Frank O'Farrell RIP

[Malkay]

Ex Iran manager Frank O'Farrell (1974-75) has passed away at the age of 94. May he rest in peace

https://twitter.com/ManUtd/status/15...dTnGeqiJ8dD-bw

[Gol Bezan]

[Nokhodi]

May he RIP.
Bless him for his works for TM.

[_Navid_]

Rest in peace. He was a great TM coach.

[Ghermez Agha]

Wow, very sad news. He got some very solid results in TM and I’m sure played a big role in preparation for the improvements the team made leading up to the 1978 wcq campaign. For sure on of the biggest names to coach TM. May he RIP

[Iran_19]

RIP. Solid coach


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[O-ZoNe]

RIP. Sad to hear.

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[STYX]

RIP Frank O'Farrell

[Damavand]

May he Rest In Peace. He contributed immensely to TM in his short tenure. His tactics and preparation was the main reason Iran defeated a powerful Israel team in the final of the Asian Games.

After his departure his impact helped TM reach the Quarterfinals of the 1976 Olympics and qualify to 1978 WC. Similar to how CQs impact has helped TM now.

[Leicester City]

Rest In Peace, Frank.

[PSGman#19]

Read an English site about him. According to this site, iran invade Iraq after the revolution...

[kaebi kabab]

nothing from our federation....

RIP

[Leicester City]

Frank O’Farrell: 1927-2022

It was with great sadness that the Club heard the news that their former manager Frank O’Farrell died on 6 March, 2022, aged 94.

Frank O’Farrell was appointed Leicester City’s manager in December 1968, replacing Matt Gillies who had resigned after 10 largely successful years at the helm.

An ex-Republic of Ireland international wing-half who had played well over 300 games for West Ham United and Preston North End between 1948 and 1961, Frank was part of a group of players at Upton Park which included Malcolm Allison, Dave Sexton, John Bond, Noel Cantwell, Ken Brown and Malcolm Musgrove. They all went on to have successful careers as managers and coaches.

Between 1961 and 1965 O’Farrell cut his managerial teeth at Weymouth, winning the Southern League title in 1965, after which he went to Torquay United for three years, winning promotion from the Fourth Division at the end of his first season at Plainmoor.

When O’Farrell, with Malcolm Musgrove as his assistant, took over at Filbert Street in December 1968, the Club was near the foot of the First Division, despite the team containing quality players such as Peter Shilton, Peter Rodrigues, David Nish, John Sjoberg, Graham Cross, Bobby Roberts, Allan Clarke, Rodney Fern, Davie Gibson, Mike Stringfellow, and Lenny Glover.

O’Farrell immediately set about masterminding an FA Cup run which culminated in the final at Wembley against Manchester City, coached by his old West Ham team-mate Malcolm Allison. Defeat at Wembley was followed by relegation five games and three weeks later when, needing to win the last match of the season at Old Trafford to stay up, Leicester City lost 3-2. They were relegated after 12 years in the top flight.

Leicester City just missed an immediate return to the ‘old’ First Division. They finished third at a time when only the top two sides in the division were promoted.

The following season, O’Farrell made two key signings. These were midfielders Willie Carlin and Bobby Kellard, who were both signed to add aggression and competitiveness to the side. O’Farrell called them his street fighters. This pragmatic approach worked, with Leicester City returning to the top flight as the 1971 Second Division Champions.

This achievement resulted in Manchester United offering O’Farrell, (whose contract at Leicester was about to expire), a five-year contract worth £15,000 per year to be their new manager, with Malcolm Musgrove as his assistant.

This turned out to be a poisoned chalice. The great Manchester United players from the 1960s were ageing. Matt Busby’s continued presence at Old Trafford undermined O’Farrell’s authority. George Best was causing problems. O’Farrell’s team finished eighth at the end of his first season, but in December 1972, with his team struggling, he was replaced as manager by Tommy Docherty.

A brief spell managing Cardiff City was followed by a two year interlude as manager of Iran between 1974 and 1976. This preceded a return in 1976 to manage Torquay United before he moved to the United Arab Emirates in 1980 to manage Al Shaab. Finally, he returned to Torquay for a third time between 1981 and 1983 before enjoying a lengthy retirement in Torquay.

The thoughts of everyone at Leicester City Football Club are with the family and friends of Frank at this sad time.

https://www.lcfc.com/news/2520156/frank-ofarrell-19272022

[Leicester City]

Former Manager Remembers: Frank O’Farrell

Following the sad passing of Frank O'Farrell on 6 March, 2022, we publish in full Club Historian John Hutchinson’s interview with the Club's former manager.

Amongst other things, Frank spoke about his move to Leicester City and his two-and-a-half seasons at Filbert Street. This time included the 1969 FA Cup Final, relegation from the top flight and winning the Second Division title. He also told the story of how he left Leicester to become the manager of Manchester United and the difficult situation he inherited at Old Trafford.

