John MacPhail (born 7 December 1955) is a Scottish former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a defender.

Career

Born in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, Scotland, MacPhail started out at St Columba BC before moving to

. From Dundee MacPhail journeyed south to Sheffield United. He stayed at United for five years, making 135 appearances and forming an effective partnership in central defence with

Tony Kenworthy Anthony David Kenworthy (born 30 October 1958) is an English former footballer who played as a central defender in the Football League for Sheffield United and Mansfield Town. Football career Kenworthy served his apprenticeship with Sheffi ...

. MacPhail moved on in 1983 and won the York City Clubman of the Year award two seasons running, winning the 1983–84 and 1984–85 awards. MacPhail left York for Bristol City in July 1986. A year later he was re-united with former boss, Denis Smith at Sunderland. He captained Sunderland to two promotions as they returned to First Division in 1990. His only top flight appearance was on the opening day of the 1990–91 season. He left Sunderland for Hartlepool United, initially as a player. He was appointed

player/manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

of Hartlepool on 24 November 1993 and was sacked on 9 September 1994.

References

External links

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John MacPhail
for Sunderland 'Player of the day'
John MacPhail profile
at sporting-heroes.net 1955 births Living people Footballers from Dundee Scottish men's footballers Scottish football managers Men's association football defenders Sheffield United F.C. players York City F.C. players Bristol City F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players English Football League players Hartlepool United F.C. managers Dundee F.C. players English Football League managers Scottish Football League players {{Scotland-footy-defender-1950s-stub