John Miller "Ian" McColl (7 June 1927 – 25 October 2008) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

. McColl played as a defender for Queen's Park and Rangers, while he also represented both the Scotland national team and the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

. After retiring as a player, he managed the Scotland national team and English club

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

Early life

Born in

Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire Alexandria ( sco, The Vale,
gd, Alexandria) is a town in

, the grandson of Scotland international William McColl, McColl developed his footballing skills with

Vale of Leven The Vale of Leven (Scottish Gaelic: ''Magh Leamhna'') is an area of West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, in the valley of the River Leven. Historically, it was part of The Lennox, the name of which derives from the Gaelic term ''Leamhnach'', meaning ' ...

( Juniors), and joined Queen's Park in 1943 when he moved to

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

to study engineering at the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

. He continued his studies after turning professional and later worked as a qualified engineer.

Playing career

Rangers

Bill Struth William Struth (16 June 1875 – 21 September 1956) was a Scottish football manager. He was the second manager of Rangers Football Club, leading the club for 34 years between 1920 and 1954, as well as being the holder of a number of other posit ...

signed McColl in 1945. During his 15-year spell at Ibrox, he won six League championships, five

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

s. He captained the club during the 1950s and was part of what was known as the ''Iron Curtain'' defence, alongside the likes of

Sammy Cox Samuel Richmond Cox (13 April 1924 – 2 August 2015) was a Scottish footballer who played for Queen's Park, Third Lanark, Dundee, Rangers, East Fife, Scotland and the Scottish League XI. Career Club Cox was born in Darvel, Ayrshire, Scotland. ...

Willie Woodburn William Alexander Woodburn (8 August 1919 – 2 December 2001) was a Scottish footballer who played for Rangers and Scotland. He was the last footballer in Britain to receive a life ban from the game for indiscipline, although the ban was late ...

and George Young. His final appearance for Rangers was in the 1960 Scottish Cup Final, a 2–0 win against

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

. He made a total of 575 appearances for the Glasgow club in all competitions. He also won 14

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Ja ...

for Scotland and represented the

Scottish League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

Managerial career

After his playing career, he quickly went into

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

. He was appointed manager of Scotland in 1960 and enjoyed a winning start, beating

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

5–2 at

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

. Under McColl's managership, Scotland won

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

s in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

and

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

. The team beat

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

2–0 at Hampden and 2–1 at Wembley in the process. Other notable results under his tenure include a 6–2 win against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

in Madrid, a 6–1 win over Northern Ireland in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

and a 6–1 win over

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

in Glasgow. He was in charge of Scotland for a total of 27 matches, winning 16 of them. This gave him a

winning percentage In sports, a winning percentage is the fraction of games or matches a team or individual has won. The statistic is commonly used in standings or rankings to compare teams or individuals. It is defined as wins divided by the total number of match ...

of 59.3%, the second best of any Scotland manager.Ian McColl – Footballer and manager
''

The Scotsman ''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until August 2004. Its pare ...

'', 27 October 2008. McColl was appointed manager of

in 1965. Despite signing Jim Baxter, McColl was unable to make Sunderland into a successful side. He was sacked by Sunderland in 1968 and spent the rest of his working life as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

Honours

Player

;Rangers * Scottish league champions (7): 1946–47; 1948–49; 1949–50; 1952–53; 1955–56; 1956–57; 1958–59 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existe ...

winners: 1946–47, 1948–49

Manager

;Scotland *

winners: 1962; 1963

Career statistics

International appearances

Managerial record

References

External links

*
Rangers F.C. Hall of FameTimes Obituary
{{DEFAULTSORT:McColl, Ian 1958 FIFA World Cup players Alumni of the University of Glasgow Queen's Park F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Scotland international footballers Scotland national football team managers Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers Scottish footballers Sunderland A.F.C. managers People from Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players United Soccer Association coaches 1927 births 2008 deaths Association football defenders Footballers from West Dunbartonshire Vale of Leven F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players