Neil Raymond McDonald (born 2 November 1965) is a football 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 and Östersunds FK. 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. Th ...

, 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 football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football Lea ...

. 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.

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 f ...

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 ...

, McDonald started his playing career at his local youth team Wallsend Boys Club before joining Carlisle United as a schoolboy, where he represented England at schoolboy level. He then joined Newcastle United 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 populat ...

. 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 be ...

, 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 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 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, an ...

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 FA Premier League as Division One playoff winners in 1994–95, as well as reaching the Football League Cup 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''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...

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 letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

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 original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...

. 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 (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 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 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 is ...

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 Preston North End. 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 in

. 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 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 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 and Stoke City during which time manager Sam Allardyce would be undergoing heart surgery. He also took charge of a fourth match in the Football League Cup 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. 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 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 ...

. He left the club in January 2017, following the sacking of head coach Mike Phelan. McDonald was announced as the new manager of League of Ireland Premier Division club Limerick F.C. 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 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 the County Ground sin ...

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, in the northern part of Southern India ...

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, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

. 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 ado ...

. On 15 February, following the appointment of Michael Flynn, 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 bei ...

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