Playing Career
Born in Liverpool, McFarland was a player for Tranmere Rovers, Derby County and Bradford City. He represented England at full international level. Brian Clough and Peter Taylor signed him for Derby on 25 August 1967, when they were a Second Division side preparing for a challenge to win promotion to the First Division.
He was famous during the late 1960s and 1970s as a central defender in the Derby side which won promotion to the First Division in 1969 and followed this success with two league titles; the first under Clough in 1972 and the second under Dave Mackay in 1975. He also won 28 caps for England.
He is noted for having the earliest known booking for time wasting when he humorously kicked the ball out of play after Derby had taken the lead against Liverpool in a game Derby were very unlikely to win.
McFarland had been deemed responsible for putting Włodzimierz Lubański, Poland's best striker at the time, out of football for two years after an apparent poor tackle damaged Lubański's cruciate ligament during a World Cup qualifying match in October 1973. Lubanski missed the 1974 FIFA World Cup where Poland captured third place, but recently Lubanski himself wrote in his memoirs published in Poland that his leg was injured without McFarland's involvement as a result of an earlier injury and resultant insufficient preparation for the big game.
He came on for a short substitute appearance in a benefit match for Ted McMinn at Pride Park on 1 May 2006 against Glasgow Rangers. The game finished 3-3.
Read more about this topic: Roy Mc Farland
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