McNab: Neil

1982-1982 (Player Details)

Midfield

Born: Greenock: 04-06-1957

Debut: v Shrewsbury Town (h): 18-12-1982

5’7” 10st 10lb (1982)

A Scottish Schoolboy and Youth International, he broke into Morton’s first team when he was sixteen, becoming the club’s youngest-ever professional and he made fourteen appearances before Tottenham signed him, aged sixteen, in February 1974 for £40,000. He won an Under-Twenty-one cap at Spurs but moved to Bolton Wanderers in November 1978 for £250,000. While at White Hart Lane he made seventy-two League appearances, including nine as a substitute and scored three goals. While at Burnden Park he managed thirty five League appearances, including two from the bench and netted four times. In February 1981 he was sold to Brighton for £220,000 and made a hundred League starts and three from the bench and scored four goals, of which three were from the spot, for them. McNab went on loan to Leeds and it was during that loan spell that he made his appearances for United and although they wanted to sign him, they could not afford the £65,000 fee demanded by Brighton. He was loaned to Portsmouth in March 1983, but did not make their first team. Ultimately he joined Manchester City in July 1983 for just £35,000 and became a key figure with them, staying until 1990 and twice being voted City’s ‘Player of the Year’. At Maine Road he made two hundred and twenty-one League appearances, of which five were off the bench and he notched sixteen goals. After helping Manchester City to promotion to the First Division in 1988-89, McNab joined Tranmere Rovers in January 1990 for £125,000 and won a Leyland Daf Cup-Winners’ medal at Wembley. He did much to establish Tranmere as one of the leading teams in Division One after they won promotion via the play-offs in 1991. He scored six goals in ninety-four starts and eleven substitute appearances in the League for Tranmere. In February 1992, he was loaned to Huddersfield Town for a couple of months, where he played eleven League games, then Ayr United, where he played four games. He left Prenton Park in the summer of 1993 to play for Darlington, for just four games, and Derry City. After a stint with Witton Albion and a stay in the USA with Long Island Rough Riders, in the summer of 1994, he rejoined Manchester City as Youth Team Coach but lost his job in the managerial upheaval in 1997. He then coached at Portsmouth in their youth development programme. In October 2002 he was appointed manager of Exeter City, a position he held for just four months. He later coached in Georgia, USA at the Tyson Youth Soccer Academy. Despite being included in the Scottish squad for the 1978 World Cup Finals he did not make the final twenty-two and was never called up for full International honours.