Harold McNally (7 July 1936 – 12 December 2004) was an English
football player, coach and manager, noted for his spells as manager of
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1932, ...
and
Chester City.
The Non-League Background
Unusually for a
Football League manager, McNally's playing career was spent as an amateur at
Skelmersdale United
Skelmersdale United Football Club is a football club from Skelmersdale, Lancashire. They are currently members of the and play at The Community Ground, Burscough. The club is a member of both the Liverpool F.A. and the Lancashire County Footb ...
. Upon retirement as a player, he became coach at the club and later served as manager at
Southport
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Iris ...
in their first season in non-league football and was a member of coaching staff at
Altrincham
Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population ...
as
Football League clubs began to take note of his achievements.
McNally was a stonemason by trade, and the son of a miner.
Joining the Latics
He joined Wigan as a coach in 1981, becoming assistant manager the following year. The club's manager,
Larry Lloyd
Laurence Valentine Lloyd (born 6 October 1948) is an English retired association football central defender and manager. He won domestic and European honours for both Bill Shankly's Liverpool and Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest in the 1970s.
...
quit to become the manager of
Notts County
Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...
at the end of the
1982–83 season, and at about the same time, owner
Ken Bates
Kenneth William Bates (born 4 December 1931) is a British businessman, football executive and hotelier. He was involved in the development of Wembley Stadium and is the former owner and chairman of football clubs Chelsea and Leeds United.
Bate ...
pulled his investment out of the club, forcing the sale of most of the first team.
McNally was appointed manager and rebuilt the squad with youth players and lower–league signings (one of them being
Paul Jewell
Paul Jewell (born 28 September 1964) is an English football manager and former player, who was most recently director of football at Swindon Town.
Jewell began his playing career with Liverpool, continued at Wigan Athletic and concluded in a ...
, who would eventually steer the club into the
Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
as manager), leading the side to a creditable 13th-place finish the following season. He ended up having to sell his new squad at the end of the season to alleviate the continuing financial problems, forcing another rebuild. The following season was not as successful, and McNally resigned in February 1985.
A few months after McNally's departure, Wigan won the
Associate Members Cup
The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...
at
Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
, thanks largely to the squad McNally had put together.
The Early Chester years
When he became Chester City manager in July 1985, McNally inherited a side that had finished bottom of the Football League a year before and had needed an excellent run under
Mick Speight
Mike Speight (born 1 November 1951, Upton, West Yorkshire) is an English former footballer who had a long spell with Sheffield United F.C., Sheffield United and later had a five–month caretaker manager stint at Chester City F.C., Chester City i ...
to avoid a similar fate in
1984–85. Despite's Speight's success, McNally was appointed in his place amid protests from supporters.
He was to soon silence his doubters, as with the help of successful new signings of
David Glenn,
Milton Graham and
John Kelly,
the Blues finished runners–up in
Division Four
The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...
for only their second promotion since joining the Football League in 1931. Although he had to contend with the loss of key players
Andy Holden and the prolific
Stuart Rimmer
Stuart Alan Rimmer (born 12 October 1964) is an English former footballer who is Chester City's record goalscorer. He scored 134 Football League goals in two spells for Chester, and also represented seven other clubs during his professional ca ...
through injury, Chester sealed promotion with three games still to play.
After comfortably guiding Chester to safety in
1986–87 and
1987–88, McNally enjoyed his most successful season with the club in
1988–89. He led the Blues to eighth position in
Division Three
The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the fo ...
(now League One), missing out on a play–off spot by just four points. The campaign included a 7–0 home win over
Fulham, the club's biggest league win for more than 30 years.
Unfortunately the following season saw Chester struggle home in 16th place, amid growing uncertainty over the club's future as it became clear they would be leaving their cherished
Sealand Road
Sealand Road was the home stadium of Chester City Football Club (until 1983 known as Chester Football Club) from 1906 until 1990. Although officially known simply as The Stadium, it was more commonly referred to as Sealand Road. It was much loved ...
home.
During his early years at the club, McNally had given Football League debuts to several players who went on to have long professional careers.
Graham Abel,
Barry Butler,
Carl Dale and
David Pugh were successfully captured from non-league football, while
Brian Croft,
Chris Lightfoot
Chris Lightfoot (4 August 1978 – 11 February 2007) was an English scientist and political activist. He was the first developer, with Tom Steinberg, at e-democracy charity mySociety.
Family and early life
Lightfoot was born in Dulwich, England ...
,
Aidan Newhouse,
Robbie Painter and
Colin Woodthorpe
Colin Woodthorpe (born 13 January 1969 in Liverpool) is an English former footballer who played for Chester City, Norwich City, Aberdeen, Stockport County and Bury before moving into management roles.
Playing career
Chester City
Woodthorpe ma ...
all progressed through the youth ranks.
Later years
Chester spent the
1990–91
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...
season exiled more than 40 miles away at
Moss Rose
Moss Rose, known as The Leasing.com Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, which is the home ground of Macclesfield F.C., and the former home of Macclesfield Town, a club wound up in September ...
in
Macclesfield, operating on the lowest average attendance in the whole Football League.
McNally guided Chester to safety before the end of the season in 19th place, although he attracted publicity for the wrong reasons after being hospitalised along with new signing
Keith Bertschin
Keith Edwin Bertschin (born 25 August 1956) is a former professional footballer and coach.
Bertschin, a striker, began his professional career with Ipswich Town (1973–1977), before playing for Birmingham City (1977–1981), Norwich City (1981 ...
after events got out of hand at the club's Christmas party.
[''FourFourTwo, March 2005, ''A Minute's Silence'', p.40] During the first 12 months in exile, McNally broke Chester's transfer record three times when signing
Neil Morton,
Eddie Bishop
Edward Michael Bishop (born 28 November 1961) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played in the Football League in England for Tranmere Rovers, Chester City and Crewe Alexandra and also played and manage ...
and Stuart Rimmer, who made a shock return to the club on the eve of the
1991–92 season and went on to become the club's record goalscorer.
The following season saw Chester struggling at the foot of the table and when they were thrashed 5–2 at home by fellow strugglers
Darlington on 4 January 1992, there appeared little hope for City to survive. But McNally helped oversee an unlikely great escape, with just four defeats in the final 18 matches of the season (including an outstanding 1–0 win at promotion chasing
Stoke City on 25 April 1992) seeing Chester finish five points above the relegation zone. At the end of the season,
The Sun named McNally as their manager of the year for his achievements on a shoe–string budget.
McNally brought the club home to Chester in the newly renamed
Division Two with optimism growing for what lay ahead, but unfortunately age was to catch up on many of his side. A 3–0 win over
Burnley
Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...
in the first
Football League match at the
Deva Stadium
Deva Stadium is an association football stadium which is the home of Chester F.C., the effective successor club to the liquidated Chester City F.C., Chester City. The stadium straddles the England-Wales border at Sealand, Flintshire, Sealand, o ...
was the only win in the opening 12 games of the
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...
season and McNally was sacked after a 2–2 home draw with
Bolton Wanderers on 17 October 1992.
His final signing was
Shaun Garnett, on loan from
Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...
.
The Maverick Manager
Everyone who knew Harry McNally has a favourite story about him. Players who played under him often speak with affection about a number of the bizarre incidents he was involved in, such as jumping in a bath containing no cold water when raging at how Chester had thrown the points away in a 4–4 draw with
Bury
Bury may refer to:
*The burial of human remains
*-bury, a suffix in English placenames
Places England
* Bury, Cambridgeshire, a village
* Bury, Greater Manchester, a town, historically in Lancashire
** Bury (UK Parliament constituency) (1832–19 ...
in 1987.
Earlier that year, McNally had astounded spectators during a Freight Rover Trophy tie away at Chester's arch-rivals
Wrexham
Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...
. Frustrated as Chester trailed 1–0 with time ticking away, he hauled an injured Chester player to his feet, saying they should be prepared to die for the cause.
The move did the trick as Chester equalised and went on to record a derby victory in extra–time.
His belief in players giving their all and being prepared to risk all was reflected when Chester embarked on a pre–season tour of Scotland in 1992. McNally suffered a broken leg when playing in a friendly match, claiming he had to set the right example to his players and could not pull out of the challenge.
Chester City FC Managerial record
Managed 334
Won 111
Drew 100
Lost 123
Life After Chester
Surprisingly, McNally didn't manage another club, but frequently offered his services as a scout to other clubs (including
Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Birkenhead, Merseyside, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1884 as Belmont Football Club, they ado ...
,
Preston North End and
Blackpool,
) and did some hospitality work at Chester after his sacking. McNally was one of the biggest critics of
Terry Smith's ownership of the club, and resigned after only a few days as a consultant at the club in 2000.
McNally died from a heart attack in
Chester on 12 December 2004, aged 68. While he had no surviving close relatives, several notable footballing figures attended his funeral.
Chester City Football Club have now renamed a stand to honour their former manager, known as the Harry McNally Terrace. This was opened on 26 December 2006 by EX chairman
Stephen Vaughan, with a plaque also presented the same day on behalf of the fans by Chester City Supporters' Trust.
References
External links
Chester City obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcnally, Harry
1936 births
2004 deaths
Footballers from Doncaster
English footballers
Skelmersdale United F.C. players
English football managers
Wigan Athletic F.C. managers
Chester City F.C. managers
Southport F.C. managers
Association footballers not categorized by position