Bill McGarry (Wolverhapton Wanderers manager)
Thanks once again to David
Szabo for informing me of the sad news of the
death of Bill McGarry on 17 March 2005.
Bill was manager of Wolves in the 1970-71 season during
their most successful period in history since the Billy
Wright era. It is always particularly sad for me when one
for the heroes of the 1970-71 FKS Soccer Stars album
dies, as this book was the starting point for this
website, it also shocks me tht more was not made of this
news in the national press. My thoughts go out to his
family.
This is the link that
David sent to me, followed by the report that could be
found there. http://www.rivals.net/default.asp?sid=935&p=2&stid=8375916
Former Manager Bill
McGarry Dies
By Wolvescentral
Date: 17/3/2005
Wolves today announced the death of former
manager Bill McGarry. Bill who guided Wolves to win
the 1974 League cup final died at the age of 77 after
a long illness. The club also announced that there
will be a minute's silence before the Stoke game.
Former Player John
McAlle (Wolverhampton Wanderers) added "He was a strict
disciplinarian but if you did the things he wanted
both on and off the field, and they were always the
right things, then you would have no problems with
him at all. Bill took us to two Cup semi-finals - one
League and one FA Cup - and the UEFA Cup final before
we finally won silverware by taking the League Cup in
1974, beating Manchester City 2-1. What a team they
had out - Francis Lee, Colin Bell and Denis Law.
Practically all of their players were internationals
and they were hot favourites on the day but we beat
them and we did it with discipline."
icHuddersfield - Former
Town star McGarry dies at 77 has the following.
Former Town star
McGarry dies at 77. March 18 2005
By The Huddersfield Daily Examiner
FORMER
Town stalwart Bill McGarry has died at his home in
South Africa aged 77.
The
wing-half who featured in the famous unchanged
defence when promotion from the original Division II
was won in 1952-53 had suffered a long illness.
Those
42 matches were among 381 he played for Town between
his debut at Bolton in March 1951 and his final game
at home to Lincoln in the last game of 1960 (he
notched 26 goals).
McGarry
is one of only 21 players to have represented England
while at Town, winning four caps, two of them at the
1954 World Cup finals in Switzerland.
He
also played for England B and the Football League and
in 1956, was in the Football Association
representative squad which toured South Africa, a
country with which he fell in love.
Having
been signed from home-city club Port Vale for
£12,000, on leaving Town, he became player-manager
of Bournemouth.
Having
played the last of more than 600 career games for the
South Coast club, he became boss of Watford in the
summer of 1963.
After
just over a season in charge of the Hornets, he took
over at Ipswich in September 1964, winning his first
major managerial honour in the shape of the Division
II title in 1968, when his side did the double over
Town.
A
matter of months into the following top-flight
campaign, Ipswich released him from his contract to
join Wolves, where he enjoyed further success.
In
tandem with coach Sammy Chung, who had played under
McGarry at Watford and worked with him at Ipswich,
the Town old boy led the Black Country club to their
only European final in 1972 (they lost out to Spurs
over two legs in the UEFA Cup), and to success over
Manchester City in the 1974 League Cup final, when
goalkeeper Gary Pierce, who had been signed from
Town, was their hero.
Wolves
had also won the old Texaco Cup in 1971.
Things
turned sour when Wolves were relegated from the top
flight in 1976, and after being sacked, McGarry had a
stint in charge of the Saudi Arabian national team
before returning to the English game with Newcastle
in November 1977.
That
lasted until he resigned four matches into the
1980-81 season.
He
had been unable to lead the Magpies back into the top
flight and had lost his top striker and future Town
coach Peter Withe to Aston Villa in a £500,000
transfer.
There
followed spells as Brighton chief scout, the coach of
Zambian club Power Dynamo and then the national team
before he spent 61 days in a second spell managing
Wolves in late 1985, when the club were struggling in
the old Division III (they were relegated at the end
of that season).
Disillusioned,
he disappeared from this country to return to South
Africa to coach Bophutaswana.
Elsie Revie (Widow of Leeds United manager,
Don Revie)
As many visitors to the
site may know, I'm a Leeds United fan, and many of us
Leeds fans have been touched by the sad news of the death
of Elsie Revie, Don Revie's
widow. For many of us, Elsie was a link to the Glory
Years, which hopefully will be returning once again over
the next few seasons. Elsie was President of the
Supporters club, and attended these functions
religiously.
The Official Leeds
United site reports the following at Leeds United Football
Club - Elsie Revie Passes Away
Leeds United are
greatly saddened to learn of the death of Elsie
Revie, widow of the club's most successful manager,
Don Revie. Elsie, who died in hospital in Scotland at
the age of 77, retained a great interest in Leeds
United from her late husband's appointment as manager
back in 1961 right up to her death yesterday.
She was the
president - and a very popular one - of the Leeds
United Supporters Club, a position she was appointed
to following the death of her husband in 1989. Her
interest in Leeds United was underlined by her
attendance at the annual dinner of the Supporters
Club where she always had words of encouragement for
fans and managers alike.
United manager Kevin
Blackwell led tributes from the club today when he
described her as the mother figure of Leeds United.
"She was one of the first people to ring me
after I got the job at Leeds to wish me all the best.
She also let me know what Leeds United meant to
everyone," he said.
"She said to me
that the situation I was facing at Leeds when I took
over was similar to the one her husband, Don, had
faced when he was appointed manager of Leeds back in
1961. She knew it was going to be a hard job but she
was always keen to offer words of encouragement and I
appreciated that.
"She had a kind
word for everyone she spoke to and she will be
sorely, sorely missed. She was the mother figure of
Leeds United football club and when you spoke to her
it was like talking with your mother. I had massive
respect for Elsie and I am greatly saddened by her
death," he added.
United's Chief
Executive Officer, Shaun Harvey added: "It is a
sad day. She followed the fortunes of Leeds United
keenly and was held in high esteem by all who knew
her. Our thoughts at this difficult time are with her
family."
Ray Fell, chairman
of Leeds United Supporters Club, said: "She was
an extremely well loved president and her death
leaves a void that will be hard to fill. She followed
her husband Don as president of our club and proved
to be a very popular one. She never missed our annual
event and was well loved by all our members. On a
personal note I was pleased to know her as a friend.
We shall all miss her."
Further
Spring 2005 news can be found at ...
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