Watching his country win their first World Cup match in 36 years in the wee small hours of last Sunday morning rounded off a gratifying few days for Lou Macari.
The national team’s emotional Group C victory over Haiti in the Boston Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, came after he had been named Hero of the Year by the Scottish Football Supporters’ Association and made an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours list.
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Macari, the former Celtic, Manchester United and Scotland player and Swindon Town, West Ham, Birmingham City, Stoke City, Celtic and Huddersfield Town manager who has been running The Macari Centre for the homeless in Stoke-on-Trent for the past decade, was humbled by the recognition he received for his charitable endeavours.
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“It's not every day you get honoured by the king is it?” he said. “It was a nice moment for me and for my family. I got given the fans’ group award too, which was a real thrill. Then, to cap it all, we won a match in the World Cup at the weekend. It was quite a good week all in all.”
There was a time in the not-too-distant past when being showered with such accolades would have fuelled the ego of a man who was, like so many who earn their living from professional football, focused entirely on his personal performances and individual achievements.
Being totally devoted to his craft enabled the diminutive but tenacious and technically gifted attacking midfielder cum striker to reach the very top of the game with both club and country and then to survive for a long time at a high level in the cutthroat world of management.
The 77-year-old, though, is a different character these days. He was certainly chuffed to bits when he received the letter informing him of his MBE. But he is hopeful that the public recognition which has come his way will ultimately prove beneficial to the facility that he set up back in 2016 and has devoted his life to running ever since.
“Without a doubt, when you work in football you get so caught up in what you are trying to accomplish,” he said. “When you're a player and when you're a manager, football always takes priority. You don’t give any thought to homeless people.
“But when my career was over, I thought, ‘Right, what can I do now? Maybe one thing I can do is try to help a few people because I've never had time to even think about that never mind do it’.
“I had plenty of time on my hands to reflect on things. I thought, ‘I'm in a privileged position, I know councillors, I know people from the local authority, I know people in the police’. You realise you know all these people and they can help you and what you're trying to do, which is help homeless people.
“Being a former footballer definitely does help. I was fortunate, I played with Celtic, Manchester United and Scotland. People who you didn't think would know you do know you and are prepared to help you when they recognise that you're trying to do something that's worthwhile.
“Having a public profile gives you a chance to go out there and meet people who might be able help you when you want a favour done and need something, like food, clothing, whatever. We've been really successful in achieving that.
“Anywhere we go in Stoke to get some help we get it. That's why we're still there. It is because that support has been there from day one. Hopefully this recognition that I have been given will help us.”
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The Scot was inspired to set up The Macari Centre after seeing homeless people queuing up for food at the Capuchin Day Centre during a visit to Dublin.
A disturbing news bulletin on the plight of rough sleepers then prompted him to drive into the centre of Stoke-on-Trent one night to see the reality of their situation first hand. He was shocked by what he witnessed.
He approached a friend who worked in the local council and asked for the use of a disused building where he could provide shelter as well as food and clothing. His worthy initiative has grown since and specially trained staff now provide 24/7 support to up to 40 people.
“Life on the streets is hell,” said Macarri. “To start with, I didn't really realise how horrible it was to be out in the cold and the rain every night. But I've slept out in Stoke and now I do know. I sleep out every year at the ground. It's bloody terrible and that's with a little bit of cover.
“I'm now aware that a lot of people wake up in the morning and think, ‘What do I do today?’ I’ve no job to go to. There’s nothing for me’. They have nothing to look forward to apart from another horrible day in their life.
“If you can get people off the streets, no matter what follows after that, that's a big step. You've put a roof over their heads for the evening at least and that is something. That's why I started.”
He added, “To begin with, I thought, ‘Maybe I can help people by giving them money’. But I quickly forgot about that when I realised that money doesn't go towards good essentials like food and clothing, most of the time it goes on drugs.
“I've learned a lot. Homeless people just do whatever they can to get through that day. That can lead to a lot of things. They may steal for the first time. They may be hungry and desperate for a sandwich.
“But there are people who do give you an indication they want to turn their life around. About a year ago, we had somebody who came and knocked on our door and said, ‘I need some help. Can you help me?’ Well, that was music to our ears.
“Believe it or not, there are some people who don't mind being homeless, who prefer that way of living. But when somebody comes to you and says they need some help you're halfway there because they want it badly enough to do something, anything.”
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Seeing the many challenges which the disenfranchised members of society, those who are suffering from alcoholism, drug addiction and mental health issues, face on a daily basis has put the successes he enjoyed and failures he suffered in football into perspective.
Still, Macari could have been forgiven if he felt a twinge of regret as he watched Andy Robertson and his compatriots get their World Cup campaign up and running with a rare victory last week and be lauded by the Tartan Army as a result. His own involvement in the tournament in Argentina in 1978 was a bruising experience.
He came on in the second half of the opening game against Peru when Scotland were trailing 2-1 and was helpless to prevent them from crashing to a 3-1 loss. He started the following match against Iran and was left devastated as his out-of-sorts side was held to a 1-1 draw. He was not involved in the win over the Netherlands.
Worse was to come after an ignominious early exit. The SFA launched an investigation into why the national team, who manager Ally MacLeod has predicted would return home from South America triumphant, had performed so badly. They alleged the forward had sowed division about bonuses and sold stories to reporters about unrest and disarray in the camp.
He was banned sine die along with West Brom winger Willie Johnston, who had failed a drug test and been sent home, and Derby County midfielder Don Masson, who had been openly critical of the governing body in a newspaper article.
Macari, who had won 24 caps and scored five goals during the previous six years, never donned a dark blue jersey ever again. He bristled as he looked back on the infamous episode early this week and disputed the accusations which were levelled against him.
“Nothing that came out of that World Cup was true,” he said. “Every story that was in the papers was untrue. England weren't there that year and a lot of English journalists were there looking for stories. I won't go into it in detail, but lots of things were said and written which were just untrue.”
That World Cup was staged at the height of what was known as The Dirty War in Argentina. The ruling military dictatorship waged a campaign of state terrorism against leftist dissidents, trade unionists, journalists and students between 1974 and 1983. It is estimated they abducted, tortured and murdered over 20,000 people during that time.
On top of that, they were on the verge of going to war with neighbouring Chile due to a stand-off over the possession of the Picton, Lennox and Nnueva islands to the south of both countries.
It was a far cry from the plush surroundings of the Atrium Health Performance Centre in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the current squad have been based this month.
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“We were over there at a time when there was a war on,” said Macari. “There were soldiers on the streets in all the towns and cities. What we had to deal with was totally different to the environment the boys are in today.
“The arrangements which the squad have in place now are superb. They just do the easy thing, which is to go out and play football. We had far more to do than just play football at that World Cup.
“Ally was a great guy. He was the kind of manager you were desperate to play for. But everyone got carried away with what we could achieve. We had people who really believed that we could, when they looked at the squad of players we had, go to Argentina and win the World Cup. Nobody thought that Scotland could go over to the United States and win the World Cup before they left.”
Macari’s time in charge of Celtic did not go according to plan either. He took over during the final days of the old biscuit tin board at Parkhead in 1993 and departed in acrimonious circumstances the following year not long after Fergus McCann took over.
But the Edinburgh-born, Largs-raised coach still follows the fortunes of the club where he started out in the game – he was one of the Quality Street Gang who Jock Stein brought through in the early 1970s – and is pleased and not surprised that his old associate Martin O’Neill has agreed to return on a permanent basis despite being 74.
“Martin went back in because in he felt he had something to offer and it suited him and his circumstances,” he said. “Age is no barrier to being a manager. Look at Roy Hodgson at Bristol City last season and Dick Advocaat with Curacao at the World Cup. It will be interesting to see if that trend continues. But I am sure Martin will do well.”
Macari can be found at Meadow Lane cheering on his grandson Lewis, the former Scotland Under-21 internationalist who plays in defence for Notts County, on a Saturday afternoon these days.
“I go and watch him when I can,” he said. “I'm very critical. I try to coax him to do better. He’s got to have all the things that are required to make it – he has to be dedicated, he has to be fit, he has to be in love with the game. Up until the second last game of the season against Colchester, everything was going fine.
“It was a game that Notts had to win to get into the League Two play-offs. I said to him, ‘You'll really enjoy playing at Wembley. Not too many young players have played there’. I won the FA Cup there with United and played there with Scotland and really enjoyed it. But he broke his leg in three places against so he's on crutches now.”
If Lewis Macari finds himself getting down about his predicament then his grandad Lou Macari MBE will be on hand to let him know he could be far worse off.
“I live in Stoke-on-Trent and when I walk through the streets everyone speaks to me,” I don't know who any of them, or most of them anyway, are. They used to want to chat about football, but now it's about the homeless.
“The centre has been going for 10 years and we wouldn't still be there if it wasn't meant to be. It's there because we try to help people to have a new and better way of life. Unless something really dramatic happens, we will be there forever.”
