Jim McInally Player Profile
Player Details
- Full Name: James Edward McInally
- Born: February 19th, 1964 (Glasgow)
- Height: 5' 8
- Position: Midfielder
- Signed: May 16th, 1986 (£140,000)
- First Manager: Jim McLean
- Career Totals: 395 appearances, 22 goals
- Also Played For: Celtic, Coventry City, Dundee, Nottingham Forest, Raith Rovers, Sligo Rovers
Playing History
| Season | Division |  |
 |
G2G |  |
 |
Win % | Draw % | Loss % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996-97 | Premier Division | 14 (6) | 1 | 0.05 | 1 | 0 | 60.0% | 30.0% | 10.0% |
| 1994-95 | Premier Division | 31 (2) | 0 | - | 3 | 0 | 30.3% | 18.2% | 51.5% |
| 1993-94 | Premier Division | 39 (2) | 1 | 0.02 | 5 | 1 | 36.6% | 41.5% | 22.0% |
| 1992-93 | Premier Division | 30 (7) | 5 | 0.14 | 8 | 1 | 43.2% | 16.2% | 40.5% |
| 1991-92 | Premier Division | 34 | 4 | 0.12 | 4 | 0 | 44.1% | 29.4% | 26.5% |
| 1990-91 | Premier Division | 47 | 2 | 0.04 | 5 | 1 | 46.8% | 19.1% | 34.0% |
| 1989-90 | Premier Division | 46 | 4 | 0.09 | 5 | 0 | 39.1% | 30.4% | 30.4% |
| 1988-89 | Premier Division | 40 | 1 | 0.03 | 5 | 0 | 40.0% | 37.5% | 22.5% |
| 1987-88 | Premier Division | 45 (1) | 2 | 0.04 | 4 | 0 | 39.1% | 34.8% | 26.1% |
| 1986-87 | Premier Division | 51 | 2 | 0.04 | 7 | 0 | 54.9% | 25.5% | 19.6% |
| Totals: | 377 (18) | 22 |
| Apps = First Team Appearances (Sub Appearances) | Gls = Goals |
| GtGR = Goals to Games Ratio | W/D/L - Games won, drawn or lost as percentage of games played in |
| Yel = Yellow Cards/Cautions | Red = Red Cards/Dismissals |
| Recent First Team Starts |
|---|
| May 10th, 1997 | 10/05/97 | League | Premier Division | vs. Celtic (A) | 0 - 3 |
| May 7th, 1997 | 07/05/97 | League | Premier Division | vs. Rangers (H) | 0 - 1 |
| Feb 16th, 1997 | 16/02/97 | Scottish Cup | 4th Round | vs. Hearts (A) | 1 - 1 |
| Feb 8th, 1997 | 08/02/97 | League | Premier Division | vs. Hibernian (H) | 0 - 0 |
| Feb 1st, 1997 | 01/02/97 | League | Premier Division | vs. Celtic (H) | 1 - 0 |
| Recent First Team Goals |
|---|
| Jan 11th, 1997 | 11/01/97 | League | Premier Division | vs. Dunfermline (A) | 3 - 1 |
| Apr 12th, 1994 | 12/04/94 | Scottish Cup | Semi Final Rep. | vs. Aberdeen (N) | 1 - 0 |
| Mar 20th, 1993 | 20/03/93 | League | Premier Division | vs. St Johnstone (A) | 4 - 1 |
| Jan 16th, 1993 | 16/01/93 | League | Premier Division | vs. Hibernian (A) | 1 - 2 |
| Dec 1st, 1992 | 01/12/92 | League | Premier Division | vs. Partick Th (H) | 2 - 1 |
| List of Goals Scored (click to expand) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| List of Games Played |
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| Sorry, there are too many games to display for this player. |
Biography
A product of Celtic Boys Club, McInally signed professional forms with Celtic in October 1980. Starting off as a left-back, he won Scotland Youth caps and then debuted in the first team against Dunfermline in August 1982, but would only make another two appearances for the Glasgow club. In January 1984 he went out on loan to Dundee, and although offered a new contract with Celtic, Jim chose to join Brian Clough’s Nottingham Forest side in May 1984.
