James Edward McInally (born 19 February 1964) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player, who was most recently the manager of

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...

club

Peterhead Peterhead (; , ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is the council area's largest settlement, with a population of 19,060 at the 2022 Census for Scotland, 2022 Census. It is the largest fishing port in the United Kingdom for total landi ...

. He played for Dundee United for 10 seasons in which he won the 1993–94 Scottish Cup and played in the 1987 UEFA Cup Final. At United he was also a three time Scottish Cup runner-up. McInally also played for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is a professional association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Founde ...

(1985 Player of the Year), Coventry City, Raith Rovers,

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

and Sligo Rovers. He gained 10 full caps with the

Scotland national football team The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in men's international Association football, football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. They compete in three major professional tournaments: the FIFA World Cup, UEFA ...

for whom he played at the

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having been inv ...

finals in Sweden. His management career began with a player-manager role at Sligo Rovers. After his playing retirement he took charge of Greenock Morton, East Stirlingshire and was then manager of

for 11 years.

Playing career

Celtic and loan to Dundee

McInally began senior his career at left back with

, the team he supported as a boy. He won Scotland youth caps and then debuted under Billy McNeil on 28 August 1982 in a 7-1 league cup victory at Dunfermline Athletic. However McNeil left in June 1983 and was replaced by Davie Hay who had no plans for McInally at Celtic. In January 1984 McInally was loaned to

where he scored twice in his 11 league games. McInally left after only one appearance for Celtic in each of the league and the Scottish Cup to add to his debut in the league cup against Dunfermline.

Nottingham Forest

He was flown down by Brian Clough to watch

against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

for the final league game of the 1983/84 season (Forest won 2--0). He was a guest of Forest at the game with two other players they were signing, Johnny Metgod and Gary Megson. McInally's Forest debut was in and end of season tour in Australia. While living in Nottingham's Balmoral Hotel he spent Christmas as a guest at the Clough household. McInally was player of the year at the end of his first Forest season. Despite this success he stayed at Forest for only 18 months. In the summer of 1985 Stuart Pearce was signed by Clough. Pearce was the makeweight in a £300,000 deal bringing Coventry centre-back Ian Butterworth to Forest. So unsure was Pearce of his footballing future that after the transfer he advertised his services as an electrician in Forest's match-day programme. However Pearce immediately established himself at left back making 30 league appearances before the end of the season. McInally played beside Pearce in some games that season before leaving after his last game on 26 December 1985. McInally's last game was a 1–0 win away at

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. The team compete in the ...

Coventry City

McInally moved in the opposite direction to Pearce joining Dave Bowman at Coventry City for £112,000. He played five first team games there before he and Bowman double transferred to Scotland at the end of the season.

Dundee United

McInally and Bowman joined Dundee United in the summer of 1986 in a £140,000 joint transfer. At Tannadice McInally quickly became an effective defensive midfielder and played an important part in Dundee United's run to the UEFA Cup Final in his first season. McInally scored the opener in the home leg of the third round tie against Hajduk Split. United beat F.C. Barcelona home and away and then eliminated

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

in the semi-final. They lost 2–1 on aggregate in the final to IFK Goteborg. Bowman and McInally played in three losing Dundee United Scottish final teams. These were in 1987 to St Mirren, 1988 to Celtic and the 1991 final to Motherwell in which Bowman scored. They collected a winners medal from the 1994 Scottish Cup Final win against Rangers.

Raith Rovers

In 1995, following United's relegation to the

Scottish Football League First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

, McInally remained in the Premier Division by joining newly promoted Raith Rovers as player/coach. In early 1996, McInally was due to join

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

in a swap deal for Peter Hetherston, and was paraded at a Pittodrie news conference. Hetherston however failed a medical and the move collapsed.

Dundee United (second spell)

A few weeks into the following season, McInally moved back to Tannadice and made sixteen appearances.

Dundee

He then moved back to Dundee as a player-coach at Dens Park.

Scotland

McInally's first full cap was on 1 April 1987 losing 4–1 in a European Championship qualifier away to Belgium. He was selected for the Scotland squad for the

finals in Sweden. In Sweden he played in Scotland's third and final game as a 65th-minute substitute for Ally McCoist. The Scots won that game 3–0 against the CIS. McInally had played in two of the qualifiers both of which were 1–1 draws against Bulgaria. His 10th and final cap was the 5–0 defeat away to Portugal on 28 April 1993 that all but extinguished Scottish hopes of qualifying for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

Management career

Sligo Rovers

McInally joined Sligo Rovers as manager at the start of the 1999–00 season but early results did not go his way and he left the club for personal reasons. He returned to Scotland and joined the coaching staff of Celtic, working with the club's youth teams.

Greenock Morton

McInally moved back into management as he was appointed manager of Scottish Second Division side Greenock Morton. In the 2005–06 season, he led Morton to 2nd place in the Division after which they were subsequently denied promotion by losing to

in the play-offs. McInally stated his intention to win the Second Division in the 2006–07 season, with that objective met in mid April when nearest challengers Stirling Albion fell out of mathematical contention. He won the August 2006 Second Division Manager of the Month award, along the way. He resigned in February 2008 after a run of poor results allowed Morton to slip into ninth place in the First Division.

East Stirlingshire

On 13 March 2008, McInally was named the new manager of Third Division strugglers East Stirlingshire, succeeding Gordon Wylde who resigned a month earlier. McInally was named November 2008 Manager of the Month for the Third Division by the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct 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&nbs ...

. He then won the same award in February and September 2009, but resigned in May 2011 after the club finished second bottom of the 2010–11 Scottish Third Division.

Peterhead

McInally was appointed manager of

in October 2011. He led the Blue Toon to its first trophy as a football league club by winning the

title in season 2013–14. The club were relegated back to the fourth tier via the play-offs in season 2016–17. McInally offered to resign after Peterhead failed to win promotion in 2017–18, but the board of directors asked him to stay on. He then won the

title the next season, securing it on the last day. He resigned on 14 November 2022 after 11 years in the job, with Peterhead sitting bottom of the 2022–23 Scottish League One table.

Personal life

McInally is the uncle of

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

player Anna Murray.

Career statistics

International appearances

Managerial record

Honours and awards

Player

;Nottingham Forest * Player of the Year 1984–85 ;Dundee United * 1987 UEFA Cup Finalist * 1993–94 Scottish Cup winner * Hall of Fame 2015 inductee

Manager

;Greenock Morton * Scottish Second Division: 2006–07 ;Peterhead *

(2): 2013–14, 2018–19

References

External links

* *
FitbaStats - Celtic
{{DEFAULTSORT:McInally, Jim 1964 births Celtic F.C. non-playing staff Celtic F.C. players Coventry City F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players East Stirlingshire F.C. managers Greenock Morton F.C. managers Greenock Morton F.C. non-playing staff League of Ireland managers League of Ireland players Living people Nottingham Forest F.C. players Peterhead F.C. managers Raith Rovers F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish football managers Scottish men's footballers Scottish Professional Football League managers Sligo Rovers F.C. managers Footballers from Glasgow English Football League players UEFA Euro 1992 players Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Sligo Rovers F.C. players