Willie McFaul

William Stewart McFaul, known as Willie and Iam, (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 Northern Ireland and worked as the coach of the national team of Guam. In Northern Ireland he managed his hometown club Coleraine who are very close to his heart. Sadly things didn't go to plan and his spell as manager coincided with a lowly period in Coleraine very proud history. He did, however, discover Paul Gaston, who went on to captain Coleraine and play over 600 games for the club.

McFaul is now working as a scout for Norwich City, professional connections having been made with Norwich Manager Glenn Roeder during Roeder's time as Newcastle United Manager.

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

Newcastle United Manager

Willie McFaul was appointed caretaker manager of Newcastle United In August 1985 after Jack Charlton had resigned after a pre season friendly against Sheffield United after a row with the Newcastle fans over the sale of Chris Waddle and the failure to sign Eric Gates from Ipswich Town. His first game in charge was away to Southampton,where he made the bold decision to make 18 year old Paul Gascoigne the playmaker of the team.By the end of August Newcastle had beaten Liverpool 1-0,a result that was good enough to earn McFaul a permanent deal as manager.Ian Stewart and Alan Davies were early signings as Newcastle made a great start to the 85-86 season by November they were In the top 6,with McFaul signing giant striker Billy Whitehurst to boost the forward line.More Impressive results followed including a 2-2 draw with champions Everton,and a 1-1 draw at Anfield against Liverpool,as well as beating Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest away 2-1,and beating Arsenal 1-0 at St James' Park with Glenn Roeder getting the winner.Newcastle finished the season in 11th,a good position for McFaul given the chaos at the start of the season when he took over as manager. Little transfer activity over the summer of 1986 meant that Newcastle had a bad start to 1986-1987 season and found themselves bottom of the table In November,however McFaul was given money to spend and he brought In Andy Thomas and a club record £400,000 on Paul Goddard from West Ham United,Goddard's arrival Inspired the team to wins over Chelsea, West Ham and Nottingham Forest.Newcastle were still bottom In March 1987 and they found help from Gascoigne and Goddard,with Goddard equaling a club record of scoring In 7 straight games,to finish the season In mid table with Aston Villa and Man City amongst the clubs to be relegated.Peter Beardsley was sold to Liverpool on the eve of the 87-88 season for a British record £1.7M to the anger of Newcastle's fans,so McFaul signed Brazil's flamboyant striker Mirandinha to replace Beardsley and with Wimbledon winger Glyn Hodges coming In as well as Irish teenager Michael O'Neill,Newcastle had their best season under McFaul finishing 8th,with Gascoigne taking all the plaudits winning PFA young player of the year.The summer of 1988 brought McFaul's biggest challenge as manager of Newcastle United,with key players Paul Gascoigne, Neil McDonald and Paul Goddard all being sold for a combined fee of £3.7M,to the dismay of the Toon Army,with huge gaps In the team McFaul went on a shooping spree buying goalkeeper Dave Beasant for £700,000,defender Andy Thorn for £800,000,winger John Hendrie for £500,000 and Hearts striker John Robertson for £800,000.Despite Beardsley's sale Newcastle fans were In great spirits for the opening game of the season,as 3,000 travelled down to Goodison Park.Newcastle lost 4-0 with Tony Cottee bagging a hat trick,a battling 2-2 draw with Spurs seemed to have been the start for McFaul,but no wins In the next 4 matches saw his Newcastle side under severe pressure and they pulled off a great win at champions Liverpool 2-1 with Mirandinha and Hendrie scoring.A 3-0 defeat at home to Coventry City spelt the end for McFaul,who had only been given the job 3 years earlier for a couple of matches had given his all for Newcastle United.

References

• Willie McFaul, Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Database

Preceded by Jack Charlton

Newcastle United Manager 1985-1988

Succeeded by Colin Suggett (caretaker)