Willie McFaul
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | William Stewart McFaul | ||
| Date of birth | 1 October 1943 | ||
| Place of birth | Coleraine, Northern Ireland | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1961–1966 | Linfield | ||
| 1966–1975 | Newcastle United | 290 | (0) |
| National team | |||
| Northern Ireland | 6 | (0) | |
| Teams managed | |||
| 1985–1988 | Newcastle United | ||
| 1989–1992 | Coleraine | ||
| 1998–2003 | Guam | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
|||
William Stewart McFaul (born 1 October 1943), known as Willie or Iam McFaul, is a Northern Irish former football player and now coach.
McFaul was born in Coleraine. He joined Newcastle United from Linfield 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. Things didn't go to plan and his spell as manager coincided with a lowly period in Coleraine 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.
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.
...
Wikipedia