Roy Mc Farland - Managerial Career

Managerial Career

McFarland started his managerial career at Bradford City as player manager when he took over from George Mulhall in May 1981. He played 40 games for Bradford in a brief spell as manager which brought the club promotion in 1981–82 via the runners-up spot in the Fourth Division. The season included a nine-game winning run, which was a club record at the time. McFarland's reign was a launchpad for the club during the 1980s but he left in controversial circumstances with allegations former club Derby County had tapped up him and assistant Mick Jones. Derby eventually had to pay a large fine and compensation for taking the pair back to the Baseball Ground.

He became assistant manager at the club during Arthur Cox's reign as manager, and was promoted to the manager's seat when Cox quit in October 1993.

McFarland lasted two seasons as Derby manager, with significant amounts of money having been spent on the team. In his first season, they reached the Division One play-off final but lost 2-1 to neighbours Leicester City. They missed out on the playoffs a year later and McFarland moved to Bolton Wanderers.

Bolton had just been promoted to the Premier League under previous manager Bruce Rioch, and McFarland was unable to establish them at this level despite making several new signings. He was dismissed in January 1996 after just six months in charge, with Bolton bottom of the Premiership and heading for relegation.

McFarland's next management job came at Cambridge United, where he arrived just before Christmas in 1996. In his third season, 1998–99, they won promotion as Third Division runners-up. He remained in charge for two years before being replaced by John Beck in February 2001.

He took over as manager of Torquay United in July 2001, but resigned in April 2002 after Torquay chairman Mike Bateson decided that if McFarland was to have an assistant he had to have a playing one, meaning McFarland's assistant David Preece had to leave as he had just retired as a player.

From June 2003 to March 2007, McFarland was manager of Chesterfield and did well to keep the famous club in the third tier of the league, with Chesterfield's severe lack of resources, when most pundits have tipped them for relegation. He left the club after the poor set of results on 12 March 2007, leaving caretaker boss Lee Richardson to try and save the struggling Chesterfield.

In 2009, after a spell out of football McFarland was appointed the caretaker manager until the end of the 2008–09 season of Burton Albion on 6 January, filling the gap created by Nigel Clough who had moved along the A38 to McFarland's former club Derby County earlier in the day. His first game in charge ended in a 3–0 victory for Burton against Salisbury City in the FA Trophy second round; it was a victory which McFarland dedicated to his predecessor. McFarland eventually helped to extend Burton's unbeaten run to 17 games, which dated back to October 2008, before his side were beaten 2–0 by his former team Cambridge United in March 2009. McFarland managed the side to promotion to the Football League, after which he said he was interested in staying at the club for the 2009–10 season. He later turned down the opportunity to continue as manager, as he "did not want the full-time commitment of running a League Two club on a permanent basis." He was eventually succeeded by Paul Peschisolido.