Willie MacFarlane (footballer)

Willie MacFarlane (born 17 March 1930) is a Scottish association football player and manager.

Career as a player

Macfarlane was also a full back for Hibernian with the side which included "The Famous Five". He was born in Leith and brought up in the same area (Hutcheson) as goalkeeper Tommy Younger, with whom he played for Hutcheson Vale (under "Ma" Bryson), and the Army before being signed for Hibs by (then) manager Hugh Shaw, and taken as their most promising youngsters, on a tour to Brazil in 1953, to take part in a competition, labelled by the Brazilian FA as a World Club Championship, called the Octagonal Rivadavia Correa Meyer, where Hibs played three games in the Maracana stadium against Vasco de Gama, Botafogo and Fluminense of Brazil.

Macfarlane played for Hibs in the 1956 team (that were the first British side to play in European Competition) against Djurgaarden before eventually losing to Stade de Reims-Champagne in the two-leg semi-final where he was pitted against Raymond Kopa, who he regards as the best player he ever played against. Reims were themselves beaten in the final by Alfredo Di Stefanos Real Madrid. This was the first of Real Madrid's five unprecedented, consecutive European Cup victories.

Career as a manager

Macfarlane was manager of Scottish football club Hibernian in season 1969/70 and 1970/71 and qualified the team for European football, beating FF Malmo of Sweden 9-2 on aggregate and Vitoria Guimaraes of Portugal 3-2 in the Inter Cities Fairs Cup of season 1970/71. He built the side later known as Turnbull's Tornadoes and brought Arthur Duncan to Easter Road.Having signed Eric Schaedler in his previous managerial post at Stirling Albion from Johnny Mochan and Sandy Brown at Melbourne Thistle (who did not want Eric to leave as they were on a Cup run), Willies first signing upon appointment as Hibs manager "with immediate effect" was Eric Schaedler. He converted John Brownlie from a non-descript centre back to one of the finest attacking full backs. Having sold Peter Marinello to Arsenal for a (then) British record fee of £125,000, he bought Johnny Graham from Falkirk for £17,500. Graham scored a hat trick in his first game. He also signed Gordon Strachan for Hibs as a 13yo schoolboy after spotting him in a game at Muirhouse.