Where is Stuart McCall now?
A Bradford City legend who both played for and managed the club, Stuart McCall spent 10 years at Valley Parade in two separate spells before retiring in 2005 just a few weeks from his 41st birthday.
In a playing career which lasted 23 years, McCall amassed over 750 career appearances winning six Scottish Premier League titles and three Scottish Cups with Rangers as well the Third Division title with Bradford.
He was also a regular for the Scottish national side during the 1990’s and represented them in the 1992 and 1996 UEFA European Championships.
Upon retiring from playing, McCall stayed on at Sheffield United as assistant to manager Neil Warnock and helped the Blades to promotion to the Premier League in 2006. However, the side were relegated after just one season in the top-flight resulting in the dismissal of Warnock and McCall also left when he was overlooked for the vacant manager’s job.
Having been linked to former side Bradford City on numerous occasions over the years he finally had the opportunity to join them as the club’s new manager in May 2007.
Joining the club at a time when the club were suffering from serious financial problems he led his side to a respectable 10th place finish in League Two in his first season. However, after ambitious promotion claims which he was unable to fulfil, he left the club by mutual consent in 2010 with his side still playing in League Two.
After a short while out of the game and a brief spell as a scout for Norwich City, McCall was appointed manager of Motherwell in the SPL in 2010 and reached the semi-final of the Scottish League Cup and the final of the Scottish Cup in his first season.
His second season with the club was even better and he led his Motherwell side to a third place finish in the Scottish Premier League which meant that they qualified for the Champions League for the first time in the club’s history.
Success continued in his third season and he led his side to a second place finish in the league which was their highest league position for 20 years and a feat which they repeated in 2014. During this period he won the Clydesdale Scottish Premier League Manager of the Year and also joined the Scotland national team as part of Gordon Strachan’s backroom team.
After three fantastic seasons McCall resigned from Motherwell in November 2014 after two wins in 12 games left his side second bottom of the league.
He wasn’t out of work for long though and in the following March he was appointed manager of his former club Rangers until the end of the season and although he guided them to a third place finish, his side were beaten 6-1 aggregate in the play-offs by his former side Motherwell.
Despite claiming that he had done ‘a decent job’ at Rangers, McCall was replaced at the end of the season by former Brentford manager Mark Warburton who won promotion to the Scottish Premiership in his first season
In June 2016, McCall was back in football management when he returned to his former side Bradford City as their new manager and stepped down from his role as assistant coach with the Scotland national side to concentrate solely on his club role.
A successful first season saw his side reach the League One play-off final at Wembley where they narrowly lost 1-0 to Millwall but the following season proved to be extremely tough and after a run of six consecutive defeats he was sacked in February 2018.
He then joined Scunthorpe United as manager for the 2018/19 season but was sacked in March 2019 despite a good run over the Christmas period which saw him win the League One Manager of the Month award.
In February 2020 McCall made a return to Bradford City for a third spell but was sacked 10 months later after losing six games in a row and only registering a total of seven victories in his 29 games in charge.
After a short time out of the game he returned in July 2021 as assistant head coach at Championship side Blackpool but was only there a matter of months before returning to former side Sheffield United as Paul Heckingbottom’s assistant manager.
When Heckingbottom was sacked from The Blades in December 2023, his entire backroom staff including McCall also left the club.
Back to Bradford City
Stuart McCall: Premier League Statistics
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Position | Midfielder |
| Appearances | 71 |
| Goals | 2 |
| Yellow Cards | 10 |
| Red Cards | 1 |
| Premier League Teams Played for | Bradford City |
Statistics courtesy of www.premierleague.com
Last Updated on 5 December 2023 by Admin