Willie McFaul

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Willie" Iam McFaul (born January 10, 1943 in Coleraine) is a former Northern Irish football player and now coach.

McFaul joined Newcastle United from Linfield F.C. in his native Northern Ireland in 1966 after impressing in a friendly match.

He went on to serve Newcastle as player, coach, assistant manager and then finally, in 1985, as manager. He was sacked in October 1988 after a poor start saw early season optimism turn into an ultimately futile struggle against relegation.

His reputation was as a caring and loyal manager, who got the best out of a number of players including Peter Beardsley and Paul Goddard. His biggest contribution to the game was probably his decision to make Paul Gascoigne an integral part of the first team despite being only 18 at the time. McFaul has since managed teams in Ireland, and worked as the coach of the national team of Guam.

Many Northern Ireland fans reflect that his true ability was never fully seen at international level due to it being the Pat Jennings era.