McNally
leaves his role at league rivals
Skelmersdale United to take the hot seat vacated by Michael Ellison last week.
McNally’s
playing career spanned the Saturday and Sunday League levels with spells at
Ayone (ex-Liverpool County Combination), Poulton Vics, South Liverpool and
Cammell Laird with whom he moved onto coaching.
As
coach/assistant manager from 2012 to 2014 alongside Tony Sullivan, McNally
guided the team to second spot in the NPL North Division One with promotion
denied by Trafford in the play-off final.
Sadly,
the club folded after the following season but the restart in the form of
Cammell Laird 1907 in the North West Counties League with McNally securing
automatic promotion at the first attempt in 2015/16 with just three defeats
across the season.
He
departed during the following season leaving Lairds in good shape with three
cup quarter finals.
A
move to Litherland REMYCA as assistant to Phil Stafford saw Remy finish third
in NWCL Division One with play-off defeat to City of Liverpool and with
Stafford moving on to Bootle, McNally took the reins with instant success as
Remy finished second with 99 points and securing promotion to the Premier
Division.
McNally
departed the club at the end of the 2017/18 season and was appointed as manager
of Skelmersdale in November 2018.
Aside
from management, he works at youth levels with positions at Educ8 Group and
Liverpool FC’s International Academy.
City
of Liverpool chairman Paul Manning told https://www.cityofliverpoolfc.co.uk:
“Back in 2016 when we were interviewing for our first manager of COLFC, Paul
McNally was someone who impressed us at the time and got down to the final two
– before we went with Simon Burton.
“Simon
proved to be an inspired choice, but we have never lost contact with Paul’s
managerial career and have maintained a good relationship with him.
“Going
back to our first conversations with Paul it was clear that he understands and
is aligned to the ethos of the club.
“Paul
has proven himself in different spells with different clubs at this level, not
least currently with Skelmersdale United and it is therefore a great pleasure
that we announce him as our new manager.”
McNally
led Skelmersdale to promotion to the NPL last season and also memorably took
them to the Emirates FA Cup First Round in 2020.
He
said: “I’m delighted to be joining a fantastic club like City of Liverpool, the
opportunity to join such a club was one that I couldn’t turn down.
“The
club is huge in terms of stature, and it comes with pressure which I know
myself and my management team can confidently cope with, we want to play with a
high tempo and intensity that will make it hard for other teams to play against
City of Liverpool.
“I
want to thank everyone associated with me at Skelmersdale United over the past
four years.
“There
are not many clubs that could prise me away from Skem but this was one of them.
I wish them all the success in the future and can hopefully sustain what has
been built up there at the club”.
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