Jackie McNamara

Football player infobox
playername = Jackie McNamara


fullname = Jackie McNamara
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1973|10|24
cityofbirth = Glasgow
countryofbirth = Scotland
height = height|ft=5|in=8
currentclub = Falkirk
clubnumber = 5
position = Defender
years = 1991–1995
1995–2005
2005–2007
2007–2008
2008–
clubs = Dunfermline Athletic
Celtic
Wolves
Aberdeen
Falkirk
caps(goals) = 059 0(0)
255 (10)
029 0(0)
017 0(0)
065 0(0)
nationalyears = 1996–2005
nationalteam = Scotland
nationalcaps(goals) = 033 0(0)
pcupdate = 20 April 2008

Jackie McNamara (born 24 October, 1973 in Glasgow) is a professional footballer, who will play for Falkirk in the Scottish Premier League [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/f/falkirk/7396261.stm BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Falkirk | Falkirk complete McNamara swoop ] ] , after leaving Aberdeen by mutual consent. He is a former Scottish international. He played for Scotland in the 1998 FIFA World Cup and has filled a variety of defensive roles in his international career.

Football career

Dunfermline Athletic

The son of former Celtic and Hibernian player Jackie McNamara, Sr., he started his career at Dunfermline Athletic as an attacking right wing-back.

Celtic

McNamara moved to Celtic for £650,000 in 1995. He marked an impressive start to his Celtic career, being named Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year in 1996. He won his first trophy with the club in the 1997-1998 season when Celtic won the Scottish Premier Division, preventing arch-rivals Rangers F.C. from winning 10-in-a-row, which would have seen them eclipse Celtic's record of 9-in-a-row. He featured regularly in the Celtic first eleven until the arrival of Martin O'Neill in the 2000-2001 season saw him become more of a fringe Player.

However, McNamara became a consistent player for Celtic during the later part of O'Neill's tenure, being awarded the Football Writers Player of the Year in 2004. The following year McNamara was named captain when current captain Paul Lambert was injured and missed much of the season. McNamara proved himself a consistent and reliable performer on the park, constantly snuffing out attacks and playing almost every game in the league in the 2004-2005 season.

To reward his loyalty to the club over the 10 year period, Celtic played a testimonial match against the Republic of Ireland. The match ended 1-0 to Ireland, with Robbie Keane scoring late on in the game. At the end of the 2004-2005 season Martin O'Neill left as manager of the club to take care of his sick wife's and Celtic brought in manager Gordon Strachan.

McNamara's contract was due to expire at the end of the 2004-2005 season. Due to his consistently good performances and outstanding loyalty to the club Martin O'Neill had previously promised to hand him a new deal with increased wages. Gordon Strachan assured McNamara that he wanted him at the club [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/4096472.stm |title=Strachan Rejects McNamara Claims|date=15 June 2005|publisher=BBC Sport Website] but Celtic were slow to offer a new contract, waiting until the close season to do so. By that time McNamara had already accepted an offer from Wolverhampton Wanderers as he had assumed Celtic no longer wanted his services. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wolverhampton_wanderers/4091044.stm |title=McNamara Makes Switch To Wolves|date=14 June 2005|publisher=BBC Sport Website] The incident has caused much speculation amongst supporters and the media as to who was to blame for McNamara's departure from Celtic. Many can still not understand the reasons why the player left the club, as he went on record saying he still wanted to play for the club, he was told he was still needed by the club by its manager, and he was offered the contract he wanted while still in a position to accept it.

Celtic accused McNamara of being unreasonable and accused him of moving for monetary reasons. They also blamed his agent for not encouraging negotiations and setting unhelpful deadlines. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/celtic/4096472.stm |title=Strachan Rejects McNamara Claims|date=15 June 2005|publisher=BBC Sport Website]

McNamara had gone on record as saying he wanted to end his career with Celtic [cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/sport/2005/0529/celtic.html|title=Celtic Stars Want To Stay At Club|date=29 May 2005|publisher=RTÉ Sport] and seemed to be bemused when no new contract was forthcoming. After he had accepted the Wolves offer, McNamara felt that Celtic showed a lack of respect to him in their comments to the media and he accused them of harming his reputation for their own benefit. It also emerged that in his new contract at Wolves, he was earning the same wages as his previous contract with Celtic. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/w/wolverhampton_wanderers/4102734.stm |title=McNamara Fury Over Celtic Claims|date=17 June 2005|publisher=BBC Sport Website]

Wolverhampton

However McNamara did not feel the contract offered was sufficient, and it was in acrimonious circumstances that he left to join Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2005 on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling.

After a promising start to his Wolves career, McNamara sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury in the home match with Leicester City in September 2005. He came back in the penultimate game of the 2005/6 season at home to Brighton and Hove Albion.

Aberdeen

McNamara joined Aberdeen from Wolves on a two-year contract in 2007,cite news
title = Wolves' McNamara joins Aberdeen
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aberdeen/6667595.stm
publisher = BBC Sport
date = 2007-05-18
accessdate = 2007-05-19] but he left Pittodrie before the end of the season, with manager Jimmy Calderwood citing "travelling and injuries" as the reasons for his departure. [cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/aberdeen/7358687.stm|title= Defender McNamara exits Aberdeen|date=2008-04-21|publisher=BBC Sport website|accessdate=2008-04-21] Three weeks later, it was revealed that McNamara would join Falkirk for the 2008-09 season. [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/f/falkirk/7396261.stm|title= McNamara set to sign for Falkirk|date=2008-05-12|publisher=BBC Sport website|accessdate=2008-05-12]

Falkirk

On the 13th of May, McNamara signed a two year contract at Falkirk.

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=9208|name=Jackie McNamara