Neil McDonald

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For the Canadian journalist, see Neil Macdonald.
Neil McDonald
Personal information
Full name Neil Raymond McDonald
Date of birth November 2, 1965 (1965-11-02) (age 42)
Place of birth    Wallsend, England
Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Playing position Right Back, Midfielder
Youth clubs

Wallsend BC
Carlisle United
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1983–1988
1988–1991
1991–1994
1994–1995
1995–1998		 Newcastle United
Everton
Oldham Athletic
Bolton Wanderers
Preston North End		 180 (24)
090 0(4)
021 0(1)
004 0(0)
034 0(0)   
National team
1986–1987 England U21 005 0(0)
Teams managed
2006–2007
2007		 Carlisle United
Östersunds FK

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only.
* Appearances (Goals)

Neil Raymond McDonald (born on November 2, 1965 in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear) is a former football player he played in the right back and midfield positions before becoming coach/manager. He is currently head coach at Leeds United.

He has managed Carlisle United, where he was sacked in August 2007, and Östersunds FK. During his playing career he played for the England under 21 team.

Contents

[edit] Playing career

McDonald started his playing career at his local youth team Wallsend Boys Club, before joining Carlisle United as an apprentice. Then he joined Newcastle United after his Carlisle apprenticeship expired where, he went on to play over 200 league and cup games for "The Magpies", he also was an England under 21 international while at St. James'.

He then went on to join Everton, for £525,000 in the summer of 1988. At Everton he played in the 1989 FA Cup Final against local rivals Liverpool, Everton lost the game 3-2. McDonald's Everton career lasted 3 years with McDonald playing over 100 league and cup games scoring 4 goals.

In October 1991 he joined Oldham Athletic, newly promoted to the top tier, for £500,000. He stayed there for the next 3 season in the 1st Division and Premiership (both highest tier). After Oldham's relegation from the Premiership in 1994 he decided to join 1st Division (2nd tier) team Bolton Wanderers on a free transfer. He only played four league matches in 1½ seasons, and later moved to Preston North End for £40,000 in November 1995. He played in 35 league and cup games for Preston, scoring 1 goal in 3½ years. He retired in 1998.

[edit] 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 Sam Allardyce's backroom staff at Bolton Wanderers as first-team coach and earning his UEFA Pro Licence while at The Reebok. He joined Crystal Palace in 2005 to become Iain Dowie's assistant, replacing the popular Kit Symons. He was not so popular at Selhurst Park, as the fans saw the style of football and the players' attitude change after his arrival. After Palace's play-off defeat to Watford he was released from his contract, with Palace chairman Simon Jordan preferring to have an all-new backroom set-up (apart from Symons and Director of Football Bob Dowie, who stayed) to assist the new manager.

He subsequently became Carlisle United manager in summer 2006,[1] following Paul Simpson's departure to Preston North End. In the press conference unveiling McDonald as manager Carlisle chairman Andrew Jenkins called McDonald Neale Cooper (the former Hartlepool United manager) by mistake.

McDonald had a winning start in his first competitive match as manager, beating Doncaster Rovers 1-0 on the 5 August 2006 at Brunton Park in League One, with the goal coming from Paul Murray, in the 3rd minute. 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." His assistant Greg Abbott took over as caretaker manager.[2]

On September 11, 2007 he took over as manager of Swedish club Östersunds FK.[3] managing the team for a 5 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.[4] 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.

[edit] Managerial stats

As of August 13, 2007.
Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
Carlisle United Flag of England June 17, 2006 August 13, 2007 51 19 18 14 37.25

[edit] References

  1. ^ "McDonald appointed Carlisle boss"", BBC Sport, 2006-06-29. Retrieved on 2006-09-28. 
  2. ^ "Carlisle dismiss manager McDonald", BBC Sport, 2007-08-13. Retrieved on 2007-08-13. 
  3. ^ "Ex-Magpie Lands Swedish Post", Newcastle United official website, 2007-09-11. Retrieved on 2007-09-11. 
  4. ^ "McDonald is new Lincoln assistant", BBC Sport, 2007-11-06. Retrieved on 2007-11-06. 

[edit] External links

Sporting positions
Preceded by
Stefan Regebro		 Östersunds FK manager
2007		 Succeeded by
Karl-Gunnar Björklund
v • d • e
Carlisle United F.C. – Managers

Kirkbride (1904–05s) • McCumiskey (1905–06s) • Houston (1906–08s) • Stansfield (1908–10) • Houston (1910–12) • Graham (1912–13) • Bistow (1913–30) • Hampson (1930–33) • Clarke (1933–35) • Kelly (1935–36) • Westgarth (1936–38) • Talyor (1938–40) • Harkness (1940–45) • Clarke (1945–46s) • Broadis (1946–49) • Shankly (1949–51) • Emery (1951–58) • Beattie (1958–60) • Powell (1960–63) • Ashman (1963–67) • T. Ward (1967–68) • Stokoe (1968–70) • MacFarlane (1970–72) • Ashhman (1972–75) • Young (1975–76) • Moncur (1976–80) • Harvey (1980) • Stokoe (1980–85) • Robson (1985) • Stokoe (1985–86) • Gregg (1986–87) • Middlemass (1987–91) • McCaffrey (1991–92) • McCreery (1992–93) • Wadsworth (1993–96d) • Day (1996–97) • Knighton (1997–98) • Pearson (1998–99) • Mincher (1999) • Wilkinson (1999–2000) • Atkins (2000–2001) • Collins (2001–2002) • Barr (2002c) • Collins (2002–03) • Simpson (2003–06) • McDonald (2006–07) • Abbott (2007c) • J. Ward (2007–)

(c) caretaker (d) director of coaching (s) secretary-manager


Persondata
NAME McDonald, Neil Raymond
ALTERNATIVE NAMES McDonald, Neil
SHORT DESCRIPTION Football (soccer) player & manager
DATE OF BIRTH November 2, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH