Stuart McCall

Andrew Stuart Murray McCall (born 10 June 1964) is a professional football coach and former player.

He was most recently assistant manager at Sheffield United.

McCall played in a total of 763 league games and in 40 full international matches for Scotland during his playing career.

McCall was signed by George Mulhall in 1980 from Farsley Celtic on his 16th birthday, before becoming one of the club's two apprentices in June 1981.

McCall started his career with Bradford City, where he made his first-team debut in 1982.

He played six seasons at Valley Parade, during which time he won the Division Three championship, a title which was overshadowed by the Bradford City stadium fire when 56 people died and in which his father Andy was injured.

Mulhall's successor, Roy McFarland, gave McCall his first-team debut at Reading on 28 August 1982 – the opening day of the 1982–83 season – when he deputised for Ces Podd at right back.

He had played just six league games by 29 January 1983 when he made the first of 134 consecutive league appearances, all in midfield under new manager Trevor Cherry.

During the summer of 1984, Cherry made the two key signings of central defender Dave Evans and right winger John Hendrie to build on the previous season's high finish.

McCall was an integral part of the team as City won the Division Three championship in 1984–85, during which he scored eight goals as one of two ever-present players.

The title was assured in the penultimate game when McCall scored the second goal in a 2–0 victory over Bolton Wanderers.

The league title was paraded before the final game of the season on 11 May 1985 at home to Lincoln City.

However, the club's title was overshadowed when 56 people died in the Bradford City stadium fire when the Valley Parade ground's main stand caught fire after 40 minutes of play, during which McCall's father, who was with other family members, was badly injured.

After missing out on promotion in 1987–88, McCall moved to Everton, for whom he scored twice but finished on the losing side in the 1989 FA Cup Final.

He won 40 international caps and scored one goal in the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy.

In 1991, he moved to Rangers, with whom he spent seven seasons and won five league titles, three Scottish Cups and two Scottish League Cups.

McCall returned to Bradford City as captain to take them into the top division of English football for the first time in 77 years.

He also played in two European Championships but his international career ended after he was left out of the 1998 World Cup squad.

McCall was part of the coaching staff during his second playing spell at Bradford City, briefly serving as caretaker-player manager in 2000.

After four seasons he moved to Sheffield United, where he retired as a player in 2005.

Born and raised in England, McCall qualified to play for Scotland through his Scottish father.

He continued his coaching at Sheffield United and was assistant manager to Neil Warnock until May 2007, when he returned to Bradford City as their manager.

He spent two and a half seasons in charge of Bradford City, leaving in February 2010.

Just before the end of 2010, he was appointed Motherwell manager.

He stayed at Fir Park for four years, helping the club finish second in the league twice.

City finished 12th in Division Three that season.

The following season City struggled to make up for the absence of Bobby Campbell, who had left to join Derby County, and won just one of their first fifteen games, until Cherry bought Campbell back from Derby, and City won a record ten consecutive games on their way to a seventh-place finish.

After a poor start to the 2014–15 season, he resigned in November 2014.

McCall was appointed manager of Rangers in March 2015, but left the club at the end of a short-term contract.

McCall returned to Bradford City for a second spell as manager in June 2016.

The team reached the play-off final in his first season, but this was lost and he was sacked in February 2018.

After a short spell with Scunthorpe United, McCall was appointed Bradford manager for a third time in February 2020.

Stuart McCall was born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to Scottish parents Andy, a former professional footballer, and Jean McCall.

He was the couple's third child after Leslie and Janette, who were 20 and 15 respectively when Stuart was born.

The family home was just round the corner from Leeds United's Elland Road ground where McCall would spend many Saturday afternoons watching United, dreaming of following his father and playing for Leeds, even after the family moved to Wortley.

McCall played football for Upper Wortley Primary School and Thornhill Middle School, even scoring a winning goal for the latter in a cup final when he came on as a substitute with his arm in a sling.

While McCall also played table tennis as a schoolboy, football was a focus, and he captained the Leeds under-11 boys team and played for other Leeds representative sides.

McCall's parents split and he made up for his size when he moved to one of Leeds' toughest estates and played for pub sides by the age of 14.

He moved schools to Harrington High and also played for local young sides Pudsey Juniors, Holbeck and later Farsley Celtic.

McCall thought he had missed his chance of playing professionally after a string of other players were signed by professional clubs, until Farsley played Bradford City's junior side in a friendly and he impressed coach Bryan Edwards enough to be asked for a trial.