Congratulations Lou Macari MBE

On behalf of all at the Swindon Town Museum Trust can I extend hearty congratulations to Lou on being made an MBE. While as a player he made a name for himself playing for Celtic and Man United to such good effect that he won international honors with Scotland, it was at Swindon his managerial career began and, I would argue, was at it’s most successful with Swindon. I think when judging managers one has to take in to account the funds they have available and this is why Lou scores so highly. There was no money available for players and Lou had to make bricks without straw. He did this in a number of ways. Andy Rowland was converted from a goal scoring striker, whose pace was going, into a dependable center half while finding new blood like from non League football like Peter Coyne and Brian Wade to spearheaded the attack. First and foremost he got the team fit. He had been horrified when he arrived at Swindon that, although in his mid
thirties, there was only one man on the staff who was fitter and that was Youth Team manager, John Trollope! Together they turned local lad Charlie Henry in to a player who topped the team’s scoring charts with 14 goals from midfield. From being in the lower reaches of Division Two, Lou took the club to the fringe of the top Division only to lose out in a play off semi-final against Crystal Palace. But for being sought after by West Han and the Inland Revenue he might have stayed at Swindon and I feel sure could have taken Swindon in to the top flight. If some were critical of Lou’s style of
football as “long ball” it is worth remembering what Steve White who played under both Lou and Glen Hoddle said about the two managers. This was that basically they were very similar based on the maxim “get it forward quickly” Lou favored doing it with one ball Glen with several. Lou went on
to manage Celtic, Birmingham and Stoke without ever recapturing the level of success he enjoyed at Swindon but was still highly respected which enabled him to do so much good work for charity in the Potteries. It is worth remembering that his MBE is less for his footballing achievements than his work for charity. As somebody who knew Lou, I am not surprised he has done so much in retirement to help others. How many football managers would go along to their children’s parents’ evenings as Lou did with Dale? How many managers would take the time to turn up at a Junior Robins (the
eighties equivalent of the Junior Reds) meeting? How many people having just been acquitted in a trial would be crying because a friend had been convicted. How many managers would take the directors out for a meal to thank them for giving him a start in management? How many managers
would give a job as kit man to a jobless would be clown (a story told in the BAFTA winning drama “Marvelous.”) one could go on but will just end by saying Well done Lou a fine manager and a fine human being.