Willie McFaul, Date of Birth, Place of Birth
TweetWillie McFaul
Northern Irish footballer and manager
Date of Birth: 01-Oct-1943
Place of Birth: Coleraine, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
Profession: association football player
Nationality: United Kingdom
Zodiac Sign: Libra 
About Willie McFaul
- William Stewart McFaul (born 1 October 1943), known as Willie or Iam McFaul, is a Northern Irish former football player and now coach.
- He spent most of his career with Newcastle United. McFaul was born in Coleraine.
- He joined Newcastle United from Linfield in his native Northern Ireland in 1966 after impressing in a friendly match.
- It took two years for him to establish himself Newcastle's starting goalkeeper, a position he held until after the 1974-75 season.
- His career highlight was probably when he backstopped Newcastle to the 1974 F.A.
- Cup final at Wembley, but Newcastle was beaten 3-0 by Liverpool, whose first two goals were from shots by Kevin Keegan and Steve Heighway that McFaul got his fingertips to but was unable to stop.
- McFaul played six times for Northern Ireland, it is generally agreed that it would have been many more times except for the fact that the position was held by Pat Jennings, one of the era's finest goalkeepers. He went on to serve Newcastle as player, coach, assistant manager and then finally, in 1985, as manager.
- He was sacked in October 1988 after a poor start saw early season optimism turn into an ultimately futile struggle against relegation. McFaul's reputation was as a caring and loyal manager, who got the best out of a number of players including Peter Beardsley and Paul Goddard.
- His biggest contribution was probably his decision to make Paul Gascoigne an integral part of the first team despite his being only 18 at the time.
- McFaul has since managed teams in Northern Ireland and worked as the coach of the national team of Guam.
- In Northern Ireland he managed his hometown club Coleraine who are very close to his heart.
- Things didn't go to plan and his spell as manager coincided with a lowly period in Coleraine history.
- He did, however, discover Paul Gaston, who went on to captain Coleraine and play over 600 games for the club. McFaul is now working as a scout for Norwich City, professional connections having been made with Norwich Manager Glenn Roeder during Roeder's time as Newcastle United manager. Many Northern Ireland fans reflect that his true ability was never fully seen at international level due to it being the Pat Jennings era.
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