Willie McStay (footballer, born 1961)

William John McStay (born 26 November 1961) is a Scottish former footballer and manager of clubs including Sligo Rovers, Újpest FC, Ross County and Celtic Nation.

This article is about the Celtic player of the 1980s. For the article about his great-uncle, see Willie McStay (footballer, born 1894).

Willie McStay
McStay in 2011
Personal information
Full name William John McStay[1]
Date of birth (1961-11-26) 26 November 1961[1]
Place of birth Hamilton,[1] Scotland
Height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)[2]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
Celtic Boys Club
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1981–1987 Celtic 67 (2)
1987 Huddersfield Town 9 (0)
1987–1990 Notts County 45 (1)
1990 → Hartlepool United (loan) 3 (0)
1990 → Partick Thistle (loan) 5 (0)
1990–1992 Kilmarnock 29 (0)
1992–1994 Sligo Rovers 48 (0)
Total 206 (3)
Teams managed
1992–1994 Sligo Rovers
2007–2009 Celtic Reserves
2009–2010 Újpest FC
2010–2011 Ross County
2013–2014 Celtic Nation
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Born in Hamilton, McStay played for Celtic from 1979 to 1987. McStay made his debut on 2 April 1983 when he came on as a sub in Celtic's 3–1 home win over Motherwell and went on to make 65 league appearances, including 10 as a substitute, scoring two goals. McStay transferred to Huddersfield Town in March 1987 and later played for Notts County and Hartlepool United.[3]

Coaching career

McStay was player/manager at Sligo Rovers from 1992 to 1994 and he led them to a historic treble in 1993–94, when they won the First Division, First Division Shield and the FAI Cup.[4] In 1994, the Scot left Sligo just before the start of the new season after being approached by Celtic to become their youth team coach.[5]

McStay was appointed the head coach of Celtic Reserves in January 2007,[6] and worked in that role at the club until July 2009, when he left to take up the role as manager of Újpest FC in Budapest, Hungary. His assistant at Celtic and at Újpest was Joe McBride.[7] McStay resigned as Head Coach of Újpest in April 2010,[8] and was replaced by Géza Mészöly.[9]

McStay returned to Celtic in April 2010 to take charge of the reserve side again after leaving Újpest,[10] before departing 2 months later.[11]

On 25 November 2010, McStay was appointed manager of Ross County.[12] McStay left the club by mutual consent after less than three months as manager.[13] McStay had taken charge of only nine games, none of which were won, during that time.[14]

McStay was appointed assistant manager of Stockport County in July 2011 by manager Dietmar Hamann.[15] After Hamann's departure, in November, new manager Jim Gannon kept McStay on as his assistant.

McStay took over as manager of Northern League Division One team Celtic Nation in September 2013.[16] McStay led his side to their first trophy as Celtic Nation on 29 April 2014, defeating Aspatria 3–0 in the Cumberland Cup Final.[17] McStay went on to lead the side to a second-place finish in the league, and went undefeated in their final 14 league games of the season.[18] However, this was not enough to gain promotion to the Northern Premier League.[18][19] Over the following weeks, a financial review was carried out at the club which resulted in many of their players leaving.[20] Matters reached a head in July 2014 when owner Frank Lynch sold the club on to former chairman Steve Skinner. Amidst the turmoil at the club, McStay resigned.[21]

Personal life

McStay is a member of a notable football family, being the elder brother of former Celtic and Scotland midfielder Paul.[12] Their younger brother Ray had a less notable career as a footballer after also starting out at Celtic, and their father John worked as a scout for the club.[22] Great-uncles Willie and Jimmy McStay also played for Celtic and both captained the team in the 1920s, with Jimmy later also serving as manager.

Willie's son John was also a footballer who played as a defender for Motherwell and Ayr United in the 2000s[23] before becoming an academy coach at Celtic;[24] he should not be confused with Johnny McStay who played for various clubs at Junior level in the 2010s;[25][26] who is the son of Willie's cousin, former player Jock McStay. His nephew Chris (Paul's son) is also a footballer.[27]

Honours

Player
Celtic

Manager
Sligo Rovers
Celtic Academy
Celtic Nation

References
  1. "Willie McStay". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  2. Dunk, Peter, ed. (1987). Rothmans Football Yearbook 1987–88. London: Queen Anne Press. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-356-14354-5.
  3. Details – Willie McStay In The Mad Crowd
  4. "Famous Days". Sligo Rovers Football Club. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  5. "Willie McStay". Sporting-Heroes.net. Retrieved 13 March 2007.
  6. Grgeig, Martin (12 January 2007). "McStay is new Celtic reserve coach". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  7. "McStay departs Celtic for Ujpest". BBC Sport. 1 July 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  8. Willie McStay resigns as Ujpest head coach BBC Sport, 5 April 2010
  9. Geza Meszoly returns to Ujpest Újpest Football Club, 4 April 2010
  10. McStay resumes Celtic coach role BBC Sport, 14 April 2010
  11. McStay departs Celtic again but this time it is for good Herald Scotland, 30 June 2010
  12. "Willie McStay named Ross County manager". BBC Sport. 25 November 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.
  13. "Statement From Ross County Football Club". Ross County F.C. official website. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  14. "Willie McStay sacked as Ross County boss". BBC Sport. 13 February 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  15. "Willie McStay joins Stockport as assistant manager". BBC Sport. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
  16. "McStay takes over at Celtic Nation". The Herald. Glasgow. 26 September 2013. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
  17. "Celtic Nation win Cumberland Cup for first time". Times & Star. 30 April 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  18. "Celtic Nation boss hails champions Spennymoor". Times & Star. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  19. "Celtic Nation's promotion hopes dashed". Times & Star. 17 May 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  20. "Celtic Nation playing catch-up in the transfer market". Times & Star. 11 July 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  21. "Celtic Nation in turmoil as owner sells, manager quits". Times & Star. 21 July 2014. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  22. Tributes to Celtic scout and true gent John McStay, Evening Times, 10 July 2017
  23. Ayr United land defender McStay, BBC Sport, 16 January 2007
  24. Academy Coaches, Celtic FC
  25. Glenafton 2 Lesmahagow 1, Glenafton Athletic FC, 12 January 2019
  26. We're lovin it as Jonny decides on McKenna Park, St Anthony's F.C., 28 June 2019
  27. Sons of Celtic legends Paul McStay and Peter Grant on handling the pressure and building their own careers at Clyde, Daily Record, 22 February 2018
  28. Reynolds, Jim (20 May 1985). "Roy of Celtic marches forward for Cup glory". Glasgow Herald. p. 17. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  29. "The celtic football and athletic company". Buy Essay Club. 28 September 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  30. "Rangers youths must have their final fling Smith crocked for chance to end with a flourish". Herald Scotland. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  31. "The youth is out there but the jump to the top is greater for Hoops than Dons". Herald Scotland. 11 May 2003. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  32. "Three and easy for Celtic as they pip Rangers to youth title". Herald Scotland. 8 May 2004. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  33. "O'Brien's brace puts Celtic on course for the double". Herald Scotland. 28 April 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  34. "McGlinchey strike helps Celtic kids win double". The Scotsman. 11 May 2006. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  35. "The youth is out there but the jump to the top is greater for Hoops than Dons". The Scotsman. 11 May 2003. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  36. "Celtic spot-on for silverware". The Celtic Wiki. 6 August 2009. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  37. "8inarow for the young Hoops- Simple for Simon". Video Celts. 28 April 2009. Retrieved 8 June 2019.
    "Celtic spot-on for silverware". Herald Scotland. 20 April 1998. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
  • Willie McStay at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Database
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