Les McDowall

Les McDowall (* October 25, 1912; † August 18, 1991 ) was a Scottish football player and football coach. He coached Manchester City 1950-1963 and then Oldham Athletic until 1965. McDowall was for a term of 13 years, the longest-serving coach in the history of Manchester City.

Life

McDowall was born in India, but usually regarded as Scot. He played on the wing or center-half position, the first five years of his career at AFC Sunderland, at that time mainly as a reserve player for Alex Hastings. He transferred to Manchester City in 1937, where he played a total of 129 to 1948 times and scored eight goals. For a short time he was also captain. He moved briefly to Wrexham FC before returning to Manchester City, this time as a coach, joined in 1950.

The club played at this time in the second English football league. McDowalls worked on the development of the team and the very next year the club went back up to the first division. In the next few years followed by a solid foundation of basic work, with some derby victory against local rivals Manchester United were the most spectacular successes.

As a coach, he was based on the play of the Hungarian national team. In the mid-1950s, he introduced a new tactical system with a retracted up into midfield center forward, the chances generated itself is known as the Revie Plan by the Centre Forward Don Revie.

The mid-50s were the highlights of McDowalls career as manager of Manchester City. The aging team and limited financial resources made ​​the further development of the team difficult. As low point of the club rose again in 1962/ 63 from the second division. McDowall then moved for two years to Oldham Athletic before ending his career in March 1963. He died August 18, 1991 at the age of 78 years.