Frank O'Farrell

CAREER

Frank O'Farrell (born January 1946 in Cork , Republic of Ireland) was an Irish football manager and player. He started his playing career with West Ham United in 1948. In 1956, he left the Hammers for Preston North End.
He won nine caps for his native Ireland scoring 2 goals at international level.
In 1961, he started his managerial career with Weymouth. In 1965, he took over Torquay United. In December 1968, he took over Leicester City.
In 1971, he took over at Manchester United. He would only last six months. the first part of the 1971/72 season, his United side won all but two of 20 League games, but from 1st January had just five more victories. Q'Farrell brought Martin Buchan to the club but United's performance early in the 1972/73 season was pretty disastrous, and the final straw was a 5-0 defeat at the hands of Crystal Palace on 16th December. Frank Q'Farrell was dismissed just three days later, on 19th December, 1972. After his time at United, he took over Cardiff City F.C.

In 1974, he took over the Iran national football team. Iran was still suffering from he disappointment of not qualifying to the World cup by a one goal margin defeat from Australia in the final play-off match. Although at the time was the undefeated in Asian Champions , the federation had an ambitious plan to qualify for the next World Cup. Iran approached Brian Clough who declined the offer and then O'Farrell , however agreed to travel to Iran and lead the national team coaching staff.

O'Farrell won the Asian Games Gold Medal in Tehran and then qualified the team for the Olympics in Montreal. , before returning back to UK to coach Torquay.