Gary McAllister

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Gary McAllister
[[]]
Personal information
Full name	Gary McAllister
Date of birth	25 December 1964 (1964-12-25) (age 44)
Place of birth	Motherwell, Scotland
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1981–1985 1985–1990 1990–1996 1996–2000 2000–2002 2002–2003	Motherwell Leicester City Leeds United Coventry City Liverpool Coventry City Total	059 00(6) 201 0(47) 231 0(31) 119 0(20) 055 00(5) 055 0(10) 720 (119)
National team
1990–1999	Scotland	057 00(5)
Teams managed
2002–2003 2008	Coventry City Leeds United
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Gary McAllister MBE (born 25 December 1964 in Newarthill, Motherwell) is a Scottish former professional footballer turned Manager. He is not currently affiliated with any professional club since being sacked from Leeds United on 21 December 2008.

McAllister played primarily as a central midfielder, though he could also play on either wing, in a successful career spanning over twenty years. He started his career at local side Motherwell before moving south of the border to Leicester City at the age of 20. McAllister then went on to play for Leeds United, with whom he won the league championship, and he later had two spells at Coventry City intersected by a brief, yet triumphant, stint at Liverpool.

McAllister also represented his national side for nine years, winning 57 caps and scoring five goals.^[1] His leadership qualities were soon noticed and he spent four years as Scotland captain in addition to two seasons as Leeds United skipper. He was awarded an MBE in the 2001 New Year Honours in recognition of his contribution to the sport.^[2]

As his playing career drew to a close he decided to enter the managerial side of the game. He did this first during his second stay at Coventry when he was appointed player-manager in April 2002.^[3] He stayed at the club until he temporarily stepped down in December 2003 to care for his wife, Denise, who was suffering from breast cancer. He resigned a month later and didn't enter management again until he returned to Elland Road in January 2008 to replace Dennis Wise.^[4]

Contents 1 Playing career 1.1 Early career 1.2 Leeds United 1.3 Coventry City 1.4 Liverpool 1.5 Scotland 2 Managerial career 2.1 Coventry City 2.2 Leeds United 3 Career statistics 3.1 Playing career 3.2 Managerial career 4 Honours 4.1 Club honours 4.2 Personal honours 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Playing career

[edit] Early career

McAllister began his playing career at his local side Motherwell, where he scored eight goals in 70 appearances, until his fine performance in the 1985 Scottish Cup semi-final against Celtic caught the eye of Leicester City manager Gordon Milne. He signed for the English club, along with Motherwell team-mate Ally Mauchlen, for a combined fee of £250,000 in 1985.

McAllister went on to play for Leeds United, Coventry City and Liverpool He was also a Scotland international winning over 50 caps. He was a member of the 1990 FIFA World Cup squad and captained the 1996 European Football Championship team.

[edit] Leeds United

McAllister arrived at Leeds United on 2 July 1990 for a fee of £1,000,000 and replaced the role vacated by Vinnie Jones when he left for Sheffield United.^[5] The club had just achieved promotion to Division One, the top tier of English football at the time. Leeds performed well in McAllister's first season at Elland Road, finishing fourth in the table and reaching the League Cup semi-finals.

He formed a strong midfield quartet that season with fellow Scottish international Gordon Strachan and relative youngsters David Batty and Gary Speed. This midfield was the force behind the success of the 1991–92 season, in which Leeds United were crowned League Champions.

The title-winning team owed a lot to the midfield. The side had little international talent in attack or defence (although full backs Tony Dorigo and Mel Sterland were both full internationals) and so much of the onus was on Strachan, McAllister, Wales international Speed and England's Batty to provide that required class. The quality of the midfield was that any of the four could slot into whichever area they needed to be in, be it left, right or centre, though Batty tended to be the holding midfield player whilst McAllister, Strachan and Speed provided the creativity. McAllister's dead-ball skills were also utilised by top-scorer Lee Chapman, who scored the majority of his goals from headers and thrived off the service provided by McAllister and Strachan's free kicks.

The rest of McAllister's time at Leeds saw the club fail to recapture those heights. The highest the club finished during this period was fifth in the 1993–94 and 1994–95 seasons and the lowest was 17th in the 1992–93 season – one of the lowest-placed finishes of a defending league champion in English football history. Despite this, he captained the side for two seasons and won a special place in the hearts of Leeds United fans with his fine attitude, blistering long-range strikes and trademark free kicks.

