Patrick Reilly (11 February 1873 – 6 April 1937) was a Scottish

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

, who was the first ever manager of Dundee Hibernian, forerunner of

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

Early life and business career

Reilly was born to Irish parents in

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 ...

, the eldest of five children. He was a bicycle trader and manufacturer together with his father and his two younger brothers. The family lived in the West End of the city, where Reilly had a cycle shop on Perth Road.

Career

He became manager-secretary from the initial forming of Dundee Hibernian in 1909. A two-year spell aside, when he remained club secretary, Reilly was in charge for the first thirteen years of Dundee Hibs' existence, leaving just before the name change to Dundee United. It is widely acknowledged that Reilly was instrumental in forming the club, and that without him, there would have been no Dundee United. He donated a bicycle to the player who scored the first goal at

Tannadice Park Tannadice Park, officially known as The CalForth Construction Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Du ...

, John O'Hara of

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

. In February 2015 Reilly was inducted into the Dundee United Hall of Fame, the first non-player to be inducted along with manager Jim McLean.

References

1873 births 1937 deaths Dundee United F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers Sportspeople from Dundee Scottish people of Irish descent People from Dundee Businesspeople from Dundee Scottish football managers {{Scotland-footy-bio-stub