Roy McDonough

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Roy McDonough
Roy McDonough.jpg
Personal information
Date of birth (1958-10-16) 16 October 1958 (age 66)
Place of birth Solihull, England
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
– Aston Villa
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1976–1978 Birmingham City 2 (1)
1978–1980 Walsall 84 (15)
1980–1981 Chelsea 0 (0)
1981–1983 Colchester United 93 (24)
1983–1984 Southend United 22 (4)
1984 Exeter City 20 (1)
1984–1985 Cambridge United 35 (5)
1985–1990 Southend United 186 (30)
1990–1994 Colchester United 156 (56)
Managerial career
1991–1994 Colchester United
1996 Chelmsford City
1998 Heybridge Swifts
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Roy McDonough (born 16 October 1958) is a former professional football player and manager in the English football league. His surname is occasionally misspelt in the media as Roy McDonagh.

Playing career

McDonough, a native of Solihull, England, was dubbed Donut or Big Roy by his fans. He clocked up some 150 goals in over 650 appearances in the professional and semi-professional (or "non-league") competitions in England. While he turned out for a handful of national clubs, he spent the majority of his career in the county of Essex.

A tall, imposing forward (though he played as an orthodox centre-half on a number of occasions) he had a reputation as one of football's "hard men" and rarely shied away from the physical aspects of the game. As a result, he is the record holder for the most dismissals in a career, 22, and for red cards in the Football League, 13, an unenviable mark that he holds jointly with Steve Walsh[1][2][3]

He began his career at Birmingham City in 1977 making 2 appearances. Roy went on to Colchester to make some 88 appearances, scoring 24 goals in his first spell at Layer Road before moving to local rivals Southend United in 1983. In 22 appearances for the "Shrimpers" between 1984 and 1985 he scored 4 times.

Between 1985 and 1986 Roy moved first to Exeter City(21 appearances, 1 goal) and then Cambridge United (32 appearances, 5 goals) before returning to Roots Hall and Southend. In his second spell at Southend, Roy became to some fans a cult hero.[4] In around 186 appearances he scored 30 times, however certain sections of the crowd were not always enamoured with his playing style.[5]

In September 1990 he returned to Colchester United, who had been relegated to the GM Vauxhall Conference, as a player. In his second season, he top scored with 29 goals in a Conference and FA Trophy Double-winning campaign as player-manager (see below), before making another 63 Football League appearances and scoring 16 times. He was sacked as manager in 1994 and joined Dagenham & Redbridge, moving on to Chelmsford City amongst others.[6]

Daily Mirror and Sunday People sports journalist Bernie Friend has worked with Roy on his autobiography, Red Card Roy (in reference to his unenviable record of getting red cards), which was published on 20 August 2012, by Vision Sports Publishing.

McDonough was inducted into the Colchester United Hall of Fame in 2012, owing to his success as a player in two stints with the club, and being the first U's boss to lead out a Colchester team at Wembley.[7]

Managerial career

Roy took the managerial position at Colchester United for the 1991–1992 season, following Ian Atkins' departure in the Summer of 1991 and achieved legendary status at the North Essex club by guiding them to a Football Conference and FA Trophy 'double', promoting them back into the full Football League.

During his period in charge, McDonough stoked the bitter rivalry with Martin O'Neill's Wycombe Wanderers that had developed during both clubs' time in non-league's 'top flight', culminating in the dramatic promotion season of 1991–1992 when Colchester advanced into Division Four on the last day via a superior goal difference. While Wycombe and Colchester played out a mini-league of their own (both clubs finished some 21 points ahead of their nearest rivals) Big Roy had on occasions taunted the Wycombe players and staff and antagonised them by un-sportsmanlike tactics.[8]

Commenting on an incident where Colchester United hooligans attacked home supporters during a Conference championship deciding match in 1992 at Adams Park, he was quoted as saying, "It takes two to fight, one to punch, the other to stand there and be punched."[9]

Arguably it was his confrontational style, carried over from his playing days, that ultimately saw him leave Colchester and move through the non-league ranks with Dagenham & Redbridge, Chelmsford, Canvey Island, Heybridge Swifts, Bishop's Stortford, Braintree Town and Harwich and Parkeston amongst others.

Team Nat From To Record
G W D L Won %
Colchester United England 1 July 1991 15 May 1994 155 69 33 53 44.5
Chelmsford City England May 1996 November 1996[10][11] ? ? ? ? ?
Heybridge Swifts England April 1998 1 October 1998[12][13] ? ? ? ? ?

Honours

As a player

Walsall[14]
Southend[14]
Colchester United[15][16]

As a manager

Colchester United

References

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External links

  1. ↑ The Guardian 'The Knowledge' April 20, 2005
  2. ↑ "Away penalties at Old Trafford", Sean Ingle, Barry Glendenning and Matt Cunningham, The Guardian, 26 June 2003
  3. ↑ "Football League Records: Disciplinary", The Football League, accessed 4 December 2007
  4. ↑ BBC Sport Cult Hero Nominees – Southend United
  5. ↑ Southend Supporters site – SUFC Hard Men
  6. ↑ http://www.southendstandard.co.uk/archive/1998/10/01/Essex+Archive/5539048.Soccer__Swifts_sack_McDonough/
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Scotsman Article from 2003 describing the history between McDonough and O'Neill
  9. ↑ When Skies are Blue fanzine article on the rivalry between Colchester United and Wycombe Wanderers, in which McDonough features heavily.
  10. ↑ http://www.harwichandmanningtreestandard.co.uk/archive/2001/05/01/5491292.Colchester__Chelmsford__Where_are_they_now__Roy_McDonough/
  11. ↑ http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-mcdonough-under-fire-1351335.html
  12. ↑ http://www.harwichandmanningtreestandard.co.uk/archive/2001/05/01/5491292.Colchester__Chelmsford__Where_are_they_now__Roy_McDonough/
  13. ↑ http://www.harwichandmanningtreestandard.co.uk/archive/1998/10/01/5539048.Soccer__Swifts_sack_McDonough/
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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