Neil Raymond McDonald (born 2 November 1965) is a

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 ...

manager, coach and former player, in the right back and midfield positions. He is currently assistant manager of Barrow. During his career he played for the England under 21 team. As a manager, he has been in charge at

Carlisle United Carlisle United Football Club ( , ) is a professional association football club based in Carlisle, Cumbria, England. The team compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They have played their home games at Brunton Par ...

and

Östersunds FK Östersunds Fotbollsklubb, commonly known simply as Östersunds FK, Östersund () or (especially locally) ÖFK, is a Swedish professional football club located in Östersund, Sweden and since 2022 play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan. The ...

. On 18 December 2008 he was appointed Assistant Manager of

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, and was sacked on 13 December 2010 along with manager

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (; born 19 October 1954), colloquially referred to as Big Sam, is an English association football, football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent most ...

. On 1 June 2011, Allardyce announced McDonald as his assistant manager at

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

. On 2 June 2015, McDonald was appointed as manager of Blackpool on a rolling one-year contract, leaving the post on 18 May 2016. He was previously assistant manager of English

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

side

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

Playing career

Born in

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered b ...

, McDonald started his playing career at his local youth team

Wallsend Boys Club Wallsend Boys Club is an English youth football club based in Wallsend, North Tyneside. The club is well known for producing professional footballers; more than 65 players from the club have gone on to play professionally, some of them even ...

before joining Carlisle United as a schoolboy, where he represented England at schoolboy level. He then joined

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

as an apprentice where he went on to play over 200 league and cup games. He also was an England Youth and England under 21 international while at St. James'. McDonald then joined Everton, for £525,000, in the summer of 1988. At Everton he played in the 1989 FA Cup Final against local rivals

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

. Everton lost the game 3–2. McDonald's Everton career lasted 3 years with McDonald playing over 100 league and cup games. Memorable moments, apart from the 1989 FA Cup final appearance, were being part of the Everton side that topped the First Division in the late autumn of 1989 (though they were unable to sustain their title challenge in the long run and finished sixth) and being voted club player of the year for the 1990–91 season. In October 1991 he joined

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

, newly promoted to the top tier, for £500,000. He stayed there for three seasons, overseeing two successful battles against relegation before they were finally relegated from the

FA 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 Foo ...

in 1994. He also helped them reach the

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 ...

semi finals in 1994, and they were 1–0 up against

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in extra time at

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

when a late equaliser from

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, and a ...

forced a replay and put Oldham's dreams of a first ever FA Cup final appearance on ice. A few days later they were crushed 4–1 in the replay and McDonald was robbed of yet another chance of FA Cup glory. After Oldham's relegation, he signed for Bolton Wanderers and helped them win promotion to the

as Division One playoff winners in 1994–95, as well as reaching the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

final where they lost 2–1 to

. He was out of action for the most part of his time with Bolton with a broken ankle. but returned in time for their end of season Play Off, firstly he was sent off in their semi-final defeat against

Wolves The wolf (''Canis lupus''; plural, : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large Canis, canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of Canis lupus, subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been reco ...

and then he was subbed at half time in Bolton's Play Off win over

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

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 Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

. A £40,000 move took him to Preston North End in November 1995, and he remained at

Deepdale Deepdale is a football stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End. Deepdale is "widely recognised as being the oldest 'continuously used' football stadium in the world, though this is contested". History ...

until his retirement from playing at the end of the 1998–99 season. In his first season at Preston, they won promotion as Division Three champions, and by the time of his retirement three years later, they had qualified for the Division Two playoffs. Although they lost out that season, they won promotion a year later as champions. He ended his playing career at Preston a year after the appointment of

David Moyes David William Moyes ( ; born 25 April 1963) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is currently the manager of Premier League club West Ham United. He was previously the manager of Preston North End, Everton, Manches ...

(later manager of McDonald's former club Everton) as manager.

Coaching career

McDonald was a coach at several teams. His first coaching job was with

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

he started this in 1997 as a player/coach and taking the coaching role on a full-time basis in 1998. Then in the year 2000 he joined

's backroom staff at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

as first-team coach and earning his

UEFA Pro Licence UEFA, the governing body for football in Europe, mandates several coaching licences for professional managers, each valid for coaching at a certain level. These include the UEFA Pro Licence, the UEFA A Licence, and the UEFA B Licence. They are iss ...

while at The Reebok. He joined

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

in 2005 to become

Iain Dowie Iain Dowie (born 9 January 1965) is a football manager, former professional footballer and sports television pundit. He played as a striker from 1983 until 2001, notably in the Premier League for Southampton, Crystal Palace and West Ham Unit ...

's assistant. He subsequently became Carlisle United manager in summer 2006, following Paul Simpson's departure to

. McDonald had a winning start in his first competitive match as manager, beating

Doncaster Rovers Doncaster Rovers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. The team compete in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club play their home games at ...

1–0 on 5 August 2006 at

Brunton Park Brunton Park is a football stadium and the home of Carlisle United. It is situated in the city of Carlisle and has a certified capacity of 17,949. The ground opened in 1909. Brunton Park's grandstand burned down in 1953 and the stadium floode ...

. The team finished the season in 8th place, Carlisle's highest league placing in 20 years. McDonald was sacked from his post as Carlisle United manager on 13 August 2007, a statement on the club's website read "The board of Carlisle United regret to say that they have lost confidence in Neil McDonald and are terminating his contract forthwith." On 11 September 2007 he took over as manager of Swedish club Östersunds FK, managing the team for a five-week period, during which he saved the club from relegation. In November 2007 he joined Lincoln City, where former Newcastle teammate

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

had previously been appointed manager, as his assistant. This appointment didn't last long however, as a few months later in February 2008, McDonald was appointed as head coach under

Gary McAllister Gary McAllister MBE (born 25 December 1964) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. McAllister played primarily as a midfielder in a career spanning over nineteen years. He started his career at local side Motherwell b ...

at Leeds United. On 18 December 2008 he was reunited with Sam Allardyce at Blackburn Rovers, as assistant manager. On 21 November 2009 it was announced that McDonald would take charge of three Blackburn Rovers matches against Bolton Wanderers,

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

during which time manager Sam Allardyce would be undergoing heart surgery. He also took charge of a fourth match in the

in which Rovers played league leaders

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

for a place in the semi-finals. Rovers won the game after a penalty shootout after a 3–3 draw. On 13 December 2010 McDonald was sacked by Blackburn's new owners along with Allardyce. Following his appointment as manager, on 1 June 2011, Allardyce announced McDonald as his assistant manager at West Ham United. On 2 June 2015 he was announced as manager of

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. Following Blackpool's relegation to

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

, McDonald left his role as Blackpool manager. On 24 October 2016, McDonald was appointed as assistant head coach at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

. He left the club in January 2017, following the sacking of head coach

Mike Phelan Michael Christopher Phelan (born 24 September 1962) is an English professional football coach and former player who is currently a coach at Manchester United. Born in Nelson, Lancashire, he spent most of his playing career at Burnley, Norwich ...

. McDonald was announced as the new manager of

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

club

Limerick F.C. Limerick Football Club ( ga, Club Peile Luimnigh) was an association football club based in Limerick, Ireland who played in the League of Ireland and currently have teams competing in the underage National League of Ireland. The first Limerick ...

on 18 May 2017. On 4 January 2018, McDonald joined Scunthorpe United to become Graham Alexander's assistant. On 30 May 2018, McDonald joined

Swindon Town Swindon Town Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Swindon, Wiltshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. The club has played home matches at ...

as assistant manager to Phil Brown. On 12 November 2018, McDonald was sacked as assistant manager at

On 1 October 2019, McDonald joined Indian club

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

in ISL as assistant manager to Phil Brown. On 11 January 2020, Phil Brown and McDonald was sacked by

for poor performance of the newly formed club. On 19 May 2021, McDonald was appointed assistant coach to Matt Taylor at

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

. Following the sacking of Taylor on 9 February 2022, McDonald was put in temporary charge of the club. His first game in temporary charge saw his side end a seven-match losing streak against second placed

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 adop ...

. On 15 February, following the appointment of

Michael Flynn Michael Thomas Flynn (born December 24, 1958) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and conspiracy theorist who was the 24th U.S. National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration. He resigned in light of ...

, McDonald departed the club. On 21 March 2022, McDonald was appointed assistant manager, again to Phil Brown, at Barrow until the end of the 2021–22 season. McDonald had worked at the club the previous season, supporting

Rob Kelly Robert Anthony Kelly (born 21 December 1964) is a former English footballer and manager who is currently the assistant manager at Wigan Athletic in the Championship. He is best known for his spell as manager of Leicester City, as well as being ...

as Barrow avoided relegation, hoping to achieve a similar feat in the nine remaining matches of the campaign.

Managerial stats

:''Updated 21 March 2022''.

References

External links