Sammy McIlroy
Sammy McIlroy (b.
2 August 1954,
Belfast,
Northern Ireland) is a former
Northern Irish international
footballer whose clubs included
Manchester United. After playing, he managed several English football teams and the Northern Irish national team.
Playing career
From
East Belfast, McIlroy played from 1971 to 1982 at
Manchester United. He was the last youth player signed by
Matt Busby, therefore making him the last of the
Busby Babes. He scored in his first-team debut match in 1971 at the age of 17 (away to
Manchester City on the 6th of November) but was not able to win a regular first-team place until the 1974-75 season. In the late 1970s McIlroy moved from 'Reds' striker to midfielder. In 1982, he was sold to
Stoke City, where he played the next four seasons. McIlroy went on to play at
Örgryte IS in
Sweden in 1986, Manchester City in 1986-87, and
Bury from 1987 to 1990.
As a player for the Northern Ireland national team McIlroy won 88
caps and scored 5 goals. He played in all of the country's matches during both the
1982 World Cup, where Northern Ireland defeated the host nation
Spain and advanced to the second round, and the
1986 World Cup in which he captained the team.
Managerial career
McIlroy began his managerial career as
player-manager at
Preston North End in
1991. He then went on to manage
non-league team
Macclesfield Town for four seasons, culminating in their promotion to
The Football League in
1997. He then managed
Northern Ireland for nearly three years, but the team won only five times in 29 matches, with all of the wins occurring in McIlroy's first year. The side failed to score even a single goal in 13 qualifying matches for
Euro 2004. Upon completion of the qualifying matches, McIlroy resigned to re-enter club management with
Stockport County, whom he managed until
November 2004. In
November 2005, he took over as caretaker manager of
Conference side
Morecambe. In May 2006 this move to Morecambe was made permanant, replacing his friend Jim Harvey who was sacked the week before.
*
RedCafe.net with biographical information on McIlroy during his time at United*
sporting-heroes.net with a 1976 photograph of McIlroy in action
