Ian Macfarlane had two spells in the employ of Sunderland AFC. In July 1969, Sunderland manager Alan Brown brought him into the club as part of a complete shake-up of the coaching team. Brown had employed him as a coach at Sheffield Wednesday when he was their manager in 1967. Macfarlane worked alongside fellow coach Lawrie McMenemy at Hillsborough and was highly regarded.
Brown was hell-bent on revitalising Sunderland and saw in Macfarlane a piece of the jigsaw that would help him do this. Brown was a studious,
disciplined character with an austere – some might say rigid – personality. Macfarlane was larger than life and had plenty to say for himself. He also had a warm, winning way about him that could help bring players along. It seemed like a good match between Brown and Macfarlane.
Having come in for pre-season, Macfarlane was gone by mid-October after a dispute with Brown, which may have been around a meeting Macfarlane had with a former team-mate and the then-current manager of Bristol City, Alan Dicks. Macfarlane was not noted for his gentle demeanour or lack of assertiveness and, whatever the cause of the dispute, neither man was prepared to bend.
In March 1976, with Sunderland charging towards promotion and the title, Bob Stokoe appointed Macfarlane to the coaching team. Arthur Cox was first-team coach, but there was talk of clashes between Stokoe and himself. This surprise move by Stokoe appears to have been the last straw for the popular Cox, who walked out. Not the best start for Macfarlane, but it appears not to have held him back, as he threw himself into his role with characteristic energy and gusto.
Ian Macfarlane was born in Lanark in 1933. He was a young player with Douglas Water Thistle, a prominent Scottish junior club that had a reputation as a breeding ground for professional players. Stars such as Ian St John, Willie Cringan (Celtic title-winning captain and Scottish international) and John Fox-Watson, who went on to play for Real Madrid in the late forties, were just three of many players who used Thistle as the springboard to a professional career.
In 1954, Macfarlane was spotted by the legendary Aberdeen manager Bobby Calder, who had called in to a Thistle game on spec. Having been in the area to view a pigeon loft in South Lanarkshire, he signed Macfarlane the very next day.
Macfarlane was a tall, speedy left-back and, having made sixteen appearances for the Dons in the 1955/56 season, he was signed by Chelsea and moved to London, where he made forty appearances between 1956 and 1958. He moved again for the 1958/59 season to Leicester City, a club with whom he would experience some success as a coach later in his career.
His playing career with the Foxes was not a success. He played just one game in the 1958/59 season before being transferred to Southern League side Bath City in 1959.
There was a reasonable living to be made in the richer Southern League teams and Macfarlane settled into life in the West Country. He played 330 games for Bath, including many alongside fellow Scot and Sunderland cult hero Charlie “Cannonball” Fleming.
During this period, he was managed by Malcolm Allison and played alongside Tony Book, with whom he would later work at Manchester City.
Macfarlane retired from playing in 1967 and took a post at Sheffield Wednesday as coach under manager Alan Brown, who had a stellar reputation in that role. He had decided coaching was going to be the future for him and wanted to work with one of the best around. Another Sunderland link, of course, was his fellow coach at Hillsborough, Lawrie McMenemy, who would go on to become Sunderland manager.
Having left Sunderland in 1965, Brown returned in February 1968. Before the following season had started, he returned to Sheffield Wednesday and persuaded Macfarlane to come to Roker Park. Sunderland had not enjoyed a good season in 1968/69, and Brown embarked upon changes to his backroom team.
Having worked successfully together at Sheffield Wednesday, Brown and Macfarlane had a falling out that saw Macfarlane leave the club abruptly in October 1969.
In a quirky coincidence – and another Sunderland-related link – Macfarlane’s next job was to take over as manager at Carlisle from Bob Stokoe, who had departed for the manager’s post at Blackpool in January 1970.
It was a relatively successful period for Macfarlane, who was nicknamed “The Big Man”. He developed a team that played attractive football and kept Carlisle in the top half of the Second Division for two and a half seasons. He brought the legendary Stan Bowles to Brunton Park.
Young players such as John Gorman, Graham Winstanley, Les O’Neil, Dennis Martin and Ray Train, along with Stan Ternent (who went on to play for Sunderland), were developed during this era.
