.png) McLintock in April 1970 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Francis McLintock | ||
| Date of birth | (1939-12-28)28 December 1939 (age 85) | ||
| Place of birth | Glasgow, Scotland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)[1][2] | ||
| Position | Centre-back | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1955–1956 | Shawfield | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1956–1964 | Leicester City | 168 | (25) |
| 1964–1973 | Arsenal | 314 | (26) |
| 1973–1977 | Queens Park Rangers | 127 | (5) |
| Total | 609 | (56) | |
| International career | |||
| 1962–1964[3] | SFA trial v SFL | 2 | (0) |
| 1962[4] | Scotland U23 | 1 | (0) |
| 1963–1971 | Scotland | 9 | (1) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1977–1978 | Leicester City | ||
| 1984–1987 | Brentford | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Francis McLintockMBE (born 28 December 1939) is a Scottish formerfootballer, football manager and businessman.[5] He also worked as a sports agent and football pundit in his later life.
He began his career inScottish Junior football withShawfield, before earning a professional contract with EnglishFirst Division clubLeicester City in December 1956. He played in twoFA Cup final defeats before he was sold toArsenal for £80,000 in October 1964. He had a poor start to his career at Arsenal, though he did feature in twoLeague Cup final defeats, but he found success at the club after being switched fromright-half tocentre-half in 1969. Appointed as captain he led the club to their first European trophy, theInter-Cities Fairs Cup in1970. The following season, 1970–71, he captained Arsenal tothe Double, as they won the league and the FA Cup. He was sold toQueens Park Rangers in June 1973 for a fee of £25,000, and helped the club to finish as First Division runners-up in 1975–76, before he announced his retirement in May 1977. He scored a total of 66 goals in 766 league and cup games in a 20-year professional career, and won nine caps forScotland in an eight-year international career.
McLintock was appointed manager of Leicester City in June 1977, but resigned in April 1978 with the club heading out of the First Division. After a spell coaching at QPR, he returned to management withBrentford in February 1984. He took theBees to the1985 Football League Trophy Final, before he resigned in January 1987. He later worked as assistant manager atMillwall, before becoming a sports agent and football pundit.
McLintock was appointed aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the1972 New Year Honours.[6]
McLintock was born in Sandyfaulds Street,Glasgow, and brought up in theOatlands area of theGorbals. He was the son of Catherine, a cleaner, and Archie McLintock, a casual labourer, and grew up in poverty with elder sister Jean.[7] He was brought upCatholic and attended the local Catholic school, St Bonaventure's. He hated thesectarianism in Glasgow.[8]
McLintock started his semi-professional career at the age of 15 in theScottish Juniors with his local club,Shawfield.[9] He worked during the week as an apprenticepainter and decorator.[10] He soon began attracting interest from Scottish and English clubs, but decided to join an English club as he did not want to join a Scottish club only to be sent back on loan in the Junior leagues to gain experience.[11]
He had a successful trial withLeicester City in December 1956, and was offered a part-time contract on his 17th birthday, with Shawfield receiving a £400 fee.[12] At his mother's insistence, he continued his painting and decorating apprenticeship in Leicester, and would continue in the trade alongside playing football for the next five years.[13] He found it easy to settle at the club as managerDave Halliday and a total of 27 players and trainers atFilbert Street were Scottish.[14] He was initially quite short but experienced a growth spurt, and gained extra leg muscles as he cycled to and from work and training.[15] In fact McLintock's initial 5 ft 2 in (1.57 m) physique meant Halliday was keen to terminate his contract, but he was persuaded not to by coachMatt Gillies, who had witnessed the extra training McLintock put in every day.[16] In his spare time he also trained with his left foot to become a two-footed player.[17]
Gillies replaced Halliday as manager, and handed McLintock his debut eight games into the1959–60 season, a 3–3 draw withBlackpool atBloomfield Road.[18] He kept his first team place and picked up two-man of the match awards but after a mistimed tackle onArsenal'sJackie Henderson he was initially diagnosed with extensive cartilage damage in his right knee and was scheduled in for a risky surgical procedure, but after demanding a second opinion he was diagnosed with a sprain and was sidelined for sixteen weeks.[19] He returned to action in February after replacing new signingIan White in the starting eleven, and scored his first goal for theFoxes in a 3–1 victory overManchester United.[20]
