Roy Leslie McFarland was born in Edge Hill, Liverpool on the 5th of April 1948 and lived at Solon Street in Edge Hill (back of Clint Road School). Attending Edge Hill school he started his football career at Edge Hill Boys Club, before Tranmere Rovers FC signed him in July 1966. Peter Taylor spotted the young McFarland playing for Tranmere when he and Brian Clough were in their first managerial job at Hartlepool United in 1967, and reported back to Clough that he had found 'an uncut diamond'. Three months after taking charge at Derby County, Clough famously snatched him from under Liverpool’s noses and took him to Derby for a fee of £24,000. Clough and Taylor turned up very late one night at the terraced house in Liverpool where Roy lived with his parents and got him out of bed, sat him between the two of them, and 'bent his ear until 2am'. Roy had dreams of playing for Liverpool, the club he supported as a boy, and asked for time to think it over. Clough replied, "Take as much time as you want lad – but we're not leaving this house until you've made a decision." Roy's father came to Derby's rescue: "If they want you that badly, son, I think you should sign". He did sign on the 25th of August 1967 and from the moment he arrived at the Baseball Ground he made a huge impact, helping Derby reach the League Cup semi-finals in his first season and quickly becoming a favourite with the fans. As a player Brian Clough called him 'a Rolls-Royce of a defender', whilst England manager and colleague Kevin Keegan said, 'McFarland was world-class.' 'Roy of the Ram'’ or 'Supermac', as he was known, endeared himself to Derbyshire football fans forever by skippering Derby County to the Football League Championship in 1972 with his football culture and exemplary play in 434 league matches, scoring 44 times. He became the lynchpin of the Baseball Ground defence as a central defender in a Derby side which had previously won promotion to the First Division in 1969 and followed this success with two league titles, the second under Dave Mackay in 1975, although injury meant he was only able to make four appearances during the latter campaign. He was 24 years old and at the peak of his profession when he suffered a severe achilles tendon injury playing for England against Northern Ireland at Wembley in May 1974. The injury was career-threatening and Roy was out of action for almost a year, but he bravely battled back to play the final four games of that 1975-76 season. It was to be 17 months before he played for England again, but there were to be only four more caps, making a total of 28. As Brian Clough said, it could have been a hundred.
Sadly, he became increasingly susceptible to injury in a declining Derby side, and in May 1981 left the club to become player/manager at Bradford City, and promptly led them to promotion from Division Four playing in forty league matches. The following season he returned to Derby as assistant manager under Peter Taylor and played a few games in the 1983-84 season before retiring from playing. When Taylor left, Roy had a short spell as Caretaker Manager, during which the Rams kept a 100% home record, but they were relegated and he left following a regime change at the club. Returning to the Rams as Manager in October 1993 for two seasons he then formed a managerial partnership at Bolton Wanderers with former England and Derby County team-mate, Colin Todd. The partnership ended when Bolton were relegated in 1996, and Roy moved on to become manager of relative league newcomers, Cambridge United in November that same year. He led Cambridge to promotion from the third division in 1998/99, then after over 230 games in charge at the Abbey Stadium, became manager of Torquay United in 2001, leaving after just one season and taking time-out to consider his future. His timely return to football, and to Chesterfield in May 2003, signalled an upturn in the form and fortune of the Spireites but he left the club after the poor set of results on the 12th of March 2007.
In 2009, after a spell out of football he was appointed the caretaker manager of Burton Albion until the end of the 2008–09 season. Roy managed the side to promotion to the Football League but turned down the opportunity to continue as manager, as he "did not want the full-time commitment of running a League Two club on a permanent basis".
Roy McFarland was appointed to the Derby County board of directors in May 2017 and his place in Derby County’s history as one of its greatest ever players is unquestionable.
see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2026/09/merseyside-for-sport-joe-royle.html
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