In something of a surprise development, he was let go in 1972. It was a move that baffled many Carlisle fans and players. Allegedly, it was not a unanimous board decision either.
However, Macfarlane’s stock was high in the game and he quickly found himself back working in the North East, with another Sunderland-linked post at Middlesbrough as Stan Anderson’s right-hand man and first-team coach.
Macfarlane was a big personality with an infectious appetite for the game and a winning way with players. When Anderson resigned, it was hotly rumoured in the press that Macfarlane would be the next manager. Jack Charlton was appointed, but Macfarlane stayed and became chief coach. He was a key part of Charlton’s successful backroom team that guided Boro back to the First Division as champions in 1973/74.
By the 1974/75 season, his former defensive partner at Bath City, Tony Book, had been appointed manager at Maine Road and Ian Macfarlane was his choice as right-hand man. Together they guided City to Wembley and victory against Newcastle in the 1976 League Cup Final, as well as developing a team that played very attractive football. In that City side were former Sunderland players Dave Watson and Dennis Tueart, who scored a brilliant winning goal in the final.
Macfarlane was on the move again shortly after this success, accepting Bob Stokoe’s invitation to join him at Sunderland in March 1976. Macfarlane’s arrival saw coach Arthur Cox leave shortly afterwards, amid rumours of difficulties in the relationship between Cox and Stokoe.
Sunderland were flying towards the Second Division title and promotion at last for the Black Cats.
Macfarlane set about his work with his customary enthusiasm and energy as the team stepped up into the top flight.
All was not well with Bob Stokoe, though. His health was a concern and appeared to worsen as the season progressed, with no victories recorded. Thirteen games into the season, Stokoe resigned. His health had caused him to be absent not just from the training ground but also from a small number of matchdays. Throughout this period, Ian Macfarlane was said to have done a very good job in Stokoe’s absence.
So, on 30 October, Macfarlane stepped in as caretaker manager and, in characteristic fashion, promised to “sweat blood” to keep Sunderland in Division One.
After a couple of defeats, he guided the club to its first victory of the season at Coventry. We then lost a very close game at Roker Park to a powerful Liverpool side in front of just under 40,000 fans, but it was a much-improved performance. That was followed by a very credible 3 – 3 draw at Old Trafford and a 2 – 1 victory against Spurs at Roker Park, which moved us out of the relegation places.
Despite once again being heavily backed in the regional press to take over from Stokoe, Macfarlane was overlooked by the board, some of whom found his big personality a bit too much for their taste.
Jimmy Adamson was appointed manager in November 1976 and Macfarlane left the club shortly afterwards.
Macfarlane’s next stop was former club Leicester as coach to Frank McLintock and Jock Wallace. He and Wallace built a very successful team at Filbert Street, who were promoted as champions in 1979/80 when Sunderland finished runners-up.
In 1984, he returned to the West Country to follow in Cecil Irwin’s footsteps and manage Yeovil Town. His stay there was brief, as he was enticed north to a coaching role at Burnley by manager John Benson. Unfortunately, this did not go well. The Clarets were relegated to the Fourth Division and Macfarlane found himself out of work.
He responded to this setback in fairly typical fashion, engaging in a huge amount of scouting for a variety of clubs and establishing a nationwide network of informal support and contacts.
This network served him well in his next role, which proved highly successful. He was appointed chief scout to future Sunderland manager Howard Wilkinson at Leeds. His scouting network was second to none at the time, as evidenced by Leeds’ success under Wilkinson in the years that followed – winning the Second Division title in 1989/90, the First Division title in 1991/92, the FA Charity Shield in 1992 and the League Cup in 1995/96.
When Wilkinson moved on in 1996, Ian Macfarlane retired and eventually settled in Ontario, Canada, where he passed away in 2019 at the age of 86.
He was a big man in every sense of the word – a colourful, skilful coach with a great love for the game and a rare ability to get onto the wavelength of most players and coax the best out of them.
His actual time with Sunderland AFC was brief, but the links and path-crossings were many for this extrovert character and true football man.