He was still struggling with his knee so missed the start of the1960–61 season, but was returned to the starting line-up in September as City began to put a good set of results together, beating Manchester United 6–0, Arsenal home and away, and putting five goals past bothWest Ham United andNewcastle United.[21] They went on to reach the1961 FA Cup final againstTottenham Hotspur atWembley Stadium; the day before the final McLintock painted a cellar as part of his painting and decorating job.[22] An injury sustained byLen Chalmers early in the game meant that McLintock was shifted from right-half to fill in at right-back, and ten-men Leicester fell to a 2–0 defeat.[23] In the summer he qualified as a painter and decorator, and immediately quit his job to focus on full-time football.[24]Liverpool managerBill Shankly made a transfer bid for him, but was rebuffed by the Leicester board, as wasLeeds United managerDon Revie.[25]
The1961–62 campaign represented a step back for Leicester as they dropped eight places down to 14th place. Injury meant McLintock featured in only oneEuropean Cup Winners' Cup game, a 1–1 home draw with eventual winnersAtlético Madrid, and prevented him from playing in the reverse fixture at theEstadio Metropolitano de Madrid, which Madrid won.[26] In the summer, McLintock and goalkeeperGordon Banks refused to sign new contracts at the club as they demanded a £10 a week raise to £30 a week – the pair were vilified in the local press to such an extent that McLintock went into the offices of theLeicester Mercury to forcibly put his case across to the sports editor – and eventually after three months they settled for £28 a week.[27]
During the1962–63 season he forged an effective half-back partnership withColin Appleton andIan King and was part of the revered "Ice Kings" team which won a series of games over the course of thebrutal winter and came within nine points of winningthe Football League.[28] City were top of theFirst Division with five games to go but picked up only one point from these final five games.[29] They also had an excellent run in theFA Cup to reach the1963 FA Cup final, and were installed as favourites ahead of Manchester United.[30] However McLintock and his teammates were poor on the day, and United won the match 3–1.[31] Having been on course for theDouble in April, Leicester ended May with a fourth-place finish and as runners-up in the cup.
Early in the1964–65 season, McLintock was still unhappy with his contract at Leicester City and with what he perceived to be the club's lack of ambition.[32] Despite the board relenting and offering him £80 a week to sign a new contract, he had already made up his mind to leave the club in favour of the chance to win "cups and caps" elsewhere and put in a formal transfer request.[33]
In October 1964, McLintock was signed by Arsenal for aclub record £80,000.[34] He endured a poor début atHighbury, mishitting a back-pass to allowNottingham Forest'sJohn Barnwell – who ironically had been sold by Arsenal to finance McLintock's transfer – to score an easy goal.[35] He found that managerBilly Wright had no identifiable system of play and McLintock soon regretted joining the club as his first four games all ended in defeat.[36] He was in poor form in the 1964–65,1965–66 and1966–67 seasons but remained a regular first team player as theGunners struggled in mid-table.[37] He insisted that the club change strip from red and white to all red so as to rid the team of the stigma of failing to live up to the highly successful red and white Arsenal teams of previous years; the experiment lasted for just the 1966–67 season before Arsenal reverted to red and white.[38] Dissatisfied with the club's management, he put in a transfer request, which was denied by the board.[39]
The new management duo ofBertie Mee andDave Sexton began to slowly turn the team around, and Arsenal improved to ninth place by the1967–68 campaign.[40] After Sexton's departure,Don Howe was promoted to first team coach and continued to improve the team's training methods.[41] They reached theLeague Cup final at Wembley Stadium in1968, but were beaten 1–0 by Leeds United, with Arsenal having an equalising goal ruled out after McLintock was judged to have fouled goalkeeperGary Sprake.[42] In the summer, he was named asArsenal's Player of the Year and his initial four-year contract came to an end.[43]
He was appointed as team captain for the1968–69 season, taking over fromTerry Neill, and signed a new four-year contract.[44] For the second successive season, Arsenal reached theLeague Cup final, and as opponentsSwindon Town were from theThird Division, McLintock expected that he would finally secure a trophy on his fourth visit to Wembley.[45] However, Swindon won 3–1 after extra-time and McLintock blamed aninfluenza outbreak that affected him and five other teammates on the day and also blamed theHorse of the Year Show for ruining the pitch.[46] The disappointment did not detract from their league form however, and they secured a place in theInter-Cities Fairs Cup with a fourth-place finish.[47]
