MARK McWALTER

Continuing our series of interviews with Coleraine cult heroes, CFCWeb spoke with Mark McWalter this week. The popular Scotsman was signed by former manager Billy Sinclair and made his debut in an Ulster Cup game against Cliftonville on 14th August 1993. In all he made 47 appearances and scored 23 goals, including hat-tricks against Larne and Bangor.

After you left Coleraine – what did you do?

After I left Coleraine I moved to Ballymena United for a season. Then my wife at the time and I decided to move back to Scotland. I moved back to my local side Arbroath and stayed there for 4 seasons. I then moved into junior football for a team called Arbroath Vics and stayed there for about 5 seasons and was player manager at the end.

Did your knee force you to retire?

Yes, I realised in my last season with Arbroath that I couldn’t continue at that level. I continued with the junior football, where I didn’t have to train as much.

When did you finally call it a day?

I resigned as player manager about 2 years ago and have not done anything since.

So you are out of football all together now?

Yeah, I am totally out of football.

Do you miss it?

Surprisingly not as much as I thought I would, I really thought that I would struggle the day I had nothing more to do with football but to be honest with you I wasn’t enjoying it at the end. Maybe that is why I don’t miss it. Especially the management, the club didn’t have any money, it was difficult getting players – so I really haven’t missed that.

You left the Premier League in Scotland to join Coleraine, what attracted you to us?

I got released by Partick Thistle and I fancied something different outside of Scotland. I got an offer to go to Hong Kong, but I thought that was a wee bit far. Then Billy Sinclair phoned and invited me over. I was really impressed by the Directors, they made me feel really welcome and I liked what I heard from Billy Sinclair, he talked a good game – I just felt it was right. For the large percentage of my time I loved it at Coleraine.

You of course moved your family to Coleraine, what did you think of living in the town?

I loved it, I never wanted to leave Coleraine, but I really was left with no option. My youngest son was actually born in Ballymoney. He plays for Dundee United under 13’s.

Is that a potential Northern Ireland player for the future then?

Yeah, we do laugh and joke about that, he takes a bit of ribbing from his mates about it!

What did you think of the Irish League? What had you heard about it before hand?

I had heard of Coleraine, Arbroath is not that far from Dundee and I remember Dundee United played Coleraine in the UEFA cup. I’d also heard of the big guns of Linfield and Glentoran, though one or two teams I hadn’t heard of until we played them to be honest.

What did you think of the standard of Irish League football?

The standard surprised me a wee bit it was better than I thought it would be. I found it hard at the start; I probably didn’t really recognise it until I got injured and I then had to come back fitter, slimmer and better. Before the injury I thought I might have struggled a bit – I put on a bit of weight but I knuckled down after the injury.

What were your favourite matches or goals at Coleraine?

Probably one of my favourite matches was my first hat-trick against Larne, away from home, it was my first hat-trick for Coleraine, Billy Sinclair was under a bit of pressure – I liked Billy I thought he was enthusiastic and he really wanted to do well. And that sort of made me really enjoy those goals.

Another favourite game and goal was when Felix Healy left and I and Raymond Starrett were in charge for the Linfield game at Coleraine and we won 2-1 and I scored. There was a big stand off before the game and they wanted us to change shirts because of a clash. We were digging our heels in saying we certainly weren’t changing. Don’t know what it is like now but Linfield certainly had a feeling of 'we are superior to you and will do what we want'. We weren’t giving in but finally the referee came in and told us to wear the away shirt – it made the win more enjoyable.

That was the day you imitated the Gary Peebles celebration?!

Yeah, I’d played with Gary at Partick Thistle and he did superb in Ireland – but I thought anything he can do I can do as well!

In those days you were awarded the crystal ball for a hat-trick, do you still have yours?

I gave one to Coleraine and I kept the other. I presented the first one from the Larne game to the club and then kept the one from the Bangor game which Ive still got.

Did you think it was strange moving to Ballymena United having played at Coleraine?

To be totally honest the reason I moved to Ballymena was financial, they offered decent terms, and there were issues with myself and Kenny Shiels at Coleraine. Under any other circumstances I wouldn’t have signed for them. At the time I was married with 3 kids, football was my job and I needed to pay the mortgage. As I said I would have loved to have stayed but Kenny Shiels was the manager and he had to make the big decisions and he felt that I was disturbing the dressing room – he wanted to do his best for Coleraine and only made the decisions that were in his eyes right.

After Felix Healy left there was a large number of supporters who wanted you to take the managers job, were you ever offered it?

I was never offered it, I have heard since that the Board were split; some wanted me to be the manager. Some thought I was too young, looking back I’d agree that I was too young.

Had you been offered it would you have accepted it?

I certainly would have considered it strongly. I think I possibly would have taken it. I always seen it as a great club, I still look for the results, I was delighted when you won the Irish Cup so it would have been difficult to turn it down.

Do you think that maybe the fact that a number of fans wanted you as the manager, do you think that affected your relationship with Kenny?

Possibly, you need to look at it from Kenny’s point of view – he came in and needed to do things his way and he sees a player who was opinionated who said what he thought – he maybe felt that if things didn’t go well then there was a ready made replacement sitting there.

I have never held any grudges against Kenny Shiels, he only wanted what was right for Coleraine and he thought he was doing the right thing. Though as I said I never wanted to leave Coleraine.

There were rumours at the time that there could be reconciliation, was that ever a possibility?

It nearly happened. I went back to pre-season training, I went back really fit and I played a pre-season friendly against Norwich – I came on from the bench. I think if Ballymena hadn’t have come in, there is a chance that I would have remained. Kenny never said that he had changed his mind but I thought that there may have been a compromise.

Obviously with hindsight there may have been an opportunity for a return. If had come back there would have been things that I would have had to have changed like being so opinionated and verbal in the dressing room. I know there were things I said that he was not happy with. Certainly I questioned the commitment of some of his signings but that was me speaking from the heart. Football was my job and my livelihood and I thought sometimes their commitment wasn’t showing on the park. I think we were a better and bigger club than one or two players the manager brought in. There was a general feeling that he was signing players not as good as what he has got, bringing in players from clubs that were not in the same league as Coleraine.

I shouldn’t have said some of those things but I taked from my heart and not my head.

I was in tears the day you got promoted – I was a bit jealous – I wanted to be a part of it and for all games for you to win the league on after I had went to Ballymena, though you absolutely battered us that day.

What did you think of Brian Robson?

I felt a bit sorry for him, he was being compared with other players and he was under severe pressure.

He was certainly no Derek Cook.

No he wasn’t, Cookie knew where the goal was. He was a bit unorthodox but he loved Coleraine and that is half the battle to get players who want to play for the jersey.

Who was the best player you played with at Coleraine?

The player I enjoyed playing with the best was Gary Beckett, he had the best brain, and he was a player that could have played at a higher level. Though I enjoyed playing with Cookie, he certainly took a lot of pressure off you, he was physical and he put himself about. Probably Gary Beckett was my favourite, I never played a lot with him but certainly I enjoyed it.

Paul Gaston has included you in his all time best Coleraine players that he played with, what do you think of that, considering he is approaching almost 600 games for Coleraine?

When I first moved to Coleraine Gacky was on loan at Limavady and they brought him back, I wasn’t sure about him, but when they moved him to the back to play with Stuart McClean, I think that is the best centre half pairing I have seen, outside of the top flight in Scotland. One was commanding in the air and strong and Gacky had such a good brain on him he’s a great player and the commitment he has shown to Coleraine was superb. I played with him but when I played against him when I was at Ballymena I realised how really good he was.

Only a few of the players who were at Coleraine when you were there are still playing, the likes of Gacky and Davy O’Hare as well as some of the reserves and colts players like Davy Patton, Tommy McCallion and Stewart Clanachan.

Yeah Davy Patton was in the first team when I was there and Clanachan was just pushing through when I left. What I can remember of Tommy was he had a hell of a good attitude and worked his socks off, a wee strong boy –is he the captain now? Yeah he deserves it.

Who was the best player you played against in your time in the Irish League?

Best player in the league at the time was the Glenavon Striker Glenn Ferguson; I thought he was the complete centre forward at that level. He was strong, he was quick, he scored goals, and he could link play.

Best centre half and I only played against him briefly, I thought was Nigel Quigley. He was deceivingly quick, I was quite quick and I didn’t like playing against quick players, he was strong, he was comfortable on the ball he was a very good player.

Others like Paul Carlyle, Tony Gorman, Stevie Campbell, Alan Ewing and Stuart McClean at Coleraine were good players. There were a lot of good players there I played against, Pat McAllister too.

Do you still keep in contact with any of your old team mates?

Stevie Campbell is the only one; he is now a coach at Dundee United. He was a very good player, Felix asked me what I thought of him and I said sign him.

What team did you support?

Celtic, it’s strange because over here there is nothing thought of if you are a Protestant supporting Celtic.

Who was your favourite player?

My first recollection of a Celtic player was Kenny Dalglish but Roy Atkien; he is probably the player I would say was my favourite. Just everything I liked about him, I still like what he does for Scotland and playing against him, awesome – he was strong, quick he’d run through a brick wall!.

As a Scotsman, Scotland look like they have a good chance of qualifying for the Euros – do you think you’ll make it?

Not being negative I still think we are going to be glorious and unlucky – I don’t think we’ll qualify. My head says Italy will beat Scotland and France will beat Ukraine but my heart wants it to be the other way.

[Unfortunately for Scotland, Mark was right with the bave Scots going down 2-1 to World Champions, Italy, at Hampden and missing out on qualification]