Neil MacFarlane (born 10 October 1977) is a Scottish
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
coach and former professional player, who is head coach of Brentford B. MacFarlane played as a defensive midfielder at a number of clubs at all four levels of the Scottish league system. After his retirement as a player in 2011, he became a
coach
Coach may refer to:
Guidance/instruction
* Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities
* Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process
** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers
Transportation
* Co ...
and was appointed to his first
managerial
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
Kidderminster Harriers
Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...
in 2018.
Club career
Early years (1999–2002)
McFarlane was born in
Dunoon
Dunoon (; gd, Dùn Omhain) is the main town on the Cowal peninsula in the south of Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It is located on the western shore of the upper Firth of Clyde, to the south of the Holy Loch and to the north of Innellan. As well ...
Third Division
In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below.
Association football
*Belgian Thir ...
title in his first season with the club. He moved to
Scottish Premier League
The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...
club
Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...
in July 2000, but failed to make a first team appearance and instead spent much of his single season at Rugby Park away on
loan
In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...
at former club Queen's Park and Clyde. MacFarlane transferred to First Division club
Airdrieonians
Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...
Though still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury suffered while an Airdrieonians player, MacFarlane signed a one-year contract with Scottish Premier League club Heart of Midlothian in July 2002, on a part-time wage. He broke into the team in November 2002 and progressed sufficiently to sign an improved contract in January 2003. MacFarlane signed a new two-year contract at the end of the 2004–05 season and was a regular member of the team through to the early months of the 2005–06 season, when he fell out of favour under manager George Burley. A move to Dundee United was blocked by the Hearts board in August 2005 and after suffering a knee injury, he made just one appearance under Burley's successor,Graham Rix, before departing the club in January 2006. MacFarlane made 95 appearances and scored one goal during his years at Tynecastle.
Later career (2006–2011)
MacFarlane spent the second half of the 2005–06 season with Scottish Premier League club
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, before signing a two-year contract with First Division club Gretna in May 2006. Injuries restricted him to just eight appearances during the 2006–07 season, but he still received a First Division winners' medal. After his Gretna contract was terminated in May 2007, MacFarlane moved to First Division club Queen of the South on a two-year contract. He had two seasons as a mainstay of the Queens team, reaching the 2008 Scottish Cup Final and qualifying for the
UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
, in which he had previously competed while a Hearts player. MacFarlane wound down his career with spells at lower division clubs
Greenock Morton
Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...
,
Airdrie United
Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...
MacFarlane began his coaching career in 2012 and served as assistant to former Heart of Midlothian teammate
Steven Pressley
Steven John Pressley (born 11 October 1973) is a Scottish professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Football player, player who played as a centre back. He was most recently the manager (association football), mana ...
at
Falkirk
Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow.
Falkirk had a ...
,
Coventry City
Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English footbal ...
,
Fleetwood Town
Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...
and
Pafos
Paphos ( el, Πάφος ; tr, Baf) is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos.
The current city of Pap ...
. In February and March 2015, he briefly held the role of
caretaker manager
In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...
at Coventry City, before leaving the club at the end of the 2014–15 season. MacFarlane joined Milton Keynes Dons as first team coach to manager
Robbie Neilson
Robbie Neilson (born 19 June 1980) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian.
Neilson, who played as a right-back, started his senior career with ...
in December 2016 and stayed in the role until Neilson's sacking in January 2018.
Managerial career
Kidderminster Harriers
On 25 May 2018, MacFarlane was announced as manager of
National League North
The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...
club
Kidderminster Harriers
Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...
. He had briefly coached at the club in 2015. Tasked with promotion, MacFarlane presided over 27 matches, winning 12, before he agreed to part ways with the club in January 2019.
Brentford B
On 30 May 2019, MacFarlane joined
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
as head coach of the club's
B team
B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...
. As a result of first team head coach
Thomas Frank
Thomas may refer to:
People
* List of people with given name Thomas
* Thomas (name)
* Thomas (surname)
* Saint Thomas (disambiguation)
* Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and Doctor of the Church
* Thomas the Ap ...
testing positive for
COVID-19
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, MacFarlane presided over the first team's 2–1
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
third round victory over
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area.
Until the early 1800s, the a ...
on 9 January 2021. He won competitive cup competitions in each of the 2021–22 and 2022–23 seasons, with the
London Senior Cup
The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of Ar ...
Scottish League Third Division
The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013.
History
The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fr ...
Scottish Challenge Cup
The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2001–02
Gretna
*
Scottish League First Division
The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013.
History
The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as t ...
London Senior Cup
The London Senior Cup is the County Senior Cup of the London FA. The London Senior Cup was first won by Upton Park in 1882. Although the leading professional sides in London no longer compete, the Cup has been won in the past by the likes of Ar ...
2022–23
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...