He started the1969–70 season at centre-half after initially filling in at the position for an injuredPeter Simpson towards the end of the previous campaign; this in turn allowedGeorge Graham to move back and play in midfield.[48] McLintock and Simpson formed a highly effective centre-back partnership, and soon mastered the offside trap.[49] In Europe, he missed the first two rounds due to injury, before returning to the starting eleven for victories overRouen (France),FCM Bacău (Romania) andAjax (Netherlands) to reachthe final against Belgian clubAnderlecht.[50] Arsenal lost 3–1 in the first leg atConstant Vanden Stock Stadium as Anderlecht outplayed them.[51] They turned the tie around at Highbury though and won the game 3–0 and the tie 4–3 to secure the club's first major trophy in 17 years.[52]
He captained Arsenal to the Double in the1970–71 season, in what was only the fourth time the feat had been accomplished in the history of the Football League. Aside from a 5–0 defeat toStoke City, Arsenal built their success on a solid defence, and claimed ten 1–0 victories during the campaign.[53] They secured the title with a 1–0 victory overNorth London derby rivals Tottenham Hotspur atWhite Hart Lane,Ray Kennedy scoring the winning goal.[54] In theFA Cup final, they beat Liverpool 2–1 after extra-time, withCharlie George scoring the winning goal.[55] To complete the campaign, McLintock was named asFWA Footballer of the Year.[56]
The words used to describe us during the 1970–71 season – dull, sterile, unimaginative – reflect the generally dismissive tone levelled at us. Even the compliments we got – well organised, highly efficient, powerful – had the whiff of back-handed tributes.
McLintock later said that Arsenal were never the same force after Don Howe left to manageWest Bromwich Albion in the summer of 1971, and that complacency crept into the squad.[58] He felt that new coachSteve Burtenshaw was not tough enough on the squad and failed to keep the players focused.[59] The pressing game was abandoned to suit new record signingAlan Ball, who was talented but did not fit the style of play that had brought the team success.[60] McLintock held a clear the air meeting with the players in January, and asked the coaching staff not to attend, and though the team accepted that their standards had fallen the meeting still did not have the desired effect of improving performances.[61] They exited theEuropean Cup at the hands of Ajax, McLintock giving away a disputed penalty at theOlympic Stadium.[62] They ended the1971–72 league campaign in fifth place, six points behind championsDerby County. Arsenal did reach theFA Cup final, but were beaten 1–0 by Leeds United.[63]
He was dropped midway through the1972–73 campaign, and reacted badly to the news by exploding with anger towards Mee.[64] He returned to the first team in February following an injury toJeff Blockley, but was told by Mee his return was only temporary.[65] He made a formal transfer request in March 1973, and in doing so gave up the chance to be granted a testimonial game for ten years' service to the club.[66]
McLintock was signed byQueens Park Rangers in June 1973 for a fee of £25,000; he chose to join QPR ahead of West Bromwich Albion as he wanted to remain in the First Division.[67] He spent the1973–74 season in a centre-back partnership withTerry Mancini, in front of goalkeeperPhil Parkes and flanked by full-backsDave Clement andIan Gillard, and helped Rangers to an eighth-place finish in managerGordon Jago's last season in charge.[68]
Dave Sexton took charge from the1974–75 campaign, and signedDavid Webb to replace Mancini who had moved on to Arsenal.[69] McLintock enjoyed his time atLoftus Road and said that during the1975–76 season, Rangers "were by miles the best football team in the country".[70] By March 1976, Rangers were in a two-way battle for the league title with Liverpool, and with three games to go they could win the league with three victories.[71] However, they were beaten byNorwich City and Liverpool won their remaining fixtures to become champions.[72] He made 53 appearances in the1976–77 campaign, before announcing his retirement in May 1977.[73]
McLintock made his debut forScotland in a 4–3 defeat toNorway on 4 June 1963, replacingDave Mackay on 78 minutes.[74] In his third appearance for Scotland, againstSpain on 13 June, he scored one of the goals in a 6–2 win.[75] However, he rarely featured after this game as Mackay,Paddy Crerand,John Greig,Bobby Murdoch,Pat Stanton andBilly Bremner were all preferred ahead of him at right-half.[76]
"The majority of the press had disappeared so far up theOld Firm's arses that they could never be objective about English-based players and theScottish Football Association (SFA) often treated us like the shit on their shoes."
