Francis O'Farrell (9 October 1927 – 6 March 2022) was an Irish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and manager. He played as a

wing half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for Cork United,

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

and Preston North End. He made over 300 appearances in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

before joining Weymouth as player-manager. He went on to manage

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the National League South, the sixth level of the English football league system. They have played their ho ...

(three stints),

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Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

and Al-Shaab. He played for the Republic of Ireland national team, making nine appearances between 1952 and 1959.

Early life

Born in Lower Dublin Hill in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

, a suburb of

Cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

, O'Farrell lived on Friars Road, in the Turners Cross area of the city. His grand-uncle was renowned road bowling player John "Buck" McGrath. He was raised a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and attended

Christ the King Christ the King is a title of Jesus in Christianity referring to the idea of the Kingdom of God where Christ is described as being seated at the right hand of God. Many Christian denominations consider the kingly office of Christ to be one o ...

. He played

Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...

and captained the school team to its first trophy win in 1941. He also played the association code for local teams Nicholas Rovers, Clapton Celtic and at Western Rovers alongside the brother of

Noel Cantwell Noel Euchuria Cornelius Cantwell (28 February 1932 – 8 September 2005) was an Irish football player and sometime cricketer. Club career Cantwell was born in Cork, Ireland, and was educated at the Roman Catholic Presentation Brothers College ...

, with whom he would later reunite as a teammate at

. At the age of 16, he started working on the railways and wanted to be a train driver, like his father. He worked as a fireman on the Dublin–Cork railway line.

Club career

left half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

, O'Farrell started his playing career with

League of Ireland The League of Ireland is a national association football Sports league, league consisting of professional clubs in the Republic of Ireland and Derry, Derry City in Northern Ireland. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland. It was ...

club Cork United, replacing Tommy Moroney in the first team after his departure to West Ham United in 1947. Playing as a semi-professional, he supplemented his earnings with his work on the railways, earning £3 a week for each. In January 1948, after being spotted by West Ham scout Ben Ives, O'Farrell followed Moroney to the Upton Park club for a fee of £3,000. O'Farrell himself received a £1,000 fee for the transfer. He made over 50 appearances for the reserves before breaking into the first team. His debut came on 28 September 1950 in a 2–0 defeat of

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

in the Essex Professional Cup. His

debut followed in November 1950 in a 4–1 defeat away to

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

. He made 18 league appearances in his first season but became a regular in the 1951–52 and 1952–53 seasons. He was one of a number of West Ham players that would meet at Cassettari's Café to discuss tactics. He played for West Ham in seven seasons and made 213 appearances, scoring eight goals. In November 1956, O'Farrell left for Preston North End in a straight swap deal involving Eddie Lewis. Replacing

Ray Evans Raymond Bernard Evans (February 4, 1915 – February 15, 2007) was an American songwriter best known for being a half of a composing-songwriting duo with Jay Livingston, specializing himself in writing lyrics for film songs. On music Livingston ...

in the team, he scored on his home debut, a 20-yard strike against

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. Playing alongside

Tom Finney Sir Thomas Finney (5 April 1922 – 14 February 2014) was an English international footballer who played from 1946 to 1960 as a winger or centre forward for Preston North End and England. He is widely acknowledged to have been one of England' ...

, he played 17 league matches before his first loss with the club. He would then miss over a month of football after treatment for a nosebleed which caused him to lose around four pints of blood (he experienced a recurrence of the problem in the following season). His first season with Preston brought a third-place finish and he was still with the

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

club when they finished runners-up to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club ( ), commonly referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

in Division One at the end of the 1957–58 season. In the same season O'Farrell's former teammates at West Ham finished as Second Division champions, securing their promotion to the First Division, which he had strived to help achieve. In all, O'Farrell made 129 appearances for Preston, scoring four goals. He retired from professional football in 1961, close to 34 years of age, after a second operation to remove

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...

International career

O'Farrell won the first of nine full international caps for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

in Vienna on 7 May 1952, in a 6–0 defeat. In his next international game, also against Austria, O'Farrell scored the first of his two international goals as Ireland won 4–0 at

Dalymount Park Dalymount Park (Irish language, Irish: ''Páirc Chnocán Uí Dhálaigh'') is a Association football, football stadium in Phibsborough on the Northside Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is the home of Bohemian F.C., ...

, Dublin. His next game saw his second and last international goal, as Ireland lost 5–3 to

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in a qualifying game for the 1954 World Cup. He played infrequently over the next six years before making his ninth and last international appearance on 10 May 1959 in a 4–0 defeat by

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

at Tehelne Pole Stadion in

Bratislava Bratislava (German: ''Pressburg'', Hungarian: ''Pozsony'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the Slovakia, Slovak Republic and the fourth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. ...

Managerial career

Weymouth and Torquay United

On 20 June 1961, O'Farrell became

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

at Southern League team Weymouth. He was paid £25 a week for the role, which was £5 more than he had been earning as a Football League player at Preston. In 1961–62, he oversaw Weymouth's passage to the fourth round of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, where they were beaten by his old club Preston North End. After a runners-up spot in 1963–64, he led the club to their first Southern League championship in 1964–65, also reaching the final of the Southern League Cup that season. In May 1965, he became manager of

, replacing Eric Webber. He took the Gulls to promotion in his first season in charge and followed this with seventh- and fourth-place finishes in the Third Division in the following two seasons. While Torquay manager he returned to West Ham to sign a number of players, including John Bond, Ken Brown and Bill Kitchener.

