiable goals appetite.

While a different kind of forward to the `fox in the box` poacher style of Cole, young McIntyre rarely featured for the first team and had to look elsewhere for a bigger taste of first team football. He thus dropped down a division to join Alan Ball at Exeter City on loan (note the spelling of `Alan`, the ex England internationalist midfielder, not `Allan` as in the QoS goalkeeping great).

After his spell at Exeter in that second season in England, McIntyre returned to Scotland joining Alex MacDonald`s Airdrieonians in 1993. MacDonald had brought success to The Diamonds in the early 90s. Difficult times were ahead though and this period in Airdrieonians history is a largely unhappy one; ground sharing with Clyde at Broadwood, financial difficulties and a slide that ultimately led to liquidation. McIntyre impressed at Airdrie but didn`t feature in the club`s 1994/95 Challenge Cup Final 3-2 win against Dundee. He transferred to Bobby Williamson`s Kilmarnock in March 1996 where he enjoyed some of the best moments of his playing days. Williamson`s Assistant Manager was Gerry McCabe. Season 96/97 goes down as one of Killie`s best ever.

McIntyre enjoyed a 2-0 win against a Celtic team featuring Jorge Cadette with Paul Wright and Alex Burke scoring the goals. McIntyre scored himself in a 2-1 win against Rangers with Wright scoring again and Gordon Durie scoring for Rangers. The season highlight though was the Scottish Cup run. McIntyre scored in the quarter final 5-2 away win at Morton (John Henry hit a hat trick and Paul Wright again scored). McIntyre then scored in the semi final replay against Dundee United notching the only goal 4 minutes from full time. He then played in the final against Falkirk when Paul Wright scored the single goal of the game and allowed McIntyre to pick up a Scottish Cup winner`s medal as did another future QoS Manager, Gus McPherson.

This gave McIntyre the opportunity of a taste of European football. Killie won 2-1 in the 1st leg at home in the Cup Winners` Cup against Shelbourne. McIntyre scored a 25 yard belter in the 21st minute in the second leg in Dublin on 28 August 1997. Dessie Baker equalised on the night six minutes later. Kille held out though to progress 3-2 on aggregate. McIntyre said afterwards in an interview:

"That`s one of the most important goals I have ever scored. I thought we would get the chance but it was a question of whether we would take it. I don`t know how long I will be out but I`m delighted I played my part in getting the club through. Whether I`m there or not in the next round doesn`t really matter. The important thing is that Kilmarnock are there and I would love to make at least the second leg."

The absence alluded to was due to a knee operation McIntyre had after the game. He didn`t make the second leg and his side`s elimination by OSG Nice. Indeed he didn`t feature again for the first team until February. His last game for Killie was a month later in which he scored in a 3-0 win against Dunfermline. Next was a big money move to return South.

New Manager, Tommy Burns, splashed out a £440 000 fee for the creative forward in March 1998 to take him to Reading in England`s second tier. A month later and in the lead up to Scotland appearing at the France `98 World Cup Finals, McIntyre`s form briefly attracted the attention of international selectors. He appeared as a very late substitute on 21 April in a B international for Scotland against Norway at Tynecastle. He replaced Andy Smith. Norway were two up when Stevie Crawford pulled one back in the 69th minute but 2-1 it ended. Another sub to take to the field for the Scots that day was Allan Johnston.

When McIntyre joined Reading they were bottom of the table a point behind Man City and Stoke. All three occupied the bottom positions at the season`s end to take the drop. McIntyre played regularly in the following three seasons with Reading in the third tier. The best of those was the last, 2000/01.

Alan Pardew was now in charge. Reading challenged strongly all season and were in a promotion place with two games to go. However they finished third condemning them to the play offs. McIntyre played in both games of the play off semi 2-1 aggregate win against Wigan (Roberto Martinez played for Wigan, the club he later managed). The final was at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff with the builders on site at Wembley. McIntyre played all of a dramatic game. Jamie Cureton, the divisional top scorer for the season, put Reading one up in 31 minutes. Don Goodman equalised for Walsall three minutes into the second half. Extra time followed. Martin Butler put Reading ahead for the second time in the 91st minute. Then Reading`s world collapsed. Tony Rougier scored an own goal in 107 mins. Darren Byfield secured his place in Walsall folklore with the winner two minutes later. This was McIntyre`s last game as a player in England.

He signed for Dundee United where he stayed for five years joining in the reign of Alex Smith. A managerial revolving door followed – Smith was soon replaced by Paul Hegarty who was soon replaced by Ian McCall. McCall had been appointed by new owner, Eddie Thomson and things initially seemed on the up with 2004 producing the club`s first top half finish for seven years. It was not to last though and McCall was ultimately on his way with Gordon Chisholm taking over from being McCall`s assistant just as he later would at QoS. McIntyre though played his part in another run to the Scottish Cup Final, this time in 2005. A January visit to Gretna produced high drama. United were 3-0 up after 21 mins. Gretna though, featuring Davie Mathieson, Davie Irons, Andy Aitken, Ryan McGuffie and Jamie McQuilken, fought back to 3-2 and then again to 4-3.

