John McGrath (football manager)

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John McGrath
Personal information
Full name	John McGrath
Date of birth	23 August 1938
Place of birth	Manchester, England
Date of death	25 December 1998
Place of death	Manchester, England
Position	Defender
Club information
Current club	Deceased
Youth clubs
	Bolton Wanderers
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1956-1960 1960-1967 1967-1974 1973	Bury Newcastle United Southampton Brighton & Hove Albion (loan)	148 (2) 170 (2) 168 (1) 3 (0)
Teams managed
1979-1983 1984 1986-1990 1992	Port Vale Chester City Preston North End Halifax Town
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

John McGrath (23 August 1938 – 25 December 1998) was a player and manager in the English Football League.

Contents 1 Early years 2 A Geordie hero 3 The move south 4 Coaching and management 5 Preston's saviour 6 External links

[edit] Early years

McGrath started out as an amateur player with Bolton Wanderers but it was with Bury that he began his professional career in 1956. In 1960 however McGrath found himself the subject of a bid by Newcastle United and after nearly five years with Bury in which he made 148 appearances scoring 2 goals he left for St James' Park.

[edit] A Geordie hero

Because of his no nonsense attitude and uncompromising style as a defender John soon became a real favourite with the Toon Army and in seven years with the geordies played 170 games scoring 2 goals before making the long trip to Southampton in 1967.

[edit] The move south

John again became somewhat of a cult hero with The Dell faithful during what was a difficult time for the club not only playing 168 games(1 goal) but also making his mark as a very shrewd coach. He also during this period played 3 games on loan at Brighton & Hove Albion.

[edit] Coaching and management

After retiring at the end of 1973-74 season John joined the Southampton coaching staff but it was after becoming Port Vale manager in December 1979 that he really found his true vocation. After steadying the ship at Vale Park McGrath eventually led the club to promotion in 1982-83. The following season however John was sacked as Vale struggled and after 18 months with Chester City John found himself without a job in May 1985.

[edit] Preston's saviour

Twelve months later though that changed as Preston North End came calling. This once proud club was dying on its knees and after ending the 1985-86 season in 91st position they needed some new blood and new ideas.McGrath was just the man for the job.With the newly laid plastic pitch already installed McGrath assembled a squad of free transfer old pros,lower league journeymen and young cast offs to fire the team to promotion in his first season.He was a hero.However after 4 years of relative success McGrath departed in February 1990 leaving Preston in a far healthier position that when he'd found them and apart from a short spell in charge of Halifax Town in 1992 he never managed again. John became for a while a much sought for after dinner speaker but on Christmas Day 1998 the football world shook when he died suddenly at his Manchester home.

[edit] External links

• John McGrath managerial statistics at Soccerbase

• Feature on SaintsChat

Preceded by Alan Bloor	Port Vale manager 1979-1983	Succeeded by John Rudge
Preceded by John Sainty	Chester City manager 1983-1985	Succeeded by Mick Speight
Preceded by Jonothan Clark (Caretaker)	Preston North End manager 1986-1990	Succeeded by Les Chapman
Preceded by Jim McCalliog	Halifax Town manager 1992	Succeeded by Mick Rathbone