Former Manchester United manager Frank O'Farrell has died at the age of 94. The Irishman was in charge at Old Trafford from July 1971 to December 1972 and was the second United manager to try and replace Sir Matt Busby.
O'Farrell was born and raised in Cork and began his playing career for his local club before moving to English football with West Ham United and then Preston North End.
He had spells managing Weymouth, Torquay United and Leicester City before being appointed to the Manchester United role. Wilf McGuinness had initially replaced Busby but he left United in December 1970 and they returned to Busby for the remainder of that season, before appointing O'Farrell.
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The Irishman won 30 of his 81 games in charge and had to contend with a rebuild at United after the success under Busby. United were top of the league after losing just one of O'Farrell's first 14 games in charge but they couldn't maintain the pace and finished eighth in 1971/72.
O'Farrell had to talk George Best out of retirement and after an electric start to his tenure Best was a peripheral figure as time progressed.
O'Farrell was sacked 18 months into the role after a chastening 5-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in December 1972, a defeat that left United third-from-bottom in the top flight. He was replaced by Tommy Docherty.
After leaving United O'Farrell had spells in charge of Cardiff City, the Iran national team, Torquay and Al-Shaab in the United Arab Emirates.
The Irish Examiner reported that O'Farrell died on Sunday.
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