BILLY MCEWAN (FOOTBALLER BORN 1951)

'William Johnston McGowan' "'Billy'" 'McEwan' (born June 20 1951 in Cleland, Scotland) is a Scottish former footballer now manager, currently in charge of York City.

Contents

Playing career

Managerial career

Quotes

Managerial stats

Notes

External links

Playing career

McEwan's playing career as a midfielder started with Scottish non-league side Pumpherston Juniors before joining Hibernian in 1969, making 60 appearances and scoring 2 goals for the Edinburgh club. McEwan left Hibernian in May 1973 to join Blackpool, and went on to play for Brighton & Hove Albion, Chesterfield, Mansfield Town, Peterborough United and Rotherham United whom he left in the 1982–83 season.

Managerial career

McEwan's first coaching appointment was at Sheffield United after he replaced Ian Porterfield as manager on 27 March, 1986. The following season Sheffield United finished ninth in Division 2 after an unspectacular season. More disappointing performances in the 1987–88 season followed, and McEwan was forced to resign before taking over as manager of Rotherham United and guided them to the Division 4 Championship in the 1988–89 season. McEwan later had a spell as manager at Darlington, but he was replaced by Alan Murray midway through his second season.
McEwan then spent nine years on the coaching team at Derby County. He was caretaker manager there twice in April to June 1995 and in January 2002, after the sackings of Roy McFarland and Colin Todd respectively. In 2003 he was sacked by the then manager John Gregory, but was restored into the post when he was found to have been unfairly dismissed.^[1]
Altogether he was on the coaching staff under 5 managers at Derby. He left Derby County on 19 October 2004, saying "I am looking for a new challenge. The time was right for me to move on".^[2]
McEwan was appointed manager of York City on 11 February 2005,^[3] where in his first full season in charge got the team 8th in the Conference National. McEwan said that he rejected an offer from an unnamed Football League club to take over as their manager in October 2005.^[4] During October 2006, he threatened to walk out on the club if the fans were not satisfied with his efforts.^[5]
In December 2006 McEwan branded Clayton Donaldson's agent Andy Sprott "an amateur" as he was concerned that the Winchester-based agent might have an unsettling effect on the player. He said: "I can trust reputable agents that have a good name and respect in the game but I can't deal with amateurs.^[6]
However, McEwan's remarks were made to look somewhat ill-considered when a month later Donaldson secured a three year pre-contract deal with Scottish Premier League club Hibernian.^[7]
On 4 February 2007 Donaldson himself was quoted in the Non-League Paper as saying, "Andy Sprott has got me a terrific deal and I'm chuffed with what he has done. But it was my decision and he kept making that clear."^[8]
McEwan issued a public apology to York City's supporters and on-loan West Bromwich Albion striker Rob Elvins after the teams home defeat to Conference bottom club Tamworth on 3 February 2007.^[9]
McEwan believes he can complete his rebuilding vision for York City by 2009, saying "If you look back through the history of York City then any manager that achieved some kind of success was here for a minimum of five years. Denis Smith had five years and I think it takes that long to build a club from bottom to the top. If you don't do it in five years then you deserve the sack."^[10]
McEwan was named Nationwide Conference Manager of the Month for April 2007.^[11]

Quotes

★ Accrington have got money, we've got KitKats - Billy McEwan on Accrington Stanley.^[12]

Managerial stats

:''As of 8 September 2007.''^[13]

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	L	D	Win %
Sheffield United		March 27 1986	January 2 1988	86	27	34	25	31.39
Rotherham United		April 1 1988	January 1 1991	141	52	49	40	36.87
Darlington		May 1 1992	October 4 1993	57	13	25	19	22.80
Derby County		April 29 1995	June 15 1995	1	0	1	0	00.00
Derby County		January 14 2002	January 30 2002	2	0	2	0	00.00
York City		February 11 2005	''Present''	118	46	42	30	38.98

Notes

1. McEwan back at Derby
2. McEwan ambitious for fresh task
3. York City undergoes big changes
4. York manager rejects League offer
5. York manager threatens to quit
6. McEwan slams Clayton's agent
7. Deal was best for Clayton - Sprott
8. ''The Non-League Paper, page 4, 4 February 2007''
9. McEwan apologises after his sloppy side succumb to Lambs
10. Billy’s high five
11. Billy McEwan Wins Manager Of The Month
12. Quotes of the week
13. Billy McEwan's managerial career

External links

★

★ Billy McEwan profile at the York City website