— McLintock was heavily criticised by the Scottish press after many of his nine caps.[77]
McLintock joined his first clubLeicester City as manager in June 1977, succeedingJimmy Bloomfield who took theFoxes to an 11th-place finish in 1976–77.[78] He sold strikerFrank Worthington toBolton Wanderers for £20,000 as the player needed a signing on fee and higher wages to avoid bankruptcy.[79] He signedAlan Waddle in his place, who scored only one league goal for the club.[80] He signedEddie Kelly,David Webb,George Armstrong,Geoff Salmons andLammie Robertson, all of whom were coming to the end of their careers.[81] He spent £250,000 onRoger Davies, who also flopped at Filbert Street.[82] City went through a spell where they had one win in 26 matches.[83] He resigned in April 1978, with relegation into theSecond Division all but confirmed.[84]
He worked as a pundit for theBBC, before making his return to coaching whenTerry Venables appointed him as a youth team coach atQueens Park Rangers in December 1982.[85]
He was appointed as manager ofBrentford in February 1984, with theBees second-from-bottom in the Third Division.[86] His more successful signings included defenderTerry Evans, midfielderAndy Sinton and forwardRobbie Cooke.[86] He took Brentford tothe final of theFootball League Trophy in 1985, where they were beaten 3–1 byWigan Athletic.[86] He resigned in January 1987, and was replaced bySteve Perryman.[87]
He worked as assistant manager toJohn Docherty atMillwall from July 1987 to February 1990, helping theLions to win promotion as champions of the Second Division in1987–88.[88]
McLintock found success as anafter dinner speaker, and as a pundit forBBC Radio and atSky Sports where he spent 12 years working withRodney Marsh,George Best andClive Allen. He also worked as asports agent in the 1990s. In 2000, he helped form and began running H&M Security Services Ltd, with two partners, a company providing private security for a wealth of blue chip clients, only resigning as a Director in 2019 on the death of his wife.[89][90][91][5][92][93]
He maintained his love ofArsenal with a corporate box atHighbury, upgrading, when they moved across the railway tracks to theEmirates Stadium, the former captain is recognised as a true club supporter. He was an astute businessman, buying a pub,[94] and became an investor in prime residential property originally in his playing days his interest continued and he focused on the buy-to-let sector.
From 1963 to 2019, McLintock was married to Barbara Warner,[93] a native of Leicester.[92] The couple had four sons.[95]
He has written two autobiographies, the first,That's The Way The Ball Bounces in 1969 and subsequently,True Grit in 2006.[96]
| Club | Season | First Division | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Leicester City | 1959–60 | 17 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 2 |
| 1960–61 | 34 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 1 | |
| 1961–62 | 30 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 34 | 6 | |
| 1962–63 | 42 | 4 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 4 | |
| 1963–64 | 35 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 9 | |
| 1964–65 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 6 | |
| Total | 168 | 25 | 20 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 200 | 28 | |
| Arsenal | 1964–65 | 35 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 2 |
| 1965–66 | 36 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 2 | |
| 1966–67 | 40 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 45 | 11 | |
| 1967–68 | 38 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 51 | 6 | |
| 1968–69 | 37 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 48 | 1 | |
| 1969–70 | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 41 | 0 | |
| 1970–71 | 42 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 63 | 6 | |
| 1971–72 | 37 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 55 | 3 | |
| 1972–73 | 29 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 1 | |
| Total | 314 | 26 | 36 | 1 | 34 | 4 | 19 | 1 | 403 | 32 | |
| Queens Park Rangers | 1973–74 | 26 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 35 | 1 |
| 1974–75 | 30 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 34 | 0 | |
| 1975–76 | 35 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 41 | 2 | |
| 1976–77 | 36 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 53 | 3 | |
| Total | 127 | 5 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 163 | 6 | |
| Career total | 609 | 56 | 70 | 1 | 59 | 8 | 28 | 1 | 766 | 66 | |
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scotland | 1963 | 3 | 1 |
| 1964 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1967 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1970 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1971 | 3 | 0 | |
| Total | 9 | 1 | |
Leicester City
Arsenal
Individual
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |