Back in the mid-1980s, there were few better football clubs in Britain to learn your trade at than Dundee United.
Under the management of the late Jim McLean, the Terrors battled Aberdeen, Celtic and Rangers for supremacy in Scottish football, winning the Premier Division title in 1982/83, finishing third in each of the next four seasons, and reaching four Scottish Cup finals in eight years between 1981-88.
McLean’s side also reached the European Cup semi-finals in 1983/84 and the UEFA Cup final in 1987, while no fewer than five Dundee United players were selected for Scotland’s 1986 FIFA World Cup squad.
Amid all that success, a 16-year-old midfielder named Billy McKinlay was spotted playing for Glasgow club Hamilton Thistle and moved to Tannadice in the summer of 1985. He would remain at the club for a decade, started the 1988 Scottish Cup final at 19, won the 1989 PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year award at 20 and played over 250 times before moving south of the border.
Dundee United had been relegated at the end of the 1994/95 season, while Blackburn Rovers had been crowned English Premier League champions.
Under one of McKinlay’s boyhood heroes, Celtic, Liverpool and Scotland legend Kenny Dalglish, who had recently moved from manager to Director Football, and owned by lifelong fan and steel magnate Jack Walker, Blackburn had spent millions putting together a squad to compete with and, ultimately, beat Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United.
The opportunity to play under Dalglish and alongside the likes of England internationals Alan Shearer, David Batty and Tim Flowers and Scotland teammate Colin Hendry was one McKinlay, then 26, did not turn down, and he completed a £1.75million transfer to Ewood Park.
With Batty and captain Tim Sherwood established in central midfield and Norwegian Lars Bohinen also in the squad, McKinlay initially had to be patient, but Batty’s departure to Newcastle United in February 1996 gave the Scot more opportunities to impress.
Later the same year, he would appear for Scotland in a group-stage draw with the Netherlands at UEFA Euro 96 at Villa Park, and again in a narrow defeat by Brazil at the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals in France – two of 29 caps he earned between 1993-98.
He would make 104 appearances over five seasons in a Blackburn shirt before departing in the autumn of 2000, aged 31, and rounding out his career with Bradford City, Leicester City and Fulham.
It was at the latter that he took his first step in a coaching career spanning 15 years and a variety of roles, including reserve-team manager at Fulham, first-team coach at Sunderland, assistant manager at Stoke City, a stint in charge at Norwegian club Stabæk and a bizarre eight-day spell as Watford manager.
McKinlay first worked with fellow countryman David Moyes at Spanish club Real Sociedad in 2014, having phoned the Scot for advice when he was appointed by Watford earlier that year, and then joined him at West Ham United in 2017, and was reunited with him at London Stadium in July 2021.
Now 53, the assistant coach is a valuable member of Moyes’ staff, with his experience as a player, coach, scout and manager, as well as his razor-sharp sense of humour, making him a valuable staff member and popular figure at the Club.
Ahead of Wednesday’s Carabao Cup third-round visit of his former club, McKinlay looked back on over 35 years in football…
Billy, you started out as a youngster in a really good Dundee United team under Jim McLean, playing alongside the likes of Scotland internationals Maurice Malpas, Eamonn Bannon, David Narey and Paul Sturrock. That must have been a great education?
“I was very fortunate. Dundee United, along with Aberdeen, were probably the best two clubs in Scotland at producing youngsters and they seemed to have a period in the mid to late-80s when they seemed to have a conveyor belt of young players who made it into the first team. I knew when I went there that I was probably going to get the best opportunity to progress because that’s what the club did. I joined after the brilliant period when they had won the League Cup in 1980 and 1981, the league in 1983 and reached various cup finals, culminating in 1987 when they got to the UEFA Cup final.”
Walking into that dressing room, seeing the players we’ve mentioned, you had real examples to look up to from an early age?
“The mid-80s team which was a phenomenal team, with probably so some of the best players I've played with us or been involved with. In no particular order, you had the best back four in Scotland in Richard Gough, Paul Hegarty, David Narey and Maurice Malpas. It doesn’t get any better than that. Then you had Paul Sturrock, Ralph Milne, Billy Kirkwood and Billy Dodds. That was the team that won the league. They’re immortal in Dundee, so that was something else. Then in the late-80s, you had people like Jim McInally, Davie Bowman and Kevin Gallacher was coming through. There was still another shedload of players who were real top players, so I was very, very fortunate and it was it was an unbelievable grounding.”
Sorry to remind you, but West Ham legend Frank McAvennie broke your heart as a 19-year-old in the 1988 Scottish Cup final, scoring both goals, including a last-minute winner for Celtic in a 2-1 win at Hampden Park?