In November 1968, Leicester City’s manager Matt Gillies resigned. He had managed the team for 10 successful years in the top flight and had taken the Club to two FA Cup Finals, two League Cup Finals (winning one of them) and into European competition for the first time.

The following month, he was replaced by O’Farrell, who despite Leicester City facing a relegation battle, nevertheless guided his new team to the 1969 FA Cup Final against Manchester City 106 days after his appointment.

“My time at Leicester was a very exciting and rewarding time,” Frank began. “I came from Torquay on 19 December, 1968. I had turned down an opportunity to go to Ipswich. I chose to come to Leicester City because I felt it was a progressive club within a big area, the Midlands, which meant that, based in Leicester, I could see a lot of games and follow other teams and keep in touch with other teams and players.

“It was a battle against relegation for the rest of the season, but the players responded well and worked very hard, although Allan Clarke (for whom Leicester City had paid a British record transfer fee six months earlier) was a bit unsettled for a while.

"When we were on our cup run, we got behind on our fixtures. When we got drawn against Liverpool in the sixth round, the pitch was in such a bad state that the match was postponed several times. When Bill Shankly (Liverpool’s legendary manager) came down to inspect the pitch with the referee and myself to see if the game could be played, I used to take him for lunch at the Midland Hotel.

"I found him to be a very interesting character and a very kind man. He might have given the impression of being otherwise when being interviewed but he spoke very lovingly about his family and friends.

“When the match was eventually played it was a 0-0 draw on a very heavy pitch. Then we went to Anfield and won 1-0. Peter [Shilton] saved a penalty. Shanks was on the touchline and when he replaced (England World Cup winner) Roger Hunt, he wasn’t well pleased and took off his shirt and threw it down. It was a great win, but people said at the time that Liverpool never liked to play against Leicester City.

“It was a wonderful occasion when we got to Wembley against Manchester City. It was a very tight game which we could have won. We had a few chances but lost to a great shot by Neil Young. It was a disappointment to lose but we enjoyed the experience of being there.

“After the final, due to the postponed league fixtures caused by the poor state of the Filbert Street pitch, we had five games to play in three weeks. We needed seven points and it all depended on the last match at Old Trafford. We took the lead and then George Best had a couple of brilliant moments and we eventually lost 3-2 and got relegated. It was a double whammy: to lose the cup final and then to get relegated. The gods were cruel to us.”

"I’d always preached to players like Peter Shilton that if you have a contract, you have to honour it. I remember once he said to me: ‘Well, managers break their contracts’ and I said: ’I know Peter, but I’ve never done it'. I had the high moral ground."

Frank was nevertheless optimistic about the future, as he explained.

He said: “Despite going down we had the makings of a very good First Division team and provided we applied ourselves, had the right attitude and worked hard, there was a good chance we would go back up reasonably quickly.

“The thing about relegation is that the top players feel it damages their prospects of playing for England. I explained to the players that I didn’t want to be in the Second Division any longer than I had to to be and that I wanted to be a First Division manager as well.

“We had a bit of a problem with Allan Clarke. He just didn’t want to play for Leicester. He’d left relegated Fulham to come to Leicester where he found himself involved in relegation again. I let him go to Leeds. It was in the best interests of the Club, because we got money which helped me bring in other players.

“We had a good youth policy with a number of local lads in the team like David Nish, Rodney Fern, Alan Woollett, Steve Whitworth and Peter Shilton who was the most famous of them all. He was very ambitious and felt that being relegated would damage his England prospects, but I told him that if he was the best goalkeeper Alf Ramsey would pick him, which he did of course. Peter got his first cap playing in the Second Division and settled down eventually.

“We finished third in that first season, missing promotion by two points. We had a good run towards the end of the season but just couldn’t quite make it. The Filbert Street pitch hindered us as it didn’t suit our football. We had some good footballers but the Filbert Street pitch was very heavy, the ball stuck in the mud and we had to overcome these conditions as well as competition from the opposition.

"Doug the groundsman did a fantastic job. I appreciated the work he had to do to try to keep the pitch in playing order for us. I never asked to use the pitch unless it was absolutely necessary because I knew what a hard job it was getting it rolled and ready and that it would cut up again if we used it. When I visualise the Filbert Street pitch now after all these years, I don’t see grass, I just see mud.”

The following season, in 1970/71, Frank’s Leicester City team won the Second Division title.

“For the second season I signed (midfielders) Willie Carlin and Bobby Kellard," he said. "I called them my little street fighters, they’d been around. They had ability and they had that little bit of aggression. The Leicester players were good, but they were a bit quiet in some ways. They lacked a little bit of nastiness.

"In football you need some nastiness in one or two areas. We needed extra competitiveness and Carlin and Kellard provided it. They fulfilled their obligations and duties and were very good signings. I had tried to sign Carlin when I first managed Weymouth in 1961. He had been released by Liverpool at the time when the maximum wage was abolished.

"Clubs had big staffs then and they released a lot of players to avoid having to pay more money to the players they retained. I’d got his address from the Players’ Union office but he told me that although he appreciated me asking him, he wanted to stay in the league, which I understood. So, I didn’t get him until nine years later when he signed for me at Leicester.”

With Carlin and Kellard in the side, Leicester City won the Second Division title in 1971. But that summer, Frank left Filbert Street to become Manchester United’s new manager.

"I didn’t give him an answer and said I’d have to talk to my Chairman Len Shipman on the Monday. He said: ‘Well, my Chairman and I spoke to Len Shipman when we were in London for a meeting, and said that you weren’t interested'. How could he say that? In his defence, Len probably didn’t want to lose me and was trying to fend Manchester United off."

“If I’d been on contract, I wouldn’t have been interested in moving to Manchester United,” Frank explained. “I’d always preached to players like Peter Shilton that if you have a contract, you have to honour it. I remember once he said to me: ‘Well, managers break their contracts’ and I said: ’I know Peter, but I’ve never done it'. I had the high moral ground.

“I wouldn’t have broken my contract with Leicester but I was at the end of mine. I got a phone call from Matt Gillies, who was a friend of Matt Busby (the famous Manchester United manager) telling me that Busby wanted to talk to me. The papers had speculated about who Busby’s successor would be and he himself had written complimentary things about me, as had others who had been following my career.

“Busby contacted me, I met him on the motorway on the Saturday and brought him to my house in Eccles Road in Birstall. He said there was a lot of work to be done and offered me the job. He told me they would give me time to do this and offered me a long five-year contract at £12,000-a-year.

“I didn’t give him an answer and said I’d have to talk to my Chairman Len Shipman on the Monday. He said: ‘Well, my Chairman and I spoke to Len Shipman when we were in London for a meeting, and said that you weren’t interested'. How could he say that? In his defence, Len probably didn’t want to lose me and was trying to fend Manchester United off.

“On the Monday, without telling Len Shipman I’d already met Busby and had been offered the job, I asked for permission to speak to Manchester United. I then rang Matt Busby and arranged to meet him at a hotel between Derby and Manchester the following Tuesday.

“On the Tuesday, as I got into the hotel carpark, a Rolls Royce pulled up. I recognised Louis Edwards, the Manchester United Chairman, and Matt Busby in the car. I went over to them and they said: ‘There are a few people round, we might be seen’. I said: ‘I’ll drive out, you follow me and we’ll find some place down the road to meet’.

"So, I drove out of the car park, turned off into a little B road and pulled into a lay-by opposite a farm. The Rolls Royce pulled in behind me. I went into the Rolls and was introduced to Louis Edwards. I asked Busby to repeat the terms he had offered and he said it was a five-year contract at £12,000-a-year plus bonuses for winning the league or cup, at which point Louis Edwards said: ‘No Matt, it’s £15,000’.

“Busby had been sent to negotiate with me for £15,000 but had offered me £12,000. I can’t understand that. I accepted the offer but then there was another issue before I even started the job. I was told that they were building a new little office for me down the corridor from the manager’s office which had Matt Busby’s name on the door.

"Never one to not state my case I said I needed Busby’s manager’s office because that’s where people would expect to find the manager. So, the foundations weren’t good when I went there, but then we had a good start. We went to the top of the league and Matt Busby was claiming that I was the best signing he’d ever made. Twelve months after that he sacked me!

"I accepted the offer but then there was another issue before I even started the job. I was told that they were building a new little office for me down the corridor from the manager’s office which had Matt Busby’s name on the door. Never one to not state my case I said I needed Busby’s manager’s office because that’s where people would expect to find the manager."

“He had a big influence in the board room. At a function Matt told my wife that I was ‘an independent sod’ and why didn’t I go to see him. So I did. He started finding fault with one of my signings Martin Buchan, which I disagreed with. He also said that I shouldn’t have dropped Bobby Charlton. I knew that when I did he was unhappy and had gone to see Matt. It was an impossible situation.

“Also, George Best was playing out of his skin in the first half of the season when we went to the top of the table but then he started missing training and going away and the team wasn’t good enough without him.

"Manchester United wasn’t going to be rebuilt until George Best, Bobby Charlton and Denis Law, who had all been great players in their day, all left Old Trafford. We needed to rebuild but you can’t do that overnight. I wasn’t given the chance.”

After leaving Manchester United in December 1972, Frank went onto manage Cardiff City and the Iranian national team. He later returned to manage Torquay United for two more spells, as well as managing Al Shaab in the United Arab Emirates.

Frank sadly passed away on 6 March, 2022, aged 94. The thoughts of everyone at Leicester City Football Club are with the family and friends of Frank at this sad time.

[Leicester City]

فرانک اوفارل؛ سرمربی*ای که راه فوتبال ایران را به قله آسیا باز کرد درگذشت

.فرانک اوفارل سرمربی اسبق تیم ملی فوتبال ایران و باشگاه*های منچستر یونایتد و لستر سیتی در ۹۴ سالگی درگذشت

.او از سال ۱۳۵۳ تا ۱۳۵۵ حدود دو سال سرمربی تیم ملی ایران بود و با این تیم قهرمان بازی*های آسیایی۱۹۷۴ تهران شد

ایران برای هدایت تیم ملی ابتدا سراغ برایان کلاف، سرمربی نامدار لیدز یونایتد و ناتینگهام فارست، رفت، اما او این پیشنهاد را قبول نکرد. آقای اوفارل در مورد ماجرای حضورش در ایران گفته بود: "اول به کلاف پیشنهاد داده بودند، که او قبول نکرد. بعدی وقتی به من پیشنهاد دادند سراغ او رفتم و کلاف به من گفت، این کار واقعا آینده*دار است و من فقط علاقه*ای به آن نداشتم. او گفت برو آنجا و شرایط را ببین و مطمئنم که متعجب خواهی شد."

"به من قراردادی دو ساله دادند اما گفتند که همه چیز به موفقیت من بستگی دارد. پس از تجربه بدی که با یونایتد داشتم، می*خواستم مدتی از اینجا دور باشم."

تیم فوتبال ایران در دور اول بازی*های آسیایی با برمه، پاکستان و بحرین هم*گروه بود و با پیروزی در تمامی مسابقات به عنوان سرگروه صعود کرد. ایران در دور دوم مسابقات با تیم*های کره جنوبی، مالزی و عراق هم*گروه شد و این بار نیز با پیروزی در تمامی بازی*ها و بدون گل خورده به فینال رسید.

ایران در مسابقه فینال مقابل اسرائیل ایستاد و با گل به خودی دقیقه ۲۹ ایتسهاک شوم، مدافع اسرائیل جام قهرمانی را پیش چشم ۱۲۰ هزار تماشاگر حاضر در ورزشگاه تازه*ساز آریامهر (آزادی فعلی) بالای سر برد.

شرق بهشت؛ مربیان خارجی از کجا به فوتبال ایران آمدند و چه کردند؟

قهرمانی ایران در آن مسابقات موجب راهیابی این تیم به المپیک ۱۹۷۶ مونترال نیز شد که آخرین حضور فوتبال ایران در المپیک تا امروز است.

تیمی که آقای اوفارل ساخت، استخوان*بندی تیمی را تشکیل داد که با هدایت دستیار آن زمان او، حشمت مهاجرانی قهرمانی جام ملت*های آسیا شد و به جام جهانی ۱۹۷۸ آرژانتین نیز راه پیدا کرد.

او در مورد تجربه*اش در ایران گفت: "در ابتدای کارم یک مترجم داشتم. او خیلی از دیدن من خوشحال شد به این دلیل که طرفدار لستر سیتی بود و در دانشگاه لستر درس خوانده بود. اگر نیاز به مکالمه*ای طولانی بود، او به اردوی تیم می*آمد، خود من هم کمی فارسی یاد گرفته بودم..."

آقای اوفارل همچنین گفته بود که مردم ایران بسیار مهمان*نواز هستند و این خصلت آن*ها مانند ایرلندی*ها است.

حضور فرانک اوفارل در فوتبال ایران به دنبال ناکامی در منچستر یونایتد بود.

سر مت بازبی، سرمربی اسطوره*ای منچستر یونایتد در سال ۱۹۷۱ آقای اوفارل را به عنوان جانشین خودش در این تیم انتخاب کرد.

برغم این که تیم آن سال*های منچستر یونایتد فوق ستاره*هایی مانند بابی چارلتون، جرج بست و دنیس لاو در اختیار داشت، آقای اوفارل خوب نتیجه نگرفت و پس از ۱۸ ماه از این تیم اخراج شد.

او که در تیم*های وستهم و نورث پرستون اند بازی کرده بود، ۹ بار هم پیراهن تیم ملی فوتبال جمهوری ایرلند را به تن کرد.

فرانک اوفارل مربیگری خود را از تیم تورکی آغاز کرد و در سال ۱۹۶۸ به لستر سیتی پیوست. او این تیم را به فینال جام حذفی انگلیس در سال ۱۹۶۹ رساند و در سال ۱۹۷۱ هم قهرمان دسته دوم فوتبال انگلیس شد.

او در ۹۴ سالگی قدیمی*ترین بازیکن زنده وستهم بود.

https://www.bbc.com/persian/sport-60653499