Wilfred McGuinness (born 25 October 1937) is an English former football player and manager, who played twice for

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in his short playing career. He succeeded Sir Matt Busby as manager of Manchester United in 1969. Following his tenure at the Manchester United bench, McGuinness had a four year long stay in Greece, leading

Panachaiki Panachaiki G.E. (Greek: Παναχαϊκή Γυμναστική Ένωση, ''Panachaiki Gymnastiki Enosi'', "Pan- Achaean Gymnastic Union") is a Greek multi-sport club based in the city of Patras, Greece. The history of Panachaiki began in 1891, ...

through their first appearance in a

European competition The European Competition is a student competition in which students of all ages submit creative, artistic, or written pieces of work on the activities of the European Union. Tendered by European Movement Germany, it is the oldest student competition ...

, the 1973–74 UEFA Cup. McGuinness' son

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

was Manchester United's U-18 team manager and assistant director of their youth academy for 17- to 21-year-olds.

Playing career

As a player, McGuinness captained Manchester, Lancashire and England at schoolboy level, and signed for Manchester United in January 1953. He made his first team debut against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

on 8 October 1955, turning 18 later that month. Competition for places was fierce but he played in enough matches to qualify for a medal when United won the league in 1956-57. He was still a United player at the time of the Munich air disaster in 1958, but an injury had prevented him from playing so he was not on the plane that crashed. A broken leg in the 1959–60 season finished his playing career when he was only 22, and came just after he had been capped twice at senior level by the England team.

Managerial career

McGuinness continued to be involved at Manchester United after the end of his playing career, getting heavily involved in coaching, and in 1964, he replaced Jimmy Murphy as reserve team manager, as Murphy left that role after managing the reserve team to a sixth FA Youth Cup triumph. In 1969, McGuinness was promoted from reserve team manager to manager of the first team after Matt Busby retired as manager at the end of the 1968–69 season. Appointed as Busby's successor in June 1969 at the age of 31, at a time when the Manchester United side was in transition and Busby had moved upstairs to become general manager, McGuinness's reign as Manchester United manager was not as successful as United had hoped. But McGuinness did lead United to three cup semi-finals during his reign, one in 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 ...

and two in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. McGuinness was sacked in December 1970, after a dramatic comeback which saw United draw 4–4 with

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

in a league fixture at the Baseball Ground. He returned to his old job as reserve team manager before leaving the club at the end of the

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...

to become manager of Greek side

Aris Thessaloniki Athlitikos Syllogos Aris Thessalonikis, means Athletic Club Aris Thessaloniki
...

. Meanwhile, Busby was re-appointed as manager until the end of the

, following McGuinness' dismissal as first team manager, until

Frank O'Farrell Francis O'Farrell (9 October 1927 – 6 March 2022) was an Irish football player and manager. He played as a wing half for Cork United, West Ham United and Preston North End. He made over 300 appearances in the Football League before joining ...

was named as Manchester United's new manager in June 1971. Under McGuinness, Aris finished fourth in the

1971–72 Alpha Ethniki The 1971–72 Alpha Ethniki was the 36th season of the highest football league of Greece. The season began on 19 September 1971 and ended on 25 June 1972. Panathinaikos won their 11th Greek title. The point system was: ''Win: 3 points'' - ''Dr ...

season, and ninth a year later, albeit being tied with three teams in sixth position. He took over

in 1973, finishing sixth in the Alpha Ethniki his first year while advancing to 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 solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

second round in the team's first ever European campaign. Panachaiki finished seventh in the

1974–75 Alpha Ethniki The 1974–75 Alpha Ethniki was the 39th season of the highest football league of Greece. The season began on 29 September 1974 and ended on 8 June 1975. Olympiacos won their third consecutive and 20th Greek title. The point system was: ''Win: 2 ...

season and parted with McGuinness. In 1975, McGuinness was hired by

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

. On arriving at York, he took over a side which had just recorded its highest-ever league finish, only to take them through two successive relegations before leaving midway through a season which ended with York having to apply for re-election to the Football League. Later he worked as assistant manager and then caretaker manager at

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

, and was on the coaching staff at Bury for 10 years, taking over as interim manager prior to the appointment of Sam Ellis in 1989.

Honours

Player

Manchester United * Football League First Division: 1955–56, 1956–57 * FA Charity Shield:

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, ar ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

Managerial statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McGuinness, Wilf 1937 births Living people Footballers from Manchester English footballers England youth international footballers England international footballers Manchester United F.C. players English Football League players English football managers Manchester United F.C. managers Aris Thessaloniki F.C. managers Panachaiki F.C. managers York City F.C. managers English Football League managers Bury F.C. non-playing staff Association football wing halves England under-23 international footballers English Football League representative players English expatriate sportspeople in Greece