McAllister: Gary

1990-1996 (Player Details)

Midfield

Born: Motherwell, Lanarkshire: 25-12-1964

Debut: v Everton (a): 25-08-1990

6’1” 11st 11lb (1996)

#11 in 100 Greatest LUFC Players Ever

Born on Christmas Day 1964, he started with Fir Park Boys Club, before joining the professional ranks with his native Motherwell in 1981. He was part of the Motherwell team of 1984-85 which gained promotion to the top flight as Champions of the Scottish First Division. There was constant speculation in Scotland about his future because of his great vision and passing accuracy and in August 1985 he headed for Leicester City with teammate Ally Mauchlen, later to have a month’s loan with Leeds, in a £250,000 deal. He scored six goals in fifty-nine League appearances and two in eleven other games at Fir Park. He made his debut for Scotland “B” against France in April 1987. It was clear he was destined for greater things, but he rejected a £1.15 million move to Nottingham Forest because he was unimpressed by Brian Clough’s blunt approach. With Forest out of the picture and McAllister out of contract, Leeds swooped and a transfer tribunal set the fee at £1 million. After scoring forty-seven goals in one hundred and ninety-nine starts and two substitute League appearances at Filbert Street, he arrived at Elland Road with three caps to his name but soon became a Scotland regular and became rated as one of Europe’s best midfielders. Midfield Architect McAllister proved the most consistant Leeds player in his six seasons at Elland Road, and as articulate off the field as on it. After United had won the Second Division Championship, Howard Wilkinson invested £1 million in the rising Leicester City star, suggesting a change of emphasis as Leeds sought to add skill to the muscular aspect of their game. Leeds performed well in McAllister's first season at Elland Road, 1990-1991. The club finished fourth in the table and reached the League Cup semi-finals, not a bad accomplishment for a newly promoted side. McAllister dovetailed perfectly with Gordon Strachan, David Batty and Gary Speed and the all -star international midfield quartet were magnificent as Leeds won the 1991-92 Fist Division title and followed up by taking the Charity Shield. The rest of McAllister's time at Leeds saw the club fail to recapture those heights. The highest the club finished during this period was fifth in 1993-1994 and 1994-1995 and the lowest was seventeenth in 1992-1993, one of the worst finishes of a defending League champion in English football history. Despite this, between 1992 and 1996, he captained the side and won a special place in the hearts of Leeds United fans with his fine attitude and blistering long-range strikes. His final season with Leeds (1995-1996) may have been disappointing, as they finished sixteenth in the Premiership, but it allowed McAllister to achieve one of his first footballing ambitions, to captain a side at Wembley. He led his side out in the 1996 League Cup Final but the game ended in a dismal 0-3 defeat by Aston Villa. McAllister succeeded Gordon Strachan as captain for both club and country and rarely missed a match in his time at Elland Road. He led Scotland’s assault on the 1996 European Championships but unfortunately for him, he would not want to dwell on the competition after missing a penalty which would have drawn Scotland level against England at Wembley. It was all the more unusual, as apart from being the possessor of a wide variety of skills, he was a proven deadly exponent of free-kicks and penalties. He always looked comfortable in possession, packed a powerful shot and proved an intelligent ambassador for the club before his sale to Coventry City for £3 million in July 1996. From 1996 until 2000 McAllister served Coventry first under manager Ron Atkinson and then former Leeds team-mate Gordon Strachan. In 2000 he completed a surprise move to Liverpool. Not many would have doubted McAllister's ability but many Reds fans may have questioned manager Gerard Houllier’s decision to sign a player who was by now thirty-five years old. He scored twenty goals in one hundred and nineteen League appearances, or twenty-six in one hundred and forty, in all games at Highfield Road. With Liverpool he won a League Cup winners’ medal, an FA Cup winners’ medal and a UEFA Cup winners’ medal in 2000-01 and also won the Charity Shield and European Super Cup in 2001-02. He scored five times in fifty-five appearances, or nine in eighty-seven in all games, at Anfield. He became player manager and scored ten goals in fifty five League appearances, or twelve in sixty in all games, in his second spell at Coventry. He scored five goals in fifty-seven appearances for Scotland and as the holder of more than fifty caps he became a member of the Scotland Football Hall of Fame. He was a member of the Scotland 1990 World Cup squad and captained their Euro 1996 team. In 2001 he received an MBE for services to football. He became Manager at Elland Road on 29th January 2008 and led the club to the League One Play-off Final at Wembley. During his second season as Manager McAllister was sacked on 21st December 2008 after a poor string of results. Since then he has covetted the Motherwell Manager's job, turned down the offer of a job on the coaching team for Scotland, and then finally decided not to become Paul Hart's assistant at Portsmouth. In May 2010 he was appointed First Team Coach at Middlesbrough by Gordon Strachan.