Signed on the same day as Johnny Metgod and Gary Megson, Jim made his Forest debut during a pre-season tour of Australia, which was quickly followed by a return to Glasgow to face Celtic, and an appearance in Jim McLean’s testimonial match at Tannadice in August 1984. He went on to make over 40 appearances during his 18 month spell at the City Ground, and on Boxing Day 1985 he was transferred to Coventry City for £112,000.
After just five months at Highfield Road, Jim - along with teammate Dave Bowman, who had arrived at Coventry from Hearts a year before McInally – was brought to Tannadice by manager Jim McLean in a joint deal worth £140,000, a deal funded by the transfer of Billy Kirkwood and Stuart Beedie to Hibs on the same day.
By now a defensive midfield player, Jim made his first appearance for United against Raith Rovers in a friendly in July 1986, but had to wait until September to make his competitive debut against Hamilton Academical. Jim went on to be a regular in the side in his first season, scoring his first goal for the Club against Hajduk Split at Tannadice in the UEFA Cup, and was an influential player throughout that campaign, as United reached the final only to narrowly lose out to Gothenburg. He also collected a runners-up medal in the Scottish Cup after losing to St Mirren at Hampden. He achieved international recognition while he was with United, winning the first of ten full Scotland caps against Belgium in April 1987, and was also capped at Under-21 level as an over age player.
A second Scottish Cup runners-up medal followed a year later against Celtic, and in 1991 he was a Scottish Cup runner-up for a third time after United lost to Motherwell in extra-time, a match that saw him, along with three other players, sent off after the final whistle. In the summer of 1992, Jim was selected for the Scotland squad to compete in the European Championship finals in Sweden, where he played in Scotland’s third game against CIS.
Jim scored the decisive goal that took United through to the 1994 Scottish Cup final, beating Aberdeen 1-0 in the semi-final reply at Hampden. Having lost their previous three Scottish Cup finals, McInally, Bowman and Maurice Malpas finally collected winners’ medals when the team defeated Rangers to pick up the trophy for the first time in the Club’s history.
The highs of that Scottish Cup win were soon followed by the despair of relegation the following season, with McInally a regular in the side that dropped from the top division for the first time in 35 years. Having spent nine years at Tannadice, the midfielder was linked with moves to Motherwell, Celtic and Hibs before joining Raith Rovers as a player/coach in 1995. Eighteen months later he was back at Tannadice for a second spell, helping Tommy McLean’s side finish third in the Premier Division and qualify for Europe after their return to the top flight.
In June 1997 he joined Dundee as a player/coach, helping them to win promotion in 1998 before retiring a year later.
His first venture into management followed at Sligo Rovers in the summer of 1999, but he quickly returned to Scotland where he joined Celtic's coaching staff. He became manager at Morton in 2004 and won promotion to the First Division at the end of 2006-07. In February 2008 he left Morton and a month later took over at East Stirlingshire, and in 2011 he took over at Peterhead, winning the Scottish League Two title in 2013-14.
In 2015, Jim was inducted into the Dundee United Hall of Fame.
Last updated on Wednesday, April 20th, 2022 by B Orr.
Debut
September 20th, 1986
Hamilton Academical 1 - 5 Dundee United
League (Premier Division)
International Career (Scotland) 
Caps: 10
Goals: 0
International Debut: April 1st, 1987 v. Belgium
After becoming an important part of the United team that made their mark in Europe in 1987, Jim McInally made his Scotland debut in a European Championship qualifier against Belgium in Brussels in April that year, and won his second cap in a Rous Cup match versus Brazil at Hampden at the end of that long season. After being in and out of the international set-up over the next three years, he broke back into the team in 1992, during the lead up to the European Championship Finals in Sweden. He made an appearance during the competition, coming on as a substitute in Scotland's 3-0 win over the CIS in Norrkoping. He started, along with United teammates Dave Bowman and Duncan Ferguson, in a friendly against Germany at Ibrox in 1993, but his last international appearance came soon after, in a World Cup qualifier in Portugal in April 1993.