Leicester City

In December 1968, O'Farrell took over

. He appointed former West Ham teammate Malcolm Musgrove as his assistant. Leicester were near the bottom of the First Division table when he was appointed and were relegated at the end of the season, but O'Farrell led them to the 1969 FA Cup Final, which they lost 1–0 to Manchester City. The following season brought a third-place finish, and 1970–71 saw the club win the Second Division and return to the top tier.

Manchester United

On 1 July 1971, he took over at

, having been confirmed in the role on 8 June 1971. He replaced

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish football player and manager, who managed Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 1970–71 season. He was the first manager of an E ...

, who had selected him for the role, signing a five-year contract worth £15,000 a year. Musgrove was again his assistant. His arrival came just three years after United had won the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

, but the side had posted eighth-place finishes in the First Division in the previous two seasons before O'Farrell's arrival. O'Farrell's tenure started well, with

Bobby Charlton Sir Robert Charlton (11 October 1937 – 21 October 2023) was an English professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, left winger or centre-forward. Widely considered one of the greatest players of all time, he was a member ...

Denis Law Denis Law (24 February 1940 – 17 January 2025) was a Scottish footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchest ...

and

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

playing well and the club, 10 points clear at one stage, losing just one of their first 14 league games. O'Farrell was named Manager of the Month for September and the club topped the table for the first time in three years in October. After being top of the league at Christmas, Best failed to attend training throughout January and United scored only three goals in their first eight games of the year, losing the first seven. O'Farrell's impersonal approach, whereby every player had to schedule an appointment to see him, did not help morale. O'Farrell signed Martin Buchan for a club-record fee of £125,000, as well as Ian Storey-Moore, who scored in all of United's five league wins in the second half of the season. Once again, United ended the season in eighth place. Further problems with Best led to a two-week suspension for the player and he continued to miss training sessions during the 1972–73 season. Forwards

Wyn Davies Ronald Wyn Davies (born 20 March 1942) is a Welsh former professional footballer who made over 550 Football League appearances in the 1960s and 1970s, and who was also capped by Wales. Domestic career Although he began his career with Wrexham, ...

and

Ted MacDougall Edward John MacDougall (born 8 January 1947) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a forward. He was a prolific goalscorer who played for eight teams, scoring 256 goals in 535 League appearances and winning seven full international cap ...

were signed in September 1972, bringing O'Farrell's spending in the previous six months to £500,000. On 6 December, it was announced that Best would be transfer listed. On 16 December, United lost 5–0 to Crystal Palace, with Don Rogers scoring twice, and three days after the match, with the club third-from-bottom in the league, O'Farrell was sacked after 18 months in the role. He was replaced at Old Trafford by

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times bet ...

. O'Farrell as the only Irish manager in Manchester United's history. His sacking resulted in O'Farrell suing the club over unpaid wages and he was forced to sign on at the local

labour exchange A public employment service is a government's organization which matches employers to employees. History One of the oldest references to a public employment agency was in 1650, when Henry Robinson proposed an "Office of Addresses and Encounters" ...

while the dispute was settled. The club ultimately settled out-of-court and O'Farrell received "about £17,000".

Cardiff and Iran

He became manager of

in November 1973, but in April 1974 quit to take the manager's post with the Iranian national team. He began his tenure with seven consecutive wins, leading them to the gold medal at the

1974 Asian Games The 7th Asian Games (), also known as Tehran 1974 (), were held from 1 to 16 September 1974 in Tehran, Iran. The Aryamehr Sports Complex was built for the Games. This marked the first time the Asian Games were hosted in the Middle East. Tehran, t ...

and qualification for the Montreal Olympics. In January 2006, O'Farrell was invited to Iran to attend a ceremony in honour of

Persepolis Persepolis (; ; ) was the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire (). It is situated in the plains of Marvdasht, encircled by the southern Zagros mountains, Fars province of Iran. It is one of the key Iranian cultural heritage sites and ...

' former players, along with Alan Rogers.

Returns to Torquay, and Al-Shaab

On 29 November 1976, O'Farrell returned to Torquay United as manager, replacing Malcolm Musgrove. He remained with the club as consultant manager when Mike Green was appointed player-manager in March 1977. In 1980, he joined United Arab Emirati club Al-Shaab. He became Torquay manager again when Green left the club in May 1981, but once again relinquished the position the following year, this time in July 1982 on the appointment of Bruce Rioch. He worked as general manager until his retirement in 1983, aged 55.

Personal life

After his retirement, O'Farrell continued to live in Torquay. In 1993, he worked as a scout for Everton and

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

. In later life, he ran a nursing home in Devon with his wife, Ann. He had been active in church affairs and presided over the local Conference of the

Society of Saint Vincent de Paul The Society of Saint Vincent de Paul (SVP or SVdP or SSVP) is an international voluntary organization in the Catholic Church, founded in 1833 for the service of the poor. Started by Frédéric Ozanam and Emmanuel-Joseph Bailly de Surcy and named ...

. In 2011, his autobiography ''All Change at Old Trafford'' was published. In 2018 he lived in Devon, and cared for his wife. O'Farrell died on 6 March 2022, at the age of 94. At the time of his death he was the oldest living former West Ham United player.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Republic of Ireland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each O'Farrell goal.''

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Weymouth * Southern League: 1964–65 Torquay United * Fourth Division: 1965–66 Leicester City * Second Division: 1970–71 Cardiff City *

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup (), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most prestigious of the cup competitions ...

: 1974 Iran * Asia Games: 1974"Asian Games 1974"
RSSSF.