Ian McCall (footballer)

Ian McCall

Personal information
Full name	Ian McCall
Date of birth	(1964-09-30) 30 September 1964
Place of birth	Dumfries, Scotland
Height
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Ayr United (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1983–1986	Queen's Park	66	(9)
1986–1987	Dunfermline Athletic	47	(8)
1987–1989	Rangers	21	(2)
1989–1990	Bradford City	12	(1)
1990–1991	Dunfermline Athletic	38	(5)
1991–1992	Dundee	27	(9)
1992–1994	Falkirk	75	(9)
1994–1995	Hamilton Academical	6	(1)
1995–1996	Happy Valley
1996–1997	Partick Thistle	7	(0)
1997–1998	Clydebank	21	(1)
Total		320	(45)
Managerial career
1997–2000	Clydebank
2000	Greenock Morton
2001–2002	Airdrieonians
2002–2003	Falkirk
2003–2005	Dundee United
2005–2007	Queen of the South
2007–2011	Partick Thistle
2015–	Ayr United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ian McCall (born 30 September 1964) is a Scottish former football player and current manager, who is currently the manager of Ayr United.

During his playing days McCall played for Queen's Park, Dunfermline Athletic, Rangers, Bradford City, Dundee, Falkirk, Hamilton Academical, Happy Valley, Partick Thistle and Clydebank.

He then began an extensive managerial career, mostly in the lower leagues of Scotland starting with Clydebank, Greenock Morton, Airdrieonians, Falkirk, Dundee United, Queen of the South and Partick Thistle before his current role.

Playing career

Ian McCall was born in Dumfries, Scotland. In his boyhood, he was a regular on the Palmerston terraces watching Queen of the South. His hopes of playing for his home town club were dashed, though, by then chairman Willie Harkness. "I played a trial game for the club, and thought I did reasonably well," McCall recalls. "Drew Busby was the manager, but I was told by Willie Harkness I might not make the grade. Instead I went to Queen's Park, and then three years after that was sold to Rangers for £250,000."

McCall began his career as a midfielder for Queen's Park in 1983, then was with Dunfermline Athletic from 1986 to 1987, and Rangers from 1987 to 1990. He was transferred to Bradford City for £200,000 before rejoining Dunfermline. His playing career also included spells with Dundee, Falkirk, Hamilton Academical, Happy Valley in Hong Kong and Partick Thistle back in Scotland. His final club as a player was Clydebank, where he became player-manager during the 1997–98 season.

McCall never made more than 75 league appearances in a single spell for one club. He made 85 league appearances for Dunfermline broken over two separate periods with the Fife club.

Managerial career

His spell at Clydebank took place against the backdrop of an abortive scheme to relocate the club to Dublin.

In 17 games in charge at Morton, McCall achieved five wins and 9 defeats.

This was followed by a move to Airdrieonians. Airdrie challenged for promotion to the Scottish Premier League before the club's extinction in 2002, making McCall the last manager in the club's history. McCall won 23 of his 65 games in charge.

A spell, at Falkirk, with the best win rate of his managerial career, led to McCall twice being offered the manager's job at Dundee United, which he finally accepted in January 2003. In McCall's first top flight managerial season the Tayside Club achieved a top-6 finish, but in the following season with the club in a relegation battle he was sacked in March 2005.

In November 2005, Ian McCall returned to management with his home town club Queen of the South. After a less than auspicious start to his reign as Queen of the South manager, the Palmerston outfit enjoyed somewhat of a resurgence in the early months of 2006, finally securing eight position in the league and thus avoiding having to play-off to maintain first division status. 2006/07 provided a second relegation battle. Allan Jenkins scored the Stranraer winner on a 2 January South West relegation derby leaving Queens firmly in the play off spot that was ninth place. However Jenkins was sold to Gretna 10 days later. Stranraer's league form imploded immediately recording only one other league win from then until the season's end. Despite narrowly avoiding relegation, Ian McCall was sacked by Queen of the South, with his assistant Gordon Chisholm taking over. His departure from Queen of the South was in bitter circumstances. McCall fielded an ineligible player in Jamie Adams in a Scottish Cup run early in 2007. Queens were fined £20,000 by the SFA. Chairman Davie Rae described the fine as, "A considerable sum". McCall's departure from Queens was at the season's end. In 70 games in charge McCall notched 19 wins.

He became manager of Partick Thistle in May 2007. staying until 15 April 2011 when he departed after achieving 70 wins from 179 games in charge.

After three years out of the game, McCall was appointed manager of Ayr United in January 2015. He led the "Honest Men" to promotion to the Scottish Championship through the play-offs in May 2016.

Media work

McCall has worked for a number of years as a media pundit. McCall commented, "I can't really slag my bosses at the BBC because they're my pals."

Personal life

McCall lives in Glasgow. He has a son from a previous marriage.

Honours and Achievements

Player

Falkirk

• Scottish Challenge Cup (1): 1992-93

Manager

Clydebank

• Scottish Second Division promotion (1): 1997-98 (third tier)

Airdrieonians

• Scottish Challenge Cup : 2001-02

Falkirk

• Stirlingshire Cup (1) : 2002-03

Dundee United

• Forfarshire Cup (1) : 2004-05

Ayr United

• Scottish Championship play-offs (1) : 2015-16 (promotion to second tier)

Managerial statistics

As of match played 15 May 2016

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
Clydebank		1996	2000
Morton		2000	2000	17	5	3	9	29.41
Airdrie		2001	2002	65	23	25	17	35.38
Falkirk		2002	2003	30	18	9	3	60.00
Dundee United		2003	2005	92	28	24	40	30.43
Queen of the South		2005	2007	62	18	19	25	29.00
Partick Thistle		2007	2011	112	46	30	32	41.07
Ayr United		2015	—	63	27	12	24
Total		1996	—	441	165	121	155

• no statistics currently for Clydebank F.C.

External links

• Ian McCall management career statistics at Soccerbase
• Independent profile