 McFlynn playing forSydney FC in 2009 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Terence Martin McFlynn | ||
| Date of birth | (1981-03-27)27 March 1981 (age 44) | ||
| Place of birth | Magherafelt, Northern Ireland | ||
| Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Central midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Queens Park Rangers | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1997–2001 | Queens Park Rangers | 2 | (0) |
| 2001 | Woking | 10 | (1) |
| 2001–2003 | Margate | 63 | (8) |
| 2003–2005 | Morecambe | 35 | (5) |
| 2005–2014 | Sydney FC | 178 | (7) |
| 2014 | Bonnyrigg White Eagles | 11 | (0) |
| Total | 294 | (20) | |
| International career‡ | |||
| 1998–2000 | Northern Ireland U-19 | 12 | (2) |
| 2001 | Northern Ireland U-21 | 3 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 26 January 2014 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 17 February 2013 | |||
Terence Martin "Terry" McFlynn (born 27 March 1981) is a retiredfootballer from Northern Ireland who is most well known for playing for theA-League clubSydney FC. He is the director of football for A-League expansion clubAuckland FC.
McFlynn grew up inSwatragh, in Northern Ireland to a Catholic family. He playedGaelic Football for the first sixteen years of his life, one of Ireland's traditional sports, before he switched to football on advice from his uncle.[2]
McFlynn began his footballing career in England as an apprentice atQueens Park Rangers in 1996. McFlynn made only two first-team appearances in his five-year stay at the club – his first-team debut was made on 28 April 2001. He was released in 2001 and signed forWoking. McFlynn made 10 appearances for the West Surrey club scoring only once, in a short half-year deal.
McFlynn moved toMargate, initially on a one-month loan deal, but ended up being a useful three-year career, in November 2001. McFlynn quickly became a huge favourite with the Margate fans, helped by a stunning debut goal againstBoston United. He made 63 appearances for the club and scoring a total of 11 goals. A hamstring injury late in 2002 saw McFlynn miss several key games and as a result was sold toMorecambe.
In 2003, McFlynn moved to Conference rivalsMorecambe for £14,000 and, despite scoring on debut, he was unable to cement a spot in the team and was released in 2005, but made 35 appearances and scoring five goals in just 17 games.
Following the advice of former teammate and one-timeNew Zealand captainChris Zoricich, McFlynn moved to Australia to play in the newly formedA-League and was signed bySydney FC managerPierre Littbarski after a successful trial in February 2005.[3]
In his first season with Sydney FC, McFlynn made 21 appearances and proved to be a strong and determined player. He scored a memorable first goal for the club in round five of the2005–06 season against theQueensland Roar in which he lobbed their goalkeeper,Tom Willis, from 30 meters out to round off a 3–1 victory to Sydney FC.
Sydney FC progressed to theinaugural A-League Grand Final, which was played at theSydney Football Stadium on 5 March 2006. McFlynn played the full 90 minutes as Sydney FC defeated theCentral Coast Mariners 1–0 in front of 41,689 spectators to become the inaugural A-League champions.[4]
He failed to make an impact on the 2006–07 A-League season when he picked up a hamstring injury and as a result, only making 13 appearances, without scoring.
In the2007–08 season he scored two more goals. One against Central Coast Mariners, in Sydney's 5–4 win and againstWellington Phoenix which Sydney won 2–0. Both of these goals were in the latter half of the season.
In February 2008 McFlynn signed a new contract with Sydney for a further two years. He scored his fourth goal in Sydney's fifth match in theA-League 2008-09, againstAdelaide United in Sydney's 3–0 victory, with a volley from outside the box. Another goal for Sydney against F3 Freeway rivals Central Coast Mariners took his tally to five. In a match againstAdelaide United atHindmarsh Stadium in which he was given a straightred card he sustained five-week knee injury. However, he returned to the bench in the third game of the season againstAdelaide United in their 2–0 loss at theAdelaide Oval. His sixth goal for the club came against rivals Central Coast Mariners, scoring the only goal in their 1–0 victory. Speaking after the game McFlynn said it was his most memorable, as his first child had been born the week before, not to mention it was his first game after returning from a thigh injury.[5]
In November 2009, Sydney FC held a press conference to inform the public that they had re-signed McFlynn on a further three-year contract, up until 2013. This will mean by the end of this contract, McFlynn will have been with the club for eight years.[6] McFlynn further commented saying
I don't want to play football for any other clubs, either in Australia or anywhere else," he said "I've been at Sydney FC for five years and I couldn't be happier to be signing on for another three years."I have grown to love the club, my family is here and I see Sydney as my home."
