McNamara’s the grand old duke of York
IF Jackie McNamara felt an acute lack of loyalty as he was unceremoniously cut loose by Dundee United two years ago, it’s fair to say he has been handsomely recompensed by York City.
The 43-year-old took charge of the then League Two side in November 2015 just two months after leaving Tannadice thanks to a phone call out of the blue by the Minstermen’s owner and chairman Jason McGill.
Unable to keep the side in the Football League this time last year, the only door McNamara was shown was the one leading to the chief executive’s office at Bootham Crescent where he is now firmly ensconced.
If this new role was always going to guarantee a sizeable in-tray, recent events have conspired to ensure his workload is even more arduous.
Under the management of former Nottingham Forest midfielder Gary Mills, York were relegated from the National League last month and next season will compete in the sixth tier of the game — the National League North.
It’s a decline that would strain the strongest of working relationships.
It seems, though, that the bond between chief executive and chairman is stronger than the ramparts of the castle that sits in the centre of the city.
‘Once I spoke with him and once I’d been around him, I really liked him as a person,’ said McNamara.
‘As a chairman, I wish I’d had him before I went to York.
‘He showed me support and loyalty to me at times when the results weren’t there and I think that’s because he was seeing what was going on behind the scenes and how I was trying to change his club for him.
‘It would have been easy for him to sack me when the results were not there.
‘Now it’s the same thing. I’m being loyal to him because he’s a friend.’
Such sentiments tend to stick out like a sore thumb in football due to its relentlessly ruthless nature.
When McNamara was sacked with United sitting second bottom of the league after nine games, it seemed harsh but hardly out of step with countless other snap judgments made on struggling managers.
The reality is that the modern world doesn’t care for accentuating circumstances or excuses. Results are all that count. York seem to be out on their own as a club prepared to look at the bigger picture.
‘When I went down there as manager, I was trying to do a lot of things as well as manage the team,’ McNamara explained.
‘It was looking at the infrastructure and a lot of things needed changing.
‘We brought reserve-team football back, which was a big thing after seven years.
‘Behind the scenes, a lot of things were non-league, even though the club was in League Two.
‘It was about trying to do that as well as run a team and it was difficult with a lot of those behind the scenes things.’
With hindsight, the club were already a sinking ship. Too many players doing too little for too much money.
‘Of all the players who went out of contract, not one of them is still playing in the Football League,’ McNamara explained. ‘It tells you a story of the standard.
‘A lot of foreign players go into the English Premier League. That forces others down to the Championship.
‘Then down to League One and League Two. It filters down, so there are more and more players available who are on big money at the 27 to 30-year-old mark.
‘The biggest frustration for me is that some didn’t have the same appetite or professionalism to succeed. It’s going about club to club for last pay days.’
Try as he might, there was just no changing the habits so many players he encountered had picked up over a lifetime.
‘I went into a difficult situation where you are trying to coach and teach,’ he recalled.
‘I wanted to do that as a coach — to pass on wisdom and experiences, whereas some people are more interested in teaching themselves.
‘I’ve always been about trying to make players better and improving them on and off the park.
‘Whether it be strength and conditioning, diets, yoga. But the players you have need to want to change and have to want to be better and maximise their careers.
‘That was the frustrating part because their want was not in the club’s best interests.’
You can see how that would have jarred with him.
Both at Partick Thistle and United, McNamara was all about buffing up hidden gems and promoting youth.
Combined with solid pros, his Tannadice side were not just easy on the eye but a potent outfit when it all clicked into place.
That team’s rapid dismantling did wonders for United’s finances but little for McNamara’s chances of having them challenging for honours.
‘I always felt the ones who wanted to work were the ones who improved,’ he added.
‘Andy Robertson, Blair Spittal, Stuart Armstrong, Gary Mackay-Steven. Then you had experienced ones like John Rankin and Paul Paton who did the same because they wanted to maximise their careers.
‘Good attitudes and good professionals. It was a good formula.
‘We had top-six finishes, we had cup finals. We weren’t relegated when I left.
‘Players were sold, but I understood that I was going into a place which had problems.
‘In fairness to Stephen Thompson, he inherited a big problem going in there and did things the right way.
‘But it comes at a cost and it’s about getting the balance right when the time comes.’
McNamara’s problem wasn’t so much the players he lost. Even a blind man would see how that hindered him but it was his lame attempts to replace them. The signings of Darko Bodul and Rodney Sneijder haunted him.
That said, wasn’t he entitled to the chance to redeem himself?
‘People with intelligence can see it,’ he said.
‘I spoke with Bertie Auld and he had the same problems in his managerial career, but I’ve not lost any faith in my ability as a coach or as a manager, or in my staff. ‘I’m not done with management just yet. I’m taking time out.’