Although his final season with Leeds may have been a disappointing 13th, it allowed McAllister to achieve one of his first footballing ambitions – to captain a side at Wembley Stadium. He led his team out in the 1996 League Cup Final, but it wasn't to be and Aston Villa won 3–0.

In his six seasons with the club, McAllister played 294 games in total, scoring 45 goals.

[edit] Coventry City

McAllister left Leeds for Coventry City on 26 July 1996, for a fee of £3,000,000. He stayed there for four seasons and played firstly under Ron Atkinson and then former Leeds team-mate Strachan. During his time at Highfield Road he played 140 games and scored 26 goals.

[edit] Liverpool

On 1 July 2000, McAllister completed a surprise move to Liverpool in a bosman transfer.^[6] Not many would have doubted McAllister's ability, but many Reds fans questioned manager Gérard Houllier's decision to sign a player who was by now 35 years old. Though serving for a relatively short time at Anfield, he played an integral role in the team that won a treble of cups in the 2000–01 season. His ability to play as a central midfielder or on either wing made him a useful weapon in the armoury of then-manager Houllier, who described McAllister as his "most inspirational signing".^[5]

Gary continued to be a first-class exponent of the dead-ball and frequently demonstrated his skill as he presided over most of Liverpool's set pieces in that season. He scored a penalty winner against Spanish side Barcelona in the UEFA Cup semi-final^[7] and followed it up with a memorable 44-yard free-kick that won the Merseyside Derby against local rivals Everton in the 94th minute,^[8] thereby cementing himself into Anfield folklore. Further examples of this talent came in the run-in against Coventry City^[9] and Bradford City.^[10] These vital goals helped to take Liverpool into the Champions League and led many to suggest that the club had signed him ten years too late.

However, McAllister saved his best for those two finals the following May. He came on as a substitute in the FA Cup Final and his performance, together with Michael Owen's goals, turned the match after Liverpool had seemed to be heading for defeat against Arsenal.^[11] Four days later he was named in the starting line-up in the UEFA Cup Final against Deportivo Alavés in Dortmund. McAllister scored one, and had a hand in three, of the five Liverpool goals in a memorable 5–4 victory. He slotted home a penalty and Alaves' Delfi Geli scored a golden own goal from his 117th minute free-kick.^[12] He was deservedly awarded the man of the match award for his efforts and completed the season's success by scoring a penalty in Liverpool's 2–1 win over Manchester United in the Charity Shield at the start of the next season.^[13]

During his time at Anfield his presence, intelligent play and experience made a strong impression on the younger members of the squad and he seemed to inspire those around him when they found themselves in difficulty.^[14] This is one of the qualities that have led to his nickname The Enforcer by which he was known throughout his career.^[15]

McAllister left Anfield on 13 May 2002 to take up the role of player-manager of Coventry City.^[3] He ended his Liverpool career with an emotional send-off with a substitute appearance in a 5–0 win over Ipswich Town.^[16] The whole ground stood and applauded the "Kop hero" and despite only being with Liverpool for two years, he had featured 87 times and scored nine goals.^[5] In recognition for his contribution to the club's success, McAllister was named as number 32 in the 100 Players Who Shook The Kop survey.^[17]

[edit] Scotland

McAllister represented Scotland on 57 occasions and scored 5 goals. He is a former Scotland captain.

[edit] Managerial career

[edit] Coventry City

McAllister had a fairly indifferent spell in management with his former club Coventry. However, he resigned on 12 January 2004 so that he could devote more time to his family. He had recently stepped down on a temporary basis in order to be with his wife, Denise, while she underwent treatment for breast cancer. McAllister's former assistant Eric Black replaced him three days later.^[18] His wife, Denise died on 3 March 2006, aged 38.^[19]

[edit] Leeds United

After almost four years out of the game, McAllister, who was part of the squad the last time Leeds had won the League Championship, was appointed the new manager of Leeds United on 29 January 2008 with an initial contract until the end of the season.^[4] The club was sitting in sixth place after former boss Wise's surprise departure to Newcastle and the new manager's first game came four days after his appointment. McAllister had not had sufficient time to get to know his new players, so the selection duties were primarily on technical director Gwyn Williams, who had presided over Leeds' 1–0 away defeat to Southend United.^[20] Leeds lost the game 2–0 to Tranmere Rovers and slipped to eighth in the table and it became clear that McAllister would need to turn the tide if Leeds were to regain a play-off spot.

The new manager bagged his first win at the fifth attempt, in a 1–0 away victory over Swindon Town,^[21] before following it up with his first home victory against Bournemouth, in which Leeds beat the relegation-threatened side 2–0.^[22]

Leeds chairman Ken Bates rewarded McAllister for his hard work and the team's good form – just two defeats in 12 games – by offering him a new 12-month rolling contract on 3 April 2008.^[23] Bates cited McAllister's general improvement of team performances and his planning for the club's future as reasons for offering him the new contract.^[24]

McAllister's task of getting The Whites into The Championship the same season took considerable step-forwards, as Leeds secured their spot in the play-offs with a 1–0 at Yeovil Town on 25 April 2008. But Leeds lost to Doncaster, 1–0 in the play-off final. During his second season as manager McAllister was sacked on 21 December 2008 after a poor string of results, which included an FA Cup defeat to part-time club Histon.^[25]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Playing career

Club Performance

Club	Season	League	Domestic League		Scottish Cup		Scottish League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Motherwell	1981–82	SD1	1	0	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	1	0
	1982–83	SPL	1	0	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	1	0
	1983–84		21	0	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	21	0
	1984–85	SD1	35	6	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	35	6
	1985–86	SPL	1	0	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	1	0
	Total		59	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	59	6
Club	Season	League	Domestic League		FA Cup		League Cup		Europe		Others		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Leicester City	1985–86	Div 1	31	7	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	31	7
	1986–87		39	10	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	39	10
	1987–88	Div 2	42	9	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	42	9
	1988–89		46	11	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	46	11
	1989–90		43	10	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	?	43	10
	Total		201	47	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	201	47
Leeds United	1990–91	Div 1	38	2	6	1	7	2	0	0	4	1	55	6
	1991–92		42	5	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	47	5
	1992–93	Prem	32	5	4	2	3	1	5	2	0	0	44	10
	1993–94		42	8	3	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	47	8
	1994–95		41	6	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	47	6
	1995–96		36	5	6	3	8	1	4	1	0	0	54	10
	Total		231	31	24	6	26	4	9	3	4	1	294	45
Coventry City	1996–97	Prem	38	6	4	0	4	1	0	0	0	0	46	7
	1997–98		14	0	0	0	4	2	0	0	0	0	18	2
	1998–99		29	3	3	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	33	4
	1999–00		38	11	3	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	43	13
	Total		119	20	10	1	11	5	0	0	0	0	140	26
Liverpool	2000–01	Prem	30	5	5	0	5	0	9	2	0	0	49	7
	2001–02		25	0	0	0	1	1	11	0	1	1	38	2
	Total		55	5	5	0	6	1	20	2	1	1	87	9
Coventry City	2002–03	Div 1	41	7	3	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	46	9
	2003–04		14	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	14	3
	Total		55	10	3	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	60	12
Career Totals			720	119	42	8	45	11	29	5	5	2	841	145

[edit] Managerial career

Team	Nat	From	To
				P	W	D	L	Success Rate %
Coventry City		24 April 2002	11 December 2003	76	21	26	29	39.04%
Leeds United		30 January 2008	21 December 2008	50	25	8	17	55.33%

Managers' success rate is based on points scored out of maximum points available i.e. win = 3 points, draw = 1 point, loss = 0 points.
The statistics include all league, cup & European first team fixtures.
Information correct as of match played 21 December 2008.

[edit] Honours

[edit] Club honours

Motherwell

• 1984–85 — Scottish Division One

Leeds United

• 1991–92 — League Championship
• 1993 — Charity Shield
• 1996 — League Cup (Runner Up)

Liverpool

• 2001 — League Cup
• 2001 — FA Cup
• 2001 — UEFA Cup
• 2001 — Charity Shield
• 2001 — UEFA Super Cup

[edit] Personal honours

• Scotland Football Hall of Fame — 57 Caps
• MBE – Services to football.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Gary McAllister career stats at Soccerbase
• Gary McAllister management career stats at Soccerbase
• Full Managerial Stats for Leeds United from WAFLL
• ThisIsAnfield.com Exclusive interview
• Leeds United AFC past player profile
• Liverpool FC past player profile

Sporting positions
Preceded by Gordon Strachan	Leeds United captain 1994–1996	Succeeded by Lucas Radebe

v • d • e Scotland squad – 1990 FIFA World Cup 1 Leighton • 2 McLeish • 3 Aitken • 4 Gough • 5 McStay • 6 Malpas • 7 Johnston • 8 Bett • 9 McCoist • 10 MacLeod • 11 Gillespie • 12 Goram • 13 Durie • 14 McInally • 15 Levein • 16 McCall • 17 McKimmie • 18 Collins • 19 McPherson • 20 McAllister • 21 Fleck • 22 Gunn • Coach: Roxburgh

v • d • e Scotland squad – UEFA Euro 1992 1 Goram • 2 Gough • 3 McStay • 4 Malpas • 5 McCoist • 6 McClair • 7 Durie • 8 McPherson • 9 McKimmie • 10 McCall • 11 McAllister • 12 Smith • 13 Nevin • 14 Gallacher • 15 Boyd • 16 McInally • 17 Whyte • 18 Bowman • 19 McLaren • 20 Ferguson • Coach: Roxburgh

v • d • e Scotland squad – UEFA Euro 1996 1 Leighton • 2 McKimmie • 3 Boyd • 4 Calderwood • 5 Hendry • 6 Whyte • 7 Spencer • 8 McCall • 9 McCoist • 10 McAllister • 11 Collins • 12 Goram • 13 T. McKinlay • 14 Durie • 15 Jess • 16 Burley • 17 B. McKinlay • 18 Gallacher • 19 Jackson • 20 Booth • 21 Gemmill • 22 Walker • Coach: Brown

v • d • e Coventry City F.C. – Managers Stanley (1883–85s) · Hathaway (1885–87s) · Morgan (1887–92s) · Kirk (1893–s) · Maley (1893–s) · Collins (1893–95s) · Cashmore (1895–1900s) · Newhall (1900–02s) · O'Shea (1902–05s) · Beaman (1905–08s) · Harris (1908–09s) · Buckle (1909–10) · Wallace (1910–13) · Scott-Walford (1913–15) · Howard (1915–17c) · Clayton (1919–19) · Pollitt (1919–20) · Evans (1920–24) · Harbourne (1924c) · Kerr (1924–28) · McIntyre (1928–31) · Slade (1931c) · Storer (1931–45) · Bayliss (1945–47) · Frith (1947–48) · Storer (1948–53) · Fairbrother (1953–54) · Elliott (1954–55c) · Carver (1955–56) · Raynor (1956) · Warren (1956–57) · Frith (1957–61) · Hill (1961–67) · Cantwell (1967–72) · Dennison (1972c) · Mercer (1972–74) · Milne (1974–81) · Sexton (1981–83) · Gould (1983–84) · Mackay (1984–86) · Curtis (1986–87) · Sillett (1987–90) · Butcher (1990–92) · Howe (1992c) · Gould (1992–93) · Neal (1993–95) · Atkinson (1995–96) · Strachan (1996–01) · Nilsson (2001–02) · Peake (2002c) · McAllister (2002–03) · Black (2003–04) · Ogrizovic (2004c) · Reid (2004–05) · Heath (2005c) · Adams (2005–07) · Heath (2007c) · Dowie (2007–08) · Harbin & Bunn (2008c) · Coleman (2008–) (s) secretary (c) caretaker

v • d • e Leeds United A.F.C. – Managers Ray (1919–20) · Fairclough (1920–1927) · Ray (1927–35) · Hampson (1935–47) · Edwards (1947–48) · Buckley (1948–53) · Carter (1953–58) · Edwards (1958(c)) · Lambton (1958–59) · Taylor (1959–61) · Revie (1961–74) · Clough (1974) · Lindley (1974(c)) · Armfield (1974–78) · Lindley (1978(c)) · Stein (1978) · Lindley (1978(c)) · Adamson (1978–80) · Lindley (1980(c)) · Merrington (1980(c)) · Clarke (1980–82) · Gray (1982–85) · Gunby (1985(c)) · Bremner (1985–88) · Hunter (1988(c)) · Wilkinson (1988–96) · Graham (1996–98) · O'Leary (1998–2002) · Venables (2002–03) · Reid (2003) · Gray (2003–04(c)) · Blackwell (2004–06) · Carver (2006(c)) · Geddis (2006(c)) · Wise (2006–08) · Williams (2008(c)) · McAllister (2008) · Grayson (2008–) (c) caretaker

Persondata
NAME	McAllister, Gary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	Football (soccer) manager
DATE OF BIRTH	1964-12-25
PLACE OF BIRTH	Motherwell, Scotland
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH