Iain Jamieson

Iain Jamieson, who has died aged 84, successfully juggled two careers in tandem to take him to the top in the worlds of sport and business.

A professional footballer who began at Aberdeen FC as a teenager, he went on to achieve the unique distinction of serving as captain, a director and then chairman of Coventry City while rising through the ranks of textile company Courtaulds to become one of its managing directors.

The son of a Glasgow shipyard electrician, his talents on the pitch were first evident at Dumbarton Academy where he also excelled in the classroom. He was still 18 when he was spotted by Aberdeen and began playing for the north-east club in 1947.

He continued playing, turning out for an army football team during his national service, witnessing a horrifying incident when two of his fellow players were killed in a lightning strike. The tragedy happened during a replay of the Army Cup Final at the military barracks at Aldershot in April 1948. Reports at the time described all the players being thrown to the ground by the force and witnesses speculated that the lightning bolt had hit the referee's whistle.

Five months after being demobbed from the army his career with Coventry City began when he was signed by the then manager Harry Storer. Playing wing half, he made his debut on January 15, 1949.

"It was a real storybook debut," he later recalled. "I scored a goal and Coventry won. The Coventry Evening Telegraph gave me a marvellous write-up but it took me one or two games to really settle down to the pace of things."

In all he notched up 184 appearances for the club over the next decade. However, determined to secure a future beyond football, he decided to further his academic studies and attended Coventry College during his career on the pitch. In 1955, the same year he married Storer's daughter Ann, he joined Courtaulds as a sales executive while still playing for Coventry City.

His professional football career ended when he left the club in 1958, although he went on to spend a spell as player-manager, on a part-time basis, for non-league side Rugby Town, while at Courtaulds he was quickly on the promotion ladder.

By 1961 he was general manager of the company's operation in Dusseldorf. He later held posts as sales manager, sales director and joint managing director of Courtaulds Nylon Division and was subsequently commercial director for chemicals, textiles and plastics for Courtaulds, the chemical company British Celanese and general manager of Courtaulds commercial division.

Meanwhile, after retiring as a professional footballer, he continued his interest in Coventry City, joining the board in 1973 and serving alongside Joe Mercer and Jimmy Hill. After Hill's departure in 1983, Mr Jamieson was appointed club chairman for a year. It was a difficult time for the club and he is credited with re-establishing strong links with the fans and the local community.

He left the board in 1984 by which time the footballing world had changed immeasurably since he first ran on to the pitch, with sportsmen becoming celebrities and their salaries soaring into the stratosphere. But he felt footballers deserved the greater financial rewards, saying: "I believe earning a living as a professional sportsman is one of the hardest things you can tackle.

"You are participating in an extremely competitive arena and the physical demands are such that you can only participate for a limited number of years. You are judged more rigorously too. But it is still a very satisfying life for someone who is good enough."

Mr Jamieson continued his career in the textile industry until retiring in 1989. By then he had also served as Barkotex's managing director of Eastern Block Textiles and worked for the Selincourt Group, which included Glenmuir Sports Knitwear and Jacqmar scarves. He ended his working life as managing director of the sports clothing company Sperrin Group.

His job had taken him across Europe and to Australia and the United States, and travel remained a key interest for him in retirement when he visited family in Canada and Australia. A Rotarian and keen follower of current affairs, his lifetime love of sport was undimmed and also encompassed golf; at one time, he played off a handicap of six.

A man with a great sense of humour, who always had a joke at the ready, he remained an eternal optimist even in the face of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, which he successfully overcame, and Parkinson's disease.

Married three times, to Ann Storer, Ann Hansen and Jane Shaw, Mr Jamieson spent his last few years in Dumfries and Galloway, latterly in Kirkcudbright, where he is remembered as a good humoured and engaging conversationalist.

He is survived by his daughter Sarah, son Stuart and extended family.