Frank McLintock
In 1939 one of Arsenal’s greatest captains who later helped the side to the 1970/71 Double was born, he’s called Frank McLintock.
The defender commenced his semi-pro days at only 15 in the Scottish Juniors with local team Shawfield. He worked in the week as an apprentice painter and decorator. Sooner rather than later he caught the attention of Scottish and English clubs, declaring he would rather go to an English side rather than Scottish side only to later be loaned back into the Junior Scottish Leagues to hone in on his skills.
He completed a great trial with Leicester City in December 1956, and accepted a part-time contract as a surprise on his 17th birthday with Shawfield being handed £400 fee. At his mother’s request he carried on his painting and decorating apprenticeship in Leicester, and would remain in the trade next to playing football for the following five years. He settled in easily enough at The Foxes with head coach Dave Halliday and a majority of 27 players and trainers at Filbert Street who shared his Scottish nationality. He was originally deemed to be too small but with time he grew and built more muscle cycling to and from work and even training. His original height of 5 ft 2 nearly made manager Halliday cancel his contract but was encouraged not to by coach Matt Gillies, who had seen McLintock work relentlessly everyday. In his free time he also trained with his left foot to develop himself into a two-footed player.
Gillies took over from Halliday as manager, and gave McLintock his debut eight matches into the 1959/60 campaign in a 3-3 draw with Blackpool. He retained his place in the first team, and secured two man of the match certificates however following a poorly timed tackle on Arsenals Jordan Henderson he was originally told he had extensive cartilage damage in his right knee and was due to endure a high risk surgery. After getting a second opinion he was told he had a sprain and was put out on the sideline for 16 painful weeks. He reappeared in February taking over from new boy on the block Ian White in the first eleven, and grabbed his first goal for Leicester City in a 3-1 win versus Manchester United.
He was still in a tricky position hampered by his knee injury failing to make the start of the 1960/61 season. Sooner than later he was back in the first team in September. In 1961 City reached the FA Cup Final which they bowed out of losing to eventual winners Tottenham Hotspur. The day beforehand saw McLintock paint a cellar as part of his painting and decorating apprenticeship. In the summer he achieved his painting and decorating qualification where straight away he quit becoming a fulltime footballer which his mum seemed content with. Liverpool and Leeds United struck bids for the promising young midfielder but both were turned down by The Foxes.
The 1961/62 season saw McLintock face injury again appearing in only one Cup Winners Cup match in a 1-1 draw to later champions of the competition that year Atletico Madrid. In the summer McLintock and Gordon Banks rejected new contract proposals with them both asking for weekly wage increases from £20 to £30 where after three weeks they accepted £28 which was better than what they received beforehand.
At the end of the 1962/63 campaign McLintock achieved another FA Cup runners-up medal after Leicester City were beaten by Manchester United.
At the beginning of the 1964/65 season the midfielder was still frustrated about his contract at The Foxes and with the lack of ambition running around the club’s atmosphere. Even though he was offered behind the scenes £80 a week to agree to a new deal he asked to leave putting in a transfer request.
October 1964 saw McLintock move down to North London where Arsenal signed him at the time for a club record of £80,000. He experienced a bad debut at Highbury misfiring a back-pass letting Nottingham Forests John Barnwell score an easy finish who coincidentally was let go at Arsenal for McLintock to be purchased. He was miserable after his first four matches resulted in defeats whilst struggling to slot into Billy Wright’s team. From 1964-1967 McLintock suffered poor form but retained his spot in the first team which saw Arsenal finish mid table. He demanded Arsenal changed their colours from red and white after The Gunners failed to meet previous success of the 1930s and early 1950s. The clubs kit colours were changed to red but only for the 1966/67 season before going back to the normal red and white the following year. Unhappy about the clubs direction and management style he handed in a transfer request which was ignored.
He reached the 1968 League Cup Final with Arsenal which they suffered a 0-1 defeat to Leeds United, McLintock scored but his equaliser didn’t count as apparently he fouled goalkeeper Gary Sprake. After the season he was awarded Arsenal’s player of the year when his four year contract came to a halt.
For the 1968/69 season he was given the captains armband signing a fresh four year contract. The Gunners reached the League Cup Final for a second year on the trot but were beaten fair and square by Third Division underdogs Swindon Town 3-1.
McLintock began the 1969/70 season at centre back filling in for Peter Simpson who was plagued by injury. Once Simpson returned he and McLintock created a strong defensive alliance becoming pros at the offside trap. By the end of the campaign the duo had helped Arsenal lift the 1970 Inter Cities Fair Cup 4-3 on aggregate over RSC Anderlecht.
Once again McLintock skippered Arsenal where during the 1970/71 season The Gunners achieved the Double winning the league title and FA cup 2-1 versus Liverpool. At the end of the campaign he was named FWA Footballer of the Year.
The following 1971/72 campaign witnessed Arsenal and McLintock fail to retain the FA Cup after being beaten 1-0 by Leeds United.
After Arsenal had dropped off after their Double winning season which McLintock aired grievance about time after time he asked for a move away from Highbury in March of 1973. By doing so he was denied a testimonial match but by June of that year he’d transferred to QPR for £25,000.
He guided QPR to eighth in his first season in the First Division under manager Gordon Jago’s final campaign at the club.
McLintock was overjoyed by the 1975/76 season at Loftus Road stating QPR “were by miles the best football team in the country”. By the end of the campaign with three games left to go QPR had the chance to be First Division winners for the first time but failed to win their remaining games as Liverpool beat them marginally to the title. After running out for QPR 53 times he retired in May 1977.
He made his Scotland debut in a 4-3 beating versus Norway in June 1963, coming on for Dave Mackay after 78 minutes. In his third match against Spain he joined in with the action grabbing a strike in a impressive 6-2 victory. Unfortunately he didn’t make many more call ups with the likes of other players preferred to him for centre back. Altogether he was only handed 9 caps.
McLintock would step into management with Leicester City from 1977-1978 and later Brentford between 1984 and 1987 but failed to emulate the double winning success of 1970/71 which saw him handed the title of MBE for his service to football.
Currently McLintock is 84 and goes down in Arsenal history as one of the most determined players who led by example especially during his nine years at the Gunners.
Liam Harding
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By no means a great player, but a very good one and a decent captain. McLintock soon became owner/manager of my local, the Sutton Arms in Caledonian Road, Islington. How times have changed!
So sad to see only one comment regarding one of the very best players during his time.
Frank was a no nonsense type of player, who would captain in the same way as Tony Adams would later on.
He was not afraid of anyone / anything and would castigated his own players in the same way he would opponents.
One of the top captains that I have witnessed during my time following the club.