{{Short description|Scottish footballer}} {{Use British English|date=July 2013}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox football biography | name = Dan McPhail | image = | caption = | fullname = Daniel McPhail<ref name=LCFCarchive/> | birth_date = {{birth date|1903|2|9|df=y}}<ref name=LCFCarchive/> | birth_place = Campbeltown, Scotland | death_date = {{death date and age|1987|10||1903|2|9|df=y}} | death_place = Lincoln, England | height = 5 ft 11 in<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/sunday-dispatch-football-guide-1936-xiii/134324494/ |title=Lincoln City. Captures: Raw and Corbett |newspaper=Sunday Dispatch Football Guide |location=London |date=23 August 1936 |page=xiii |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> | position = Goalkeeper | youthyears1 = | youthclubs1 = | years1 = | clubs1 = Falkirk | caps1 = | goals1 = | years2 = | clubs2 = Third Lanark | caps2 = | goals2 = | years3 = 1922–1931 | clubs3 = Portsmouth | caps3 = 128 | goals3 = 0 | years4 = 1931–1939 | clubs4 = Lincoln City | caps4 = 309 | goals4 = 0 | totalcaps = | totalgoals = }}
'''Daniel McPhail''' (9 February 1903 – October 1987) was a Scottish professional footballer who made 437 appearances in the Football League playing for Portsmouth and Lincoln City. He played as a goalkeeper.<ref name=Joyce/> Before moving to England he played for Falkirk and Third Lanark in Scotland.
==Life and career== McPhail was born in Campbeltown, Argyll.<ref name=LCFCarchive/> He played football for his grammar school team before joining Falkirk<ref name=Mazza/> and appearing as a triallist for Third Lanark.<ref name=Joyce/> He moved to England in January 1922 to sign for Portsmouth, then competing in the Third Division South. He made his debut at the end of the 1922–23 Football League season, and took over as Portsmouth's first-choice goalkeeper in October 1925, by which time the club was playing in the Second Division. They gained promotion to the First Division in 1926–27,<ref name=Mazza/> and McPhail played regularly, keeping seven consecutive clean sheets in the second half of the 1927–28 season to help avoid relegation.<ref name=Clean/> He retained his place, despite conceding ten goals against Leicester City in what remains, {{as of|2012|lc=y}}, Portsmouth's record league defeat, until breaking his wrist in October 1928. Although he remained with the club for another two and a half years,<ref name=Mazza/> he was unable to dislodge Jock Gilfillan from the starting eleven. Ahead of the 1930–31 season, the ''Daily Mirror'' wrote that "Gilfillan's goalkeeping was so satisfactory last season that he was never disturbed from his position and was the only ever-present on the club's books. If he had had to stand down McPhail was at hand, but the brilliant Scot never had one chance."<ref name=Gilfillan/>
McPhail joined Third Division North club Lincoln City in the 1931 close season, as what the ''Daily Express'' expected to be "an efficient substitute" for Jimmy Maidment, who had just signed for Notts County; Maidment's brother Tom went to Portsmouth in exchange, together with what was described as a small fee.<ref name=Maidment/> McPhail went straight into the starting eleven, and was ever-present as Lincoln won the 1931–32 Northern Section title.<ref name=LCFCarchive/> On Boxing Day 1933, he was sent off for striking the opposing centre-forward, Tom Nolan of Port Vale, who had barged into him while he was holding the ball.<ref name=Punch/> It transpired that the case was one of mistaken identity. The referee saw McPhail bent over the unconscious Nolan and assumed him to be to blame, but the offending blow had in fact been struck by Lincoln's Alf Young in an off-the-ball incident.<ref name=Mazza/> In the next match, McPhail suffered a dislocated elbow,<ref name=Wall/> an injury that forced his absence from a competitive match for the first time since signing for the club.<ref name=Mazza/> When he returned to action, he kept his place until near the end of the 1938–39 season, rarely missing a game. His final tally of 309 Football League appearances was at the time a club appearance record for players in any position, and the record for appearances by a goalkeeper lasted until 2007, when it was broken by Alan Marriott.<ref name=Records/><ref name=Broken/>
After he retired from football, McPhail became a bookmaker in Lincoln. He died in Lincoln in October 1987 at the age of 84.<ref name=Mazza/>
==References== {{Reflist|refs= <ref name=Joyce>{{cite book |last=Joyce |first=Michael |title=Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939 |publisher=SoccerData |location=Nottingham |pages=174–75 |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-899468-67-6}}</ref> <ref name=Mazza>{{cite web |url=http://www.redimps.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10440~998932,00.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807145410/http://www.redimps.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0%2C%2C10440~998932%2C00.html |title=Mazza equals club record |publisher=Lincoln City F.C |date=19 March 2007 |archivedate=7 August 2011}}</ref> <ref name=LCFCarchive>{{cite web |url=http://www.redimps.com/archive3/index.mv?cat=players&drop=playerdetsdrop&play=mcph02 |title=Dan McPhail |work=The Lincoln City FC Archive |publisher=Lincoln City F.C |accessdate=25 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525050522/http://www.redimps.com/archive3/index.mv?cat=players&drop=playerdetsdrop&play=mcph02 |archive-date=25 May 2012}} Appearances per season are sourced via the Season Stats dropdown menu at the bottom right of this page. The site is partly subscription-based, but only free-access sections are used for reference. If pop-up login dialogue boxes appear, press the "Cancel" button to proceed.</ref> <ref name=Records>{{cite web |url=http://www.redimps.com/archive3/index.mv?cat=theplayers&drop=matchsearch |title=Appearances – Football League |work=The Lincoln City FC Archive |publisher=Lincoln City F.C |accessdate=27 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209123331/http://www.redimps.com/archive3/index.mv?cat=theplayers&drop=matchsearch |archive-date=9 February 2012}}</ref> <ref name=Broken>{{cite web |url=http://www.redimps.com/archive3/index.mv?cat=players&drop=playerdetsdrop&play=marr03 |title=Alan Marriott |work=The Lincoln City FC Archive |publisher=Lincoln City F.C |accessdate=27 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120525045554/http://www.redimps.com/archive3/index.mv?cat=players&drop=playerdetsdrop&play=marr03 |archive-date=25 May 2012}}</ref> <ref name=Clean>{{cite web |url=http://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/LatestNews/news/Ashdown-Joins-Clean-Sheet-Elite-1955.aspx |title=Ashdown joins clean sheet elite |first=Mark |last=Storey |publisher=Portsmouth F.C |date=March 2011