| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | John Miller McColl[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1927-06-07)7 June 1927[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Alexandria, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 25 October 2008(2008-10-25) (aged 81) | ||
| Place of death | Glasgow, Scotland[3] | ||
| Position(s) | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Vale of Leven | |||
| 1943–1945 | Queen's Park | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1945–1960 | Rangers | 362 | (12) |
| International career | |||
| 1950–1958 | Scotland | 14 | (0) |
| 1952–1958 | Scottish League XI | 7 | (3) |
| 1958[4] | SFL trial v SFA | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1960–1965 | Scotland | ||
| 1965–1968 | Sunderland | ||
| 1967 | Vancouver Royal Canadians | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
John Miller "Ian"McColl (7 June 1927 – 25 October 2008)[5] was a Scottishfootball player andmanager. McColl played as adefender forQueen's Park andRangers, while he also represented both theScotland national team and theScottish League. After retiring as a player, he managed the Scotland national team and English clubSunderland.
Born inAlexandria, West Dunbartonshire,[2] the grandson of Scotland internationalWilliam McColl, McColl developed his footballing skills withVale of Leven (Juniors), and joinedQueen's Park in 1943[6] when he moved toGlasgow to study engineering at theUniversity of Glasgow.[7] He continued his studies after turning professional and later worked as a qualified engineer.[3]
RangersmanagerBill Struth signed McColl in 1945.[8] During his 15-year spell atIbrox, he won six League championships, fiveScottish Cups and twoLeague Cups.[8] He captained the club during the 1950s and was part of what was known as theIron Curtain defence, alongside the likes ofSammy Cox,Willie Woodburn andGeorge Young.[8]
His final appearance for Rangers was in the1960 Scottish Cup Final, a 2–0 win againstKilmarnock. He made a total of 575 appearances for the Glasgow club in all competitions.[9] He also won 14caps for Scotland and represented theScottish League XI.[10]
After his playing career, he quickly went intomanagement. He was appointed manager of Scotland in 1960 and enjoyed a winning start, beatingNorthern Ireland 5–2 atHampden Park. Under McColl's managership, Scotland wonBritish Home Championships in1962 and1963.[8] The team beatEngland 2–0 at Hampden and 2–1 at Wembley in the process. Other notable results under his tenure include a 6–2 win againstSpain in Madrid, a 6–1 win over Northern Ireland inBelfast and a 6–1 win overNorway in Glasgow. He was in charge of Scotland for a total of 27 matches, winning 16 of them.[8] This gave him awinning percentage of 59.3%, the second best of any Scotland manager.[11]
McColl was appointed manager ofSunderland in 1965. Despite signingJim Baxter,[8] McColl was unable to make Sunderland into a successful side.[11] He was sacked by Sunderland in 1968 and spent the rest of his working life as acivil engineer.[11]
| Scotland national team[12] | ||
|---|---|---|
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 1950 | 4 | 0 |
| 1951 | 1 | 0 |
| 1956 | 3 | 0 |
| 1957 | 5 | 0 |
| 1958 | 1 | 0 |
| Total | 14 | 0 |
As of 28 March 2015[update]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Scotland |  | 1960 | 1965 | 28 | 17 | 3 | 8 | 060.71 |
| Sunderland |  | 1965 | 1968 | 124 | 39 | 27 | 58 | 031.45 |
 | ||