United returned to the South West a month later. McIntyre opened the scoring as his side raced to 3-0 up like they had against Gretna but this time taking 39 minutes. There was though no fight back from a QoS team struggling in a relegation battle in the league and 3-0 to McCall`s United it finished. Chisholm was in charge by the time of the semi. McIntyre scored the 73rd minute equaliser to cancel out the Derek Riordan 58th minute Hibs penalty. Jason Scotland hit the United winner three minutes later. McIntyre however missed the final, a dour defeat to a solitary early goal by Celtic`s Alan Thompson.

There were some personal points of achievement for McIntyre at Tannadice (goals against both sides of the Old Firm and in Dundee derbies as well as a hat trick against ex club, Kilmarnock). From the United cup final appearance, he gained further European experience with a UEFA Cup tie against MyPa (the Cup Winners` Cup had by this time ceased to exist as a competition). United achieved what appeared a useful 0-0 in Finland. In the return leg United seemed in cruise control when Mark Kerr and Collin Samuel had them 2-0 up in 29 minutes. However a penalty was awarded for an infringement against Brazilian striker, Adriano Munoz. Adriano scored with the spot kick himself. Seven minutes later he lobbed Derek Stillie to eliminate Chisholm`s team on away goals.

Chisholm moved on and after Billy Dodds being in charge for one game, the last Manager of McIntyre at Tannadice was Craig Brewster. McIntyre then moved in 2006 to Dunfermline signing for Jim Leishman.

The first season at East End Park produced a third Scottish Cup semi final win for McIntyre in which he again scored. In the earlier rounds, McIntyre was on a lengthy period of absence from the team when Jim Hamilton, Stephen Simmons and Phil McGuire goals had his team mates 3-0 up after 46 minutes against visiting Rangers. The Ibrox men pulled back two Kris Boyd goals for too little too late. This was Dunfermline`s first win of the Stephen Kenny reign. In the next round Scott Wilson knocked out Hearts, the holders, with a 90 minute solitary goal. McIntyre was playing again by this time. A Simmons double was enough to see off Partick 2-0 in the quarters.

The first game of the semi was 0-0 against Hibs. In the replay Dunfermline were awarded a penalty with two minutes to go. With nerves of steel, McIntyre dinked the ball down the middle Antonin Panenka style, correctly expecting Andrew McNeil in the Hibs goal to dive out the way. The final was 0-0 until the 84th minute when the winner was scored by Celtic`s French born Cameroon internationalist, Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé. The Pars` excellent cup run wasn`t matched in the league with the Fifers being relegated to the First Division.

Kenny departed Dunfermline on 4 December 2007. McIntyre was appointed Manager in a caretaker capacity. The Pars were second bottom of the division at the time. However a successful December led to McIntyre being offered the Manager`s role in a full time capacity in January. He promptly instilled Gerry McCabe as his Assistant Manager. McIntyre also collected the First Division Manager of the Month award from the December run of form. McIntyre won this award five times in three and a half years. The early part of 2008 was a fantastic time for Queen of the South with a lengthy unbeaten league and cup run and a Scottish Cup Final appearance. It was McIntyre`s Dunfermline who brought the QoS unbeaten run to an end, 4-0 on the last day of the league season. Dunfermline ended the season well clear of the relegation worries that had put McIntyre into the hot seat. They finished in fifth place.

In the 2008/09 pre season Dunfermline embarked on an overseas pre season tour playing against some exotic opposition. In neutral Austia they played two teams, Ukranian side, FC Metalurh Zaporizhya and also Romanians, Politehnica Timisoara. McIntyre was awarded Manager of the Month for September which included a League Cup victory against SPL St Mirren. They were eliminated 1-0 in the quarters away to Dundee United. At the same stage of the Scottish Cup they knocked out SPL Aberdeen on penalties in a replay at Pittodrie. McIntyre`s side improved on the previous season`s fifth place finish by ending the season as the third best team in the division. This league placing was repeated the season after.

2010/11 and Dunfermline improved their league placing once more. With Chris Higgins and Andy Dowie in the team, they ultimately romped away to the first division title as clear winners by 10 points. For the next season McIntyre signed Paul Burns from Queens. The stay in the top flight was short lived though and in attempt to save The Pars from the drop, McIntyre departed the club in March. The change of management made no difference to the outcome as the Fife club returned to the First Division. The new Manager, Jim Jefferies, faced exactly the same battle as McIntyre, namely having the smallest budget of the 12 clubs in the SPL.

McIntyre returned South to old club Bristol City where after initially doing some scouting work, he spent 10 months on the coaching staff of Derek McInnes. Then as mentioned on this website he was announced as being the new Queen of the South Manager on 27 June 2013 at the age of 41.