“I was only getting a game because Ian Redford was suspended and funnily enough that was replicated in 1994 when we won the Scottish Cup and I was suspended. It was typical of Dundee United at that stage because we threw away three or four Scottish Cup finals. Frank scored two in the last five minutes and we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.”
Looking back overall, though, you regularly challenged near the top of the Scottish Premier Division, finishing fourth five seasons in a row between 1989-93, went deep in the domestic cup competitions and played in Europe?
“I count myself very fortunate. It's almost luck in the sense that I played with the great players I mentioned and manager Jim McLean was incredible. It was a really tough school and to have the whole package there in terms of development, it gave me the grounding for my whole career, really.”
Did working with those players and coaches make you think you wanted to become a coach when you got older?
“No, not at all. At the time, you don’t know how fortunate you are because you don't realise the quality of these people. I could never got to the level of a Malpas or a Hegarty or a Narey, who could have played for anybody, so it was not until later on in my career that I realised how good they were, and having played under a number of coaches that nothing would get better than what I had in my formative years. As I got older and developed half a brain, I knew the level of coaching I had at Dundee United, I should always be very appreciative of.”
Then Kenny Dalglish wanted to sign you for a Blackburn Rovers who had just won the Premier League?
“Blackburn were the English league champions, and Kenny was Director of Football and he was brilliant with me. When I went there I had a hard time because I couldn’t get in the team because of the brilliant players in front of me. Kenny was really supportive and told me to bide my time and keep working hard, which it did after a year. That was a really good move for me to a really good club.”
How was it being part of that squad, training alongside the likes of Batty and Shearer?
“Batty and Sherwood were better players than me, then Batty left, but Lars Bohinen and Garry Flitcroft were also there, then you had Sutton and Shearer, Colin Hendry, Jason Wilcox, Henning Berg and Tim Flowers, who were all serious players. They had finished third, second and then won the league, so it was a big eye-opener in terms of the level I’d come to. When I left, Dundee United were not at the same level they had been in the mid-80s, which is not surprising considering how good the players were. Going in there, I found it very hard initially.”
You helped Blackburn finish seventh in your first season and sixth in 1997/98, as part of Jack Walker’s project to make Rovers the best club in England, which must have been exciting?
“The facilities were brilliant and what Jack was doing was investing his money and what Kenny and Ray Harford did was spend it wisely. They signed the really top players we’ve spoken about, so it really was an eye opener.”
The World Cup finals are coming up and you played at France 98 against Brazil, which must be a great memory?
“I am not one who thinks about what I’ve done or not done too often, but when I do have moments of reminiscing, it’s of being part of a really good Scotland team and another hard-luck story against Brazil (with Tom Boyd scoring an own-goal late in a 1-2 defeat at the Stade de France), but it was a brilliant occasion to be involved in and one of the highlights of my career.”
You’re very self-deprecating, despite your considerable achievements, so what drives you on?
“I just know I’m not good enough and you’re never at the level you need to be as there is always so much to learn every day and so much progress you can make. Maybe my grounding gave me those fundamentals of discipline and hard work and understanding of the levels required, as it was a tough, tough school. So if I put that into what I do now, which is coaching, there are very few occasions I can sit down and give myself a pat on the back, because there are always things I can do better and learn from my mistakes.
“The other part of me is that I was associated with so many good players who were far in excess of the levels I was capable of, so I recognised that at Dundee United, Blackburn, Fulham and Leicester later in my career, then the level of coaches I worked under. If I have not got the foresight or the intelligence to take on board the information, then more fool me, if that makes sense?
“I have had the benefit of so much knowledge from Jim McLean, Chris Coleman, who gave me my first job in coaching at Fulham, Martin Jol, who gave me my first-team breakthrough, Roy Hodgson, and obviously the gaffer here.”
How did your link with David Moyes come about?
“Obviously we have the Scottish connection and he was at Everton when I was at Fulham, so we would speak at games. Then, when I got the job at Watford, he was the first person I phoned to ask him for his advice. I didn’t have too much time to put it into the practice, as I’ve been stuck in traffic jams longer than I was at Watford!
“When he went to Spain, that was the first opportunity I had to work with him and it just grew from then. I’m grateful and understanding of what I’m involved in.”
We see you working alongside Mark, Paul, Kevin and Xavi under the manager, so how does your role work?
“I am an assistant coach and we all have the role of supporting the manager. Our roles vary in terms of coaching, tactical work, opposition analysis, post-match analysis and other specific roles. We all work every day to help the manager prepare to get results on a matchday.”
