36 Facts About Lou Macari

1.

Luigi Macari was born on 7 June 1949 and is a Scottish former footballer and manager.

2.

Lou Macari began his playing career at Celtic where he was one of the Quality Street Gang, the outstanding reserve team that emerged in the late 1960s that included Kenny Dalglish and Danny McGrain.

3.

Lou Macari is best known for his time at Manchester United, where he played over 400 games.

4.

Lou Macari helped them win promotion back to the First Division and then played in their FA Cup win of 1977.

5.

Lou Macari then finished his playing career at Swindon Town.

6.

Lou Macari was the manager of Swindon, West Ham United, Birmingham City, Stoke City, Celtic and Huddersfield Town.

7.

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.

8.

Lou Macari's father was in the catering industry, and had represented the British Army at football.

9.

The family moved to Largs in North Ayrshire when Lou Macari was aged nine.

10.

Lou Macari was spotted playing for Ayrshire county by Celtic, and signed schoolboy forms for the club at the age of 16.

11.

Lou Macari quickly became part of the renowned reserve side known as the Quality Street Gang that included Kenny Dalglish, Danny McGrain and David Hay.

12.

Lou 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.

13.

Lou Macari won three League titles and two Scottish Cups in his time at Celtic.

14.

Lou Macari made 400 appearances for the club, scoring 98 goals.

15.

Relegation to the Second division in 1974 was the low point but Lou Macari blossomed as a midfielder in the following seasons under Tommy Docherty, as United began to win back a large following with attacking football in which Lou Macari enjoyed popularity alongside players such as Gordon Hill, Steve Coppell and the Greenhoff brothers.

16.

Lou Macari helped United win the Second Division title in 1975.

17.

Lou Macari was on the losing side in the 1979 final against Arsenal, and played in a string of European campaigns during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

18.

Lou Macari won two Scotland Under 23 caps in early 1972, before making his debut for the full Scottish national team in May 1972 against Wales.

19.

Lou Macari was a member of the Scotland squad for the 1978 World Cup tournament in Argentina.

20.

Lou Macari won a total of 24 senior caps, scoring five international goals.

21.

Lou 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 Lou Macari won the Manager of the Month award.

22.

Lou Macari had a reputation for discipline and tried to change the training and dietary habits of the players.

23.

Lou Macari bought in new recruits in future regular players, Ludek Miklosko, Trevor Morley, Martin Allen, and Ian Bishop.

24.

Lou Macari's team struggled to make much headway towards promotion and by the end of 1989 were in tenth place in The Second Division.

25.

Shortly after this it emerged that Lou Macari was being investigated for betting irregularities whilst at his former club, Swindon Town.

26.

Lou Macari was appointed as manager at Birmingham City in February 1991.

27.

On 18 June 1991 Lou Macari was appointed manager at Stoke City.

28.

In October 1993, Lou Macari left Stoke City and returned to Scotland to manage Celtic.

29.

Lou Macari announced he was leaving at the end of the season which was a surprise but he was 'stripped of his duties' before he left and later launched a lawsuit against Peter Coates for wrongful dismissal.

30.

Lou Macari returned to management in 2000 with Huddersfield Town who were in relegation trouble after a poor start to the season.

31.

Lou Macari's contract was not renewed for the next season with Huddersfield's board stating his defensive style of football as the reason.

32.

Lou Macari is a regular guest on Match Day Live before Manchester United home and away games.

33.

Lou Macari has given several guest talks at Staffordshire University on the Sports Journalism courses.

34.

Lou Macari wrote his autobiography in October 2009 called Football, My Life.

35.

Lou Macari's mother died just before the 1978 World Cup in strange circumstances, overdosing on tablets, her son was to find out.

36.

Lou Macari worked with Stoke-on-Trent council to set up The Lou Macari Centre, a street retreat to house the homeless sleeping rough, which opened in February 2016.