Click here for a full list of international matches for this player
Timeline
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Date of Birth
Jim was born on this date in Glasgow.
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Signed For Dundee United
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First Non-Competitive Appearance (Friendly)
Raith Rovers 2 - 1 Dundee United
Friendly
Following the successful outing at Montrose this was something of a set back against a Kirkcaldy side. Full of running and looking to catch us on the break. Those tactics proved a match winning formul
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First Team Debut
Hamilton 1 - 5 Dundee United
League (Premier Division)
We stretched our unbeaten domestic run to 11 matches this term, though this proved the least demanding outing against an Accies' side obviously lacking confidence after their dismal start to life in t
-
First Goal
Dundee United 2 - 0 Hajduk Split
UEFA Cup (3rd Round 1st Leg)
We established the minimum acceptable lead over Hajduk but this was for the most part, not one of our vintage European displays. Hajduk, in fact, had their best spell of the game after going two behin
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First League Goal
Hibernian 0 - 2 Dundee United
League (Premier Division)
Much of the pre-occupation prior to the visit to Easter Road had been the impending draw for the U.E.F.A. Cup quarter finals. The players however didn't let their thoughts wander and earned two vital
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International Debut
Jim earned his first International cap for Scotland, playing against Belgium.
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50th Appearance
St Mirren 1 - 0 Dundee United
Scottish Cup (Final)
Our fourth Cup Final appearance in 13 years ended as all the previous ones - in defeat, but this was perhaps the bitterest pill of all to swallow. In truth we never really played well enough to deserv
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50th League Appearance
Dundee United 1 - 2 Hibernian
League (Premier Division)
Hibs, who had only won once in twenty-two visits prior to this season, accomplished their second victory of the season by an identical scoreline. Yet we got off to the perfect start and finished stron
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100th Appearance
Dundee 0 - 3 Dundee United
League (Premier Division)
Derby meetings last season, and there were nine of them in total, turned out to be all close fought affairs. The first Derby of the new season, however, was dominated by United, as we recorded the big
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100th League Appearance
Dundee United 2 - 1 Dunfermline
League (Premier Division)
Newcomer Peter Hinds made his Premier debut in this match and although his name doesn't appear on the scoresheet, he was very impressive and had a big hand in our winning goal. We started off like a t
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200th Appearance
Dundee United 0 - 4 Vitesse
UEFA Cup (2nd Round 2nd Leg)
Trailling by a single goal from the first leg, the one thing United couldn't afford was the loss of an early goal. Given the fact that this is precisely what happened was bad enough, but the manner in
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200th League Appearance
Celtic 2 - 0 Dundee United
League (Premier Division)
Parkhead was the scene of our first defeat of the season and there is no doubt that United gave themselves a mountain to climb by losing two goals after only 12 minutes play. Celtic had Andy Payton ma
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300th Appearance
Rangers 1 - 0 Dundee United
League (Premier Division)
There was a great deal of early promise for the United supporters in the sell-out crowd as United took the game to the newly crowned Champions. Goram was grateful to palm away a crashing John Clark fr
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Left the Club
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Signed For Dundee United
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Last Goal
Dunfermline 1 - 3 Dundee United
League (Premier Division)
A close run contest saw United edge home. After Kjell Olofsson had scored twice early in the second half, the dismissal of Erik Pedersen fuelled Fife hopes and they pulled a goal back through former U
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300th League Appearance
Dundee United 0 - 0 Hibernian
League (Premier Division)
The run of eight consecutive victories came to an end with a disappointing draw against Hibs as United failed to score for the first time this year. A strong blustery wind exacerbated the low ente
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Last Appearance
Celtic 3 - 0 Dundee United
League (Premier Division)
This was definitely not a case of saving the best for last as Scandinavian-less United suffered their heaviest defeat in what was undoubtedly the poorest performance of the season! Cadete danc
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Left the Club
Collectables (Stickers & Cards)
Magazine Articles
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