Stuart McCall
(1991-1998)
Full name Andrew Stuart Murray McCall
Date of birth 10 June 1964 (1964-06-10) (age 45)
Place of birth Leeds, England
Height 5 ft 7 in
Playing position Midfield
Playing career
Bradford (238, 37 goals)
Everton (103, 6 goals)
Rangers (194, 14 goals)
Bradford 157, 8 goals)
Sheffield Utd (71, 2 goals)
International caps 40 (1 goal)
In February 2008 Stuart McCall became the 71st player to be inducted into the Rangers Hall of Fame, former team-mate Ally McCoist doing the honours. The award was simply the latest in a string of silverware picked up by the combative midfielder in his long and successful career.
The Son of former Leeds player Andy McCall, Stuart was perhaps destined to play the game at the highest level. His small stature was made up for by a fearless nature that saw him at the tender age of 14 playing for pub sides in the rough Leeds sink estates of the late 70s. With home moves and changes of school Stuart played for several local youth teams, putting into good practice the skills and toughness he had earned through playing against adults. While playing for local side Farsley Celtic against a Bradford City youth team, the midfielder impressed Bradford coach Bryan Edwards sufficiently to be asked to attend a trial.
In 1980 Bradford manager George Mulhall signed the 16 year old McCall on youth terms before promoting him to apprentice at 17. McCall's debut would not come for a further year when new manager Roy McFarland gave the youngster a start at right back. Only 6 more appearances came between that August debut and January 1983, when McCall embarked on an astounding run of 134 consecutive league games. For a youngster to play in so many games speaks not only of a faith in his abilities from his manager, but also of the physical attributes of the man in an age where tackles were still tackles and players were afforded far less in the way of protection from referees.
McCall's best season at Bradford on the park was also the worst off it. 1984-85 saw Bradford confirm the Third Division title with a game to spare. The trophy was paraded at Valley Parade before the final game of the season on 11 May 1985 at home to Lincoln city. Just before half time the main stand caught fire, resulting in the deaths of 56 people. Stuart's father was severely injured during the fire, suffering from burns to the head and hands. Bradford spent the following season playing away from Valley Parade and managed an extremely creditable 13th place finish in Division 2. The squad attended as many funerals as was possible and developed a strong bond through adversity, so it was with a sense of disappointment that McCall looked for a new club. Between the disaster and 1988 Bradford had hovered around the middle of the Second Division. The management and owners failed to strengthen the side at a time that could have seen them promoted and this lack of ambition was cited as McCall's reason for a move to Everton that would prove to be the springboard for his Rangers career.
'I thought about transfer deadline day and Tordoff saying we should sell before buying. One or two new faces would have taken us over the finishing line, I was sure of it, and it nagged away. It wasn't about gambling, it was about lack of ambition.'
With Everton failing to recapture the form they had shown in the mid 80s and the English ban from European competition, McCall's time at the Merseyside club coincided with a period of underachievement at Goodison. The highlight of his time with Everton was the 1989 FA cup final. The substitute appearance lead to two equalizing goals against Liverpool, one in extra time, although the final was eventually lost.
Rangers had won 3 consecutive titles on the road to an eventual 9 when Walter Smith paid £1.2 million for McCall in 1991. McCall collected 14 medals in his time with Rangers, including the final 6 titles of that period of dominance. A tireless player with a huge will to win, McCall was a key component of the dominant force in Scottish football. It is easy to look at Stuart's size and build and pass him off as a workhorse, however the attitude and skill of the player meant that he was more than capable of dragging other players through a tough game or imposing his will on another team's midfield. The accolades he received as a player and later were entirely merited. It is also extremely interesting to note that for a central player of a combative nature, McCall was red carded only once in his entire career, and not once while plying his trade for Rangers.
Highlights of his time at Ibrox would include his outstanding performance against Leeds United: being a former Bradford player he had added motivation that night.
Although by no means a prolific scorer, he did net in the League Cup final against Aberdeen in the 92/93 season after Snelders made a mess of a pass-back from Miller: Rangers went on to win 2-1.
In 1998, with a year remaining on his contract, Walter Smith allowed McCall to leave Rangers for free, providing he moved to England. The club that had started the man's career were the beneficiaries and McCall was again an integral part of a Bradford promotion push. McCall was named Bradford's player of the year in a season that saw them gain promotion to the Premiership via a last day victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers. The following season saw Bradford narrowly avoid relegation and McCall promoted to assistant manager at the end of the term.McCall spent two further seasons with Bradford, including a spell as caretaker manager and a relegation in the same season. With administration looming McCall was released by then manager Nicky Law. The midfielder moved to Sheffield United where he spent two seasons before his eventual retirement at the age of 41.
In 2001 the two clubs that had played such a role in McCall's life came together for a testimonial. Over 21,000 turned out to watch players such as Ally McCoist, Paul Gascoigne, Jorg Albertz and Andy Goram beat a Bradford select by 4 goals to 2. It is a measure of the respect McCall is held in by the Rangers support that from that crowd, over 10,000 were souls who made the trip from Scotland.
McCall had a long and respectable international career with Scotland but things could have been entirely different if fate had played a different part. Called up for both the England and Scotland under 21 sides on the same day, McCall chose to represent England. He was a substitute for the game against Turkey and was not called upon until the final minute. By the time the change was about to be made the referee had called time on the match. He told Scottish newspaper Glasgow Herald later:
"I felt it was a mistake almost from the start. I was put on the bench and they tried to bring me on with a minute to go. But I took my time re-tying my boots and generally warming up and luckily didn't get on, otherwise that would have been that.".
This twist of fate left McCall eligible to play for both England and Scotland and it fell ironically, that his debut for the latter would be against the former. One more under 21 game, against France, would follow before an international career that would include Italia 90 and the European Championships in 1992 and 1996.
Stuart McCall is currently the manager of Bradford, having taken over the role on the first June 2007. His time at the helm has been mixed. The club had only 13 senior professionals when he took over and despite this a creditable 10th place finish in Division 2 was achieved. McCall has recently signed a deal to keep him with the club until 2011 and another mark of the man's temperament is that when, in his second season in charge, Bradford failed to reach the play-offs, McCall took a voluntary pay cut. If a players on-field attributes are an indication of his mind-set then there can be little doubt that the ambitious and tenacious midfielder has all it takes to succeed in club management.