Ronald Joseph McFall MBE (born 3 October 1947) is a former football player and former manager of

NIFL Premiership The NIFL Premiership, known as the Danske Bank Premiership for sponsorship purposes, and colloquially as the Irish League or Irish Premiership, is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Northe ...

sides

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

and

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

. He was most notably manager of hometown club Portadown for 29 years from December 1986 until his resignation in March 2016. At the time of his resignation he was the longest-serving manager in European club football, having held the record ever since Alex Ferguson stood down as Manchester United manager in 2013. He had two spells managing Glentoran, between 1979 and 1984 and 2018 and 2019. As a player, McFall represented Portadown (twice),

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

Ards Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a type of respiratory failure characterized by rapid onset of widespread inflammation in the lungs. Symptoms include shortness of breath (dyspnea), rapid breathing (tachypnea), and bluish skin color ...

(becoming Irish League champion with the latter). Managing in Irish League football for over 30 years, McFall is amongst the most successful managers in the history of the Irish League having claimed five league titles, four

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. Ina ...

s and 20 other trophies during his time with Glentoran and Portadown. McFall was the first person to be rewarded the freedom of the Armagh, Banbridge and Craigavon area for his immense contribution to sport. He is also a five time Manager of the Year award winner, and the uncle of current

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the ...

defender Ross Redman.

Playing career

Club

As a player Ronnie McFall played as a full-back. He made his debut for

in August 1964 in a Mid-Ulster derby match against Glenavon in the

Ulster Cup The Ulster Cup was an annual football competition held by the Irish Football League for senior clubs. History Beginning in 1949, it was held on fifty-one occasions until being suspended after the 1998/99 season and discontinued after a one-of ...

. The following season he was signed by

for £4,000, where he became a regular in the reserve side but failed to make an appearance for the first team. He was released in April 1967 and went on to play for

, Portadown again, and

. McFall played in the 1974–75 UEFA Cup for Portadown. He also played in four

1977–78 European Cup The 1977–78 season of the UEFA Champions League, European Cup association football, football club tournament was won by defending champions Liverpool F.C., Liverpool in the final against Club Brugge KV, Brugge. The match finished 1–0, starting ...

games for the Glens, two of which came against a

Giovanni Trappatoni Giovanni Trapattoni (; born 17 March 1939), sometimes popularly known as "Trap" or "Il Trap", is an Italian football manager and former player, considered the most successful club coach of Italian football. A former defensive midfielder, as a p ...

led Juventus.

International

He won Northern Ireland Youth caps and also represented the Irish League against the

League of Ireland The League of Ireland ( ga, Sraith na hÉireann), together with the Football Association of Ireland, is one of the two main governing bodies responsible for organising association football in the Republic of Ireland. The term was originally use ...

in 1974.

Managerial career

Glentoran (1979–1984)

McFall took his first managerial appointment, initially as player-manager, at Glentoran in January 1979. Although he helped the club to an Irish League title in 1981 and an Irish Cup win in 1983 he was sacked in December 1984 after a poor run of results.

Portadown (1986–2016)

In December 1986, McFall was appointed as manager at Portadown. He established the Ports as challengers for major honours, leading them to their first ever Irish League title in 1990 and first Irish Cup the following year. McFall won 23 trophies with Portadown and is the club's most successful manager of all time. McFall was appointed as the Northern Ireland U23 manager for the International Challenge Trophy Series in 2009

He celebrated 29 years in charge of Portadown in December 2015, and his 1000th league game in November 2013.McFall reaches 1,000 with Portadown
- UEFA He resigned as Portadown manager on 5 March 2016, after a shock 3–2 2015–16 Irish Cup#Quarter-finals, Irish Cup quarter-final defeat at home against second-tier side

Lurgan Celtic Lurgan Celtic Football Club is a Northern Irish intermediate football club based in Lurgan, County Armagh, that currently plays in the Mid-Ulster Football League Junior Division 3. The club was founded, 1903 & re-formed in 1970 who plays in a s ...

. At the time of his retirement from Portadown, McFall had managed a total of 1,764 games in Irish League football, of which 1,483 came with Portadown.

Glentoran (2018–2019)

He returned to management on 22 February 2018, taking over as Glentoran manager from Gary Haveron who had been sacked the previous day. He was joined by Kieran Harding, Gary Smyth and Paul Leeman. However a poor run of form between October 2018 and January 2019, which saw the club go on its longest winless run in its history, paved the way for McFall's exit on 3 January 2019. He was replaced by Gary Smyth.

Statistics

''(Statistics apply to league matches only)''

Honours

As a player

Portadown * Gold Cup: 1971–72 *

Texaco Cup The Texaco Cup, officially known as the International League Board Competition, was an association football competition started in 1970, involving sides from England, Scotland, and Ireland that had not qualified for European competitions. It wa ...

: 1973–74 *Carlsberg Cup: 1972–73 Glentoran * Irish League: 1976–77 *Gold Cup: 1976–77, 1977–78 *

: 1976–77

As a manager

Glentoran * Irish League: 1980–81 *

: 1982–83 * Gold Cup: 1982–83 *

: 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84 Portadown *Irish League: 1989–90,

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 ...

, 1995–96, 2001–02 *Irish Cup:

, 1998–99, 2004–05 * Irish League Cup: 1995–96, 2008–09 *Gold Cup: 1992–93 *Ulster Cup: 1990–91, 1995–96 * Floodlit Cup: 1990–91, 1992–93, 1994–95 *

Mid-Ulster Cup The Mid-Ulster Cup is a senior football competition in Northern Ireland run by the Mid-Ulster Football Association (founded 2 April 1887). The competition has historically featured teams based in County Armagh, east County Tyrone, and west Cou ...

(6): 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2002–03 * Charity Shield: 1999 *

IFA Championship The Northern Ireland Football League Championship (known as the Lough 41 Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the second level of the Northern Ireland Football League, the national football league in Northern Ireland. Clubs in the Championshi ...

: 2008–09 Individual *Manager of the Year: 1981, 1990, 1991, 1996, 2002

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McFall, Ronnie 1945 births Living people People from Portadown Association footballers from Northern Ireland Portadown F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Ards F.C. players Glentoran F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Football managers from Northern Ireland Glentoran F.C. managers Portadown F.C. managers Irish League representative players Association football fullbacks