Lou Macari

Celtic

Lou Macari was the only child of Margaret and Albert; he was born in Edinburgh, and spent the first year of his life with his family in the village of Newtongrange, before the family moved to London. His father was in the catering industry, and had represented the British Army at football. The family moved to Largs in North Ayrshire when Macari was aged nine. He was spotted playing for Ayrshire county by Celtic, and signed schoolboy forms for the club at the age of 16. He turned professional at the club in 1968, on wages of £15 a week. Macari quickly became part of the renowned reserve side known as the Quality Street Gang that also included Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain and David Hay. In August 1968, Celtic Reserves needed to defeat Partick Thistle Reserves by at least seven goals to win their Reserve League Cup section over Rangers Reserves. Celtic won 12–0, with Macari scoring four goals. Macari scored 91 goals in two seasons for the reserves and in occasional first team games, having broken through into the Celtic first team in 1970. In 1971, he replaced Willie Wallace in the starting line up for the replay of the 1971 Scottish Cup Final, and scored for Celtic in a 2–1 win over Rangers.

Manchester United

After a promising start to his playing career with Celtic, he moved south of the border in 1973 for £200,000 to sign for Manchester United, where he spent the bulk of his playing career. During his time with Celtic he had scored 57 goals in 100…

After leaving Manchester United in 1984, he managed Swindon Town, West Ham United, Stoke City (twice), Celtic, Birmingham City and Huddersfield Town. As a manager Macari insisted upon a strict fitness regime, which included extra sessions in the players' free time and the banning of alcohol in and around the club.

When I took my first management job at Swindon in the old Fourth Division, one of the things I had to adjust to was the fact I was working with players with lesser ability than at Old Trafford. There was a danger of demanding they play like top-flight footballers and then become frustrated with them when they couldn't. But I didn't see any reason why the players at Swindon couldn't be as fit as the players at Manchester United. That was something we worked really hard on, the players accepted it, and we reaped the rewards with promotion in my second season."

Swindon Town

His successes in management came with two promotions at Swindon Town (Fourth Division champions in 1986 and Third Division play-off winners in 1987). Harry Gregg, Swindon's assistant manager, did not like the style of play implemented by Macari. The divide between Macari and Gregg became more noticeable, so the board chaired by Maurice Earle sacked both of them on Good Friday, 5 April 1985. Macari was then reinstated as manager on 10 April 1985 after a fan-led protest, Swindon then went unbeaten for their next six games, winning, four, and Macari won the Manager of the Month award. The…

As a player

Club

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International

As a manager

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Macari's mother died just before the 1978 World Cup in strange circumstances. He subsequently discovered that she had overdosed on tablets. "My mum had been on her own, and in the conversation I'd had with her she said she had some friends up there. Putting the pieces together after she died, I just wasn't convinced that the friends were good friends. Some money had gone missing." His sons Michael and Paul have played professionally with Stoke, when Macari was manager of the club. His youngest son Jonathan died by suicide in 1999 after being released from his contract at Nottingham Forest. Family friend and former manager Dave Bassett said that Jonathan could not handle the pressure of living up to his father's greatness. There was also talk of drugs affecting his son's life and leading to his suicide, but Macari later discounted that theory, admitting that much like the death of his mother, the complete story behind the tragedy may never be known. Years later he said that "money in a young man's pocket is a recipe for disaster and we had that disaster. Only when you go through something like that do you understand the hell of it." His grandson Lewis plays for Notts County, having signed from Stoke City. Macari worked with Stoke-on-Trent council to set up The Macari Centre, a street retreat to house the homeless sleeping rough, which opened in February 2016. In the COVID-19 pandemic, following the closure of the crowded premises of The Macari Centre, Macari rented a…