Roy McFarland

Football manager infobox
playername = Roy McFarland


fullname = Roy Leslie McFarland
height =
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1948|4|5|df=y
cityofbirth = Liverpool
countryofbirth = England
currentclub =
position = Central defender
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1966–1967
1967–1981
1981–1982
1983–1984
clubs = Tranmere Rovers
Derby County
Bradford City
Derby County
caps(goals) = 035 0(0)
434 (44)
040 0(1)
008 0(0)
nationalyears = 1971–1977
nationalteam = England
nationalcaps(goals) = 028 0(0)
manageryears = 1981–1982
1984
1993–1995
1995–1996
1996–2001
2001–2002
2003–2007
managerclubs = Bradford City
Derby County (caretaker)
Derby County
Bolton Wanderers
Cambridge United
Torquay United
Chesterfield

Roy Leslie McFarland (born 5 April 1948 in Liverpool England) is an English football manager who was also a player, notably at Derby County where he played 434 league games helping him to earn 28 caps for England.

Playing career

Roy McFarland was a player for Tranmere Rovers, Derby County and Bradford City. He represented England at full international level. Brian Clough and Peter Taylor signed him for Derby County in August 1967.

He was famous during the late 1960s and 1970s as a central defender in the Derby County side which won promotion to the First Division and followed this success with two league titles. In addition, he also won 28 caps for England.

Managerial career

McFarland started his managerial career at Bradford City as player manager when he took over from George Mulhall in May 1981. He played 40 games for Bradford in a brief spell as manager which brought the club promotion in 1981–82 via the runners-up spot in Division Four. The season included a nine-game winning run, which was a club record at the time. McFarland's reign was a launchpad for the club during the 1980s but he left in controversial circumstances with allegations former club Derby County had tapped up him and assistant Mick Jones. Derby eventually had to pay a large fine and compensation for taking the pair back to the Baseball Ground. [cite book
last = Frost
first = Terry
title = Bradford City A Complete Record 1903-1988
publisher = Breedon Books Sport
year = 1988
pages = p80
isbn = 0907969380]

He became assistant manager at the club during Arthur Cox's reign as manager, and was promoted to the manager's seat when Cox quit in October 1993.

McFarland lasted two seasons as Derby manager, with significant amounts of money having been spent on the team.Fact|date=November 2007 In his first season, they reached the Division One play-off final but lost 2-1 to neighbours Leicester City. They missed out on the playoffs a year later and McFarland moved to Bolton Wanderers.

Bolton had just been promoted to the Premiership under previous manager Bruce Rioch, and McFarland was unable to establish them at this level despite making several new signings. He was dismissed in January 1996 after just six months in charge, with Bolton bottom of the Premiership and heading for relegation.

McFarland's next management job came at Cambridge United, where he arrived just before Christmas in 1996. In his third season, 1998–99, they won promotion as Division Three runners-up. He remained in charge for two years before being replaced by John Beck in February 2001. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/1192429.stm Cambridge sack McFarland] ]

He took over as manager of Torquay United in July 2001, [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/sport/072001/20/mcfarland_united.shtml Torquay United appoint new manager] ] but resigned in April 2002 after Torquay chairman Mike Bateson decided that if McFarland was to have an assistant he had to have a playing one, meaning McFarland's assistant David Preece had to leave. [ [http://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/sport/042002/23/football_money.shtml Torquay's McFarland is first victim of ITV Digital collapse] ]

From June 2003 to March 2007, McFarland was manager of Chesterfield and did well to keep the famous club in the third tier of the league, with Chesterfield's severe lack of resources, when most pundits have tipped them for relegation. He left the club after the poor set of results on March 12 2007, [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/chesterfield/6442683.stm McFarland leaves struggling Chesterfield] ] leaving caretaker boss Lee Richardson to try and save the struggling Chesterfield.

References

Managerial stats

External links

*soccerbase (manager)|id=1107|name=Roy McFarland