On 26 February 2010 it was announced that he had received permanent Australian residency. McFlynn eventually gainedAustralian citizenship.[7][8]
One of his greatest honours was standing in as captain for theGrand final asSteve Corica andJohn Aloisi were injured. He was officially awarded the captaincy for the 2010–11 season on 22 July.[9]
His 100th A-League game for Sydney FC came in Round 3 of theA-League 2010-11 season, with Sydney losing 1–0 toBrisbane Roar atSuncorp Stadium.[10]
McFlynn led Sydney FC into their first game of theAFC Champions League againstK-League clubSuwon Samsung Bluewings FC. However his role would end after just 32 minutes when he wassent off forstomping on Korean playerLee Sang-ho.[11] After a two-match suspension, he returned to the senior team to help lead Sydney FC to a 3–2 victory overShanghai Shenhua inShanghai.[12]
After captaining Sydney to the2011–12 A-League finals, McFlynn made his 150th appearance in the semi-final againstWellington Phoenix atWestpac Stadium, although Wellington defeated Sydney 3–2 and knocked them out of the finals in the process.[13]
On 6 April 2014, McFlynn announced he would leave Sydney FC and retire from A-League football.
McFlynn joined reigningNSW Premier League ChampionsBonnyrigg White Eagles making his debut on 11 May 2014 in a round nine clash againstBlacktown City Demons.[14]
Before his retirement, McFlynn studied aMaster's in coaching education atSydney University,[15] where upon retiring from football was offered a position in the Sydney FC coaching staff as general manager of player welfare under managerGraham Arnold.[16]
After 14 years with Sydney FC as a player and backroom staff member, McFlynn announced he was moving toPerth, and signed withPerth Glory as director of academy operations under director of footballJacob Burns.[17] The move was for family reasons with McFlynn also citing the belief of a new challenge.[18]
McFlynn would stay at Perth Glory for four years, before he was announced as the new director of football for New Zealand A-League expansion clubAuckland FC.[19] McFlynn was instrumental in signing former Sydney FC teammate and managerSteve Corica as the inaugural manager of the club ahead of their debut 2024-2025 season.[20]
| Club | Season | League | National Cup | League Cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Queens Park Rangers | 2000–01 | First Division | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 0 | ||
| Woking | 2001–02 | Conference | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 10 | 1 | ||
| Margate | 2001–02 | Conference | 21 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 1[a] | 0 | 22 | 3 | ||
| 2002–03 | Conference | 29 | 3 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 32 | 3 | |||
| 2003–04 | Conference | 11 | 2 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 | |||
| Margate total | 61 | 8 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 65 | 8 | ||
| Morecambe | 2003–04 | Conference | 19 | 3 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 19 | 3 | ||
| 2004–05 | Conference | 13 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 14 | 1 | |||
| Morecambe total | 32 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 4 | ||
| Sydney FC | 2005–06 | A-League | 21 | 1 | – | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5[b] | 0 | 30 | 1 | |
| 2006–07 | A-League | 16 | 0 | – | 6 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 25 | 0 | |||
| 2007–08 | A-League | 17 | 2 | – | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 22 | 2 | |||
| 2008–09 | A-League | 16 | 2 | – | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 19 | 2 | |||
| 2009–10 | A-League | 27 | 1 | – | – | 0 | 0 | – | 27 | 1 | ||||
| 2010–11 | A-League | 27 | 1 | – | – | 4 | 0 | – | 31 | 1 | ||||
| 2011–12 | A-League | 26 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | – | 26 | 0 | ||||
| 2012–13 | A-League | 19 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | – | 19 | 0 | ||||
| 2013–14 | A-League | 9 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | – | 9 | 0 | ||||
| Sydney total | 178 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 212 | 7 | ||
| Bonnyrigg White Eagles | 2014[23] | National Premier Leagues | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | |
| Career total | 294 | 20 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 322 | 20 | ||
McFlynn has played for theNorthern Ireland Under-19 squad and theNorthern Ireland Under-21 squad.
WithSydney FC: