Jim McInally

James Edward McInally (born 19 February 1964) is a Scottish football manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of Scottish League Two club Peterhead.

He won Scotland youth caps and then debuted under Billy McNeil on 28 August 1982 in a 7-1 league cup victory at Dunfermline Athletic.

However McNeil left in June 1983 and was replaced by Davie Hay who had no plans for McInally at Celtic.

He was flown down by Brian Clough to watch Nottingham Forest against Manchester United for the final league game of the 1983/84 season (Forest won 2--0).

He was a guest of Forest at the game with two other players they were signing, Johnny Metgod and Gary Megson.

McInally's Forest debut was in and end of season tour in Australia.

While living in Nottingham's Balmoral Hotel he spent Christmas as a guest at the Clough household.

McInally was player of the year at the end of his first Forest season.

Despite this success he stayed at Forest for only 18 months.

In January 1984 McInally was loaned to Dundee where he scored twice in his 11 league games.

McInally left after only one appearance for Celtic in each of the league and the Scottish Cup to add to his debut in the league cup against Dunfermline.

McInally also played for Celtic, Nottingham Forest (1985 Player of the Year), Coventry City, Raith Rovers, Dundee and Sligo Rovers.

In the summer of 1985 Stuart Pearce was signed by Clough.

Pearce was the makeweight in a £300,000 deal bringing Coventry centre-back Ian Butterworth to Forest.

So unsure was Pearce of his footballing future that after the transfer he advertised his services as an electrician in Forest's match-day programme.

However Pearce immediately established himself at left back making 30 league appearances before the end of the season.

McInally played beside Pearce in some games that season before leaving after his last game on 26 December 1985.

McInally's last game was a 1–0 win away at Birmingham City.

McInally moved in the opposite direction to Pearce joining Dave Bowman at Coventry City for £112,000.

He played five first team games there before he and Bowman double transferred to Scotland at the end of the season.

McInally and Bowman joined Dundee United in the summer of 1986 in a £140,000 joint transfer.

At Tannadice McInally quickly became an effective defensive midfielder and played an important part in Dundee United's run to the UEFA Cup Final in his first season.

McInally scored the opener in the home leg of the third round tie against Hajduk Split.

United beat F.C. Barcelona home and away and then eliminated Borussia Mönchengladbach in the semi-final.

They lost 2–1 on aggregate in the final to IFK Goteborg.

Bowman and McInally played in three losing Dundee United Scottish final teams.

These were in 1987 to St Mirren, 1988 to Celtic and the 1991 final to Motherwell in which Bowman scored.

McInally's first full cap was on 1 April 1987 losing 4–1 in a European Championship qualifier away to Belgium.

He gained 10 full caps with the Scotland national football team for whom he played at the UEFA Euro 1992 finals in Sweden.

His management career began with a player-manager role at Sligo Rovers.

After his playing retirement he took charge of Greenock Morton, East Stirlingshire and was then manager of Peterhead for 11 years.

McInally began senior his career at left back with Celtic, the team he supported as a boy.

He played for Dundee United for 10 seasons in which he won the 1993–94 Scottish Cup and played in the 1987 UEFA Cup Final.

At United he was also a three time Scottish Cup runner-up.

They collected a winners medal from the 1994 Scottish Cup Final win against Rangers.

In 1995, following United's relegation to the Scottish Football League First Division, McInally remained in the Premier Division by joining newly promoted Raith Rovers as player/coach.

In early 1996, McInally was due to join Aberdeen in a swap deal for Peter Hetherston, and was paraded at a Pittodrie news conference.

Hetherston however failed a medical and the move collapsed.

A few weeks into the following season, McInally moved back to Tannadice and made sixteen appearances.

He then moved back to Dundee as a player-coach at Dens Park.