If the man from Stirling was to walk down any street in Scotland, not one person would
know who he was.
To thousands of others in different corners of the earth, he was ‘Mr Danny’ and a
respected leader.
Danny McLennan managed all over the world, to places where those with fainter hearts
might have feared to tread.
A man who’s love for football and adventure led him to skip country to country, becoming
the manager of: the Philippines, Mauritius (twice), Zimbabwe, Iran, Bahrain, Iraq, Malawi,
Jordan, Fiji and Libya.
Along the way taking on challenges at club level at posts in Africa, Scandinavia, the
Middle East, and India.
Born in Stirling in 1925, Danny started out as a 17-year-old defender with Rangers but
would shortly drop down the leagues to play for the likes of Falkirk, East Fife, Dundee
and Berwick Rangers.
At East Fife he won the Scottish League Cup in 1953.
Four years later he became the player-manager of Berwick Rangers; before hanging up his
playing boots in 1959.
In 1961, McLennan applied for the Dunfermline managerial position – losing out to the
emerging Jock Stein.
He became manager at Stirling Albion.
Bottom of the Second Division and on the verge of bankruptcy, he quickly helped them to promotion
and in 1962, for the first time in their history, to the semi-finals of the League Cup.
Yet boardroom changes saw him surprisingly sacked.
He wanted away from Scottish football.
The new adventure was about to begin.
In 1963, through the British consul, he landed the job as national coach of the Philippines.
A year-long contract but high levels of crime made it difficult for McLennan to settle or
have his family over.
After a year stint at the Philippines with the national side, he went on to manage the
national team, Mauritius.
Later on, in 1968, Sir Stanley Rous, the FIFA President, helped McLennan land the Zimbabwe
post – a position he held for five years.
With Zimbabwe, in 1970, he almost achieved World Cup qualification, but lost each time
in the play-offs.
His popularity reached top heights that his name was used in an advertising campaign slogan
in Africa which instructed, “Drink Pepsi, Danny Does…”.
He would move on to be Iran national team boss in 1973.
Again, surroundings restricted activity to daily life.
Spies and informers followed his every move as westerners were deemed as strangers to
the country.
Despite this, he played a major role in shaping and developing footballers.
In fact, McLennan knew all the players that would go on to play against Scotland at the
Argentina World Cup in 1978, even writing to Ally MacLeod and gave him information on
all of the players, though it is not known if MacLeod acknowledged this advice.
A year later Danny was managing the country of Bahrain for a short spell before leaving
to manage the Iraq national team job.
He formed a close friendship with Ammo Baba: Iraq’s finest ever footballer.
Saddam Hussein, although not then installed as Iraqi president, was already making his
presence felt.
McLennan said that before we played Bahrain in the final play-off (of the 1976 Gulf Cup),
Saddam said he was going to give each player a new house if they won.
It clearly unsettled them.
They would lose the final 4-2 in extra-time.
McLennan spent 1978 coaching the Norwegian side, Kongsvinger, and then moved to Jordan
when Danny took charge of the country’s national side.
Two years later, he went to Saudi Arabia, in 1980, accepting the job with a leading
club side.
Even though he enjoyed new experiences in different countries while managing club teams,
to Danny they were simply just a stop gap until a job in international football became
available.
He then went to Malawi for a year in 1984 having one of his proudest managerial moments.
McLennan took them into the African Nations Cup finals for the first time, had it not
been for a blatantly rigged game between Nigeria and Algeria, to ensure that both teams qualified,
Malawi might have progressed further.
The family moved back to Jordan and then Malta for Danny to manage club sides, the Mauritius
job (for a second spell) between 1986-1988, two years with the Kenya Breweries club in
Kenya and then the same spell in charge of National side of Fiji.
At the age of 67, McLennan agreed to manage Libya in 1992.
A pivotal time for the nation’s football as matches were cancelled because of the Lockerbie
bombing in 1988.
Two UN Security Council Resolutions were passed to impose sanctions against Libya.
McLennan’s team were not allowed to play anyone.
When 70 years old, he took over at Churchill Brothers Club in Goa, India, for four years,
before leaving to take up a managerial post in Tanzania.
However, the climate was unsafe.
Robberies, gang crime made life hell, the McLennans spent a year there before returning
for a second time to Churchill Brothers.
After a while they returned to Scotland in Crail, Fife.
Unfortunately, in the midst of planning a trip to Mauritius, Danny suffered a massive
stroke and died a week later at the age of 79 on 11th May 2004.
Danny McLennan was a forward-thinking, free spirit before his time.
A man who gained huge respect in every country he set up as a temporary home.
A visionary that, undoubtedly, was a loss to Scottish football.