Willie Donachie

Infobox Football biography
playername = Willie Donachie


fullname = William Donachie
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1951|10|5
cityofbirth = Glasgow
countryofbirth = Scotland
currentclub =
clubnumber =
position = Left-back
youthyears = -1968
youthclubs = Manchester City
years = 1968-1980
1980-1981
1981-1982
1982
1982-1984
1984-1990
clubs = Manchester City
Portland Timbers
Norwich City
Portland Timbers
Burnley
Oldham Athletic
caps(goals) = 351 (2)
60 (2)
11 (0)
31 (0)
60 (3)
169 (3)
nationalyears = 1972-1980
nationalteam = Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) = 35 (0)
manageryears = 2006-2007
managerclubs = Millwall

William Donachie (born 5 October 1951 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former professional footballer. He won 35 full caps for Scotland, playing in the 1978 World Cup.

Donachie was born in Glasgow, but began his football career in England as a junior with Manchester City, turning professional in December 1968. He made his first team debut in February 1970 and replaced Glyn Pardoe at left-back in City's side and quickly established himself as a regular in the side. In April 1972 he made his full debut for Scotland against Peru at Hampden Park, having previously made two appearances for Scotland's Under-23 side.

He played in two League Cup finals for City and went on to make 347 appearances before leaving in 1979 to play for NASL side Portland Timbers.

He returned to England in September 1981, joining Norwich City for a fee of £200,000, but rejoined Portland in March 1982. In November the same year he joined Burnley and in July 1984 joined Oldham Athletic where he became player-assistant manager to Joe Royle. Under Royle and Donachie Oldham enjoyed considerable success at Boundary Park, taking the unfashionable minnows to the Premier League, League Cup Final and epic FA Cup semi Finals against Manchester United in the 1990s.

When Royle left to manage Everton in 1995, Donachie followed as his assistant before being appointed First Team Coach at Sheffield United. Towards the end of the 1997-98 season he rejoined Royle at Manchester City.

In May 2001 Royle was sacked, but Donachie opted to stay at Manchester City as First Team Coach under new manager Kevin Keegan. However, in November 2001 he left to become assistant to Terry Yorath at Sheffield Wednesday [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_wed/1656506.stm Owls appoint Yorath] ] . He resigned from his post at Hillsborough on October 28 2002 to link up again with Joe Royle, who by now was manager of Ipswich Town. Ipswich paid Wednesday £50,000 compensation for this move [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/sheff_wed/2372029.stm Owls agree Donachie fee] ] .

Donachie left Portman Road in June 2006 after Jim Magilton was appointed as manager, this coming after Donachie had stated his interest in the job himself [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/i/ipswich_town/4765937.stm Ipswich post interests Donachie] ] , and joined Millwall as assistant to Nigel Spackman. He was appointed manager of Millwall on November 22, 2006 after being caretaker manager following Spackman's sacking on 25 September 2006. Nigel Spackman's last game against Northampton on 23 September left Millwall 23rd in the Coca-Cola League one (lowest 24th), but Donachie steadied the ship and Millwall finished the 2006-7 season in mid-table. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/millwall/6173494.stm. Donachie gets permanent Lions' job] ] .

On March 19th 2007, Donachie signed a two year deal as Manager. He said "I am delighted and I will follow the PLC's instructions and do all I can to get this great club into the Premiership." However, on October 8th 2007 Donachie was sacked by Millwall after a run of poor results which left the club bottom of League One. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/millwall/7034869.stm Donachie axed as Millwall manager] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.ex-canaries.co.uk/players/donachie.htm Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk]