Roy McFarland

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, three months after taking charge at Derby County, when they were rebuilding a side to gain 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, though injury meant he was only able to make four appearances during the latter campaign. 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 within 20 seconds against Liverpool in a game The Rams, who were on a downward spiral to relegation that season, were unlikely to win (they eventually lost 3-1). 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 June 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…

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 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…

Player

Derby County

Football League First Division: 1971–72, 1974–75 Football League Second Division (promotion to First Division): 1968–69 1975 FA Charity Shield Individual

Rothmans Golden Boots Awards: 1972, 1973, 1974 PFA Team of the Year: 1973-1974, 1975-1976, 1976-1977

Manager

1981–82: Football League Division Four 2nd (promotion to Division Three) – Bradford City 1998–99: Football League Division Three 2nd (promotion to Division Two) – Cambridge United 2008–09: Conference National 1st (promotion to League Two) – Burton Albion