Francis “Frank” McLintock MBE is a Scottish football speaker and player who, after spending twenty years as a player, retired to become a manager and sports speaker. With almost fifteen years spent at Arsenal and Leicester City McLintock has played for some of the biggest and most popular teams in the UK; McLintock then returned to Leicester City after his retirement in 1977 to act as coach, manager and football speaker.
Frank started his semi-professional career at the age of 15 in the Scottish Juniors with Shawfield. He worked during the week as an apprentice painter and decorator but he soon began attracting interest from Scottish and English clubs, but decided to join an English club as he did not want to join a Scottish club only to be sent back on loan in the Junior leagues to gain experience. After a successful trial in England, McLintock earnt a professional contract with English First Division club Leicester City in December 1956.
During his time at Leicester City, his incredible work ethic and extra time he dedicated to practise in order to improve his game did not go unnoticed by coach to be Matt Gillies. Injury hampered McLintock’s progress initially however it did not take him long to make an impact and impression as he flourished on numerous occasions playing in two FA Cup final defeats before a dispute over his contract and aspirations for ‘caps and cups’ saw him sold to Arsenal for £80,000 in October 1964.
It was a difficult start for Frank at Arsenal and he soon regretted joining the club as his first four games all ended in defeat. After several disputes with management and the board it wasn’t until the final year of his initial four-year contract that McLintock really hit his straps being named Arsenal's Player of the Year.
He was appointed as team captain for the 1968–69 season and signed a new 4-year contract, despite a loss in the League Cup final the team finished fourth in the league and qualified for the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, a trophy they went on to win in 1970. Frank then captained Arsenal to the Double in the 1970–71 season, in what was only the fourth time the feat had been accomplished in the history of the Football League and to complete the campaign McLintock was named as FWA Footballer of the Year. An unforgettable year for Frank was topped up with him being awarded an MBE.
After a spell with Queens Park Rangers McLintock retired from playing, a glittering career which also saw him awarded 9 international caps. After his playing career Frank became a manager, managing Leicester City in a venture that was no as successful as he hoped, he resigned and worked as a pundit before a short term as assistant manager at Queens Park Rangers. Having managed Brentford for a couple of seasons, McLintock’s final managerial engagement was with Millwall where he helped the "Lions" to win promotion as champions of the Second Division.
In more recent years McLintock has established himself as an incredibly successful football speaker, complimenting this change in career direction McLintock also became a sports speaker, pundit and commentator for the British and International media when he began working for BBC Radio and later Sky Sports.
An ever-popular figure with fans, Frank McLintock MBE often draws impressive crowds to his football speaker presentations, his experience of working on both sides of the changing room have given him a unique insight into the world of professional football whilst the longevity of his career has provided him with a number of excellent stories, anecdotes and cautionary tales to share in his capacity as a football speaker. McLintock’s popularity was further confirmed in 2009 when he was inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame, a truly unique opportunity to get inside the mind of a legend, Frank McLintock is available as a football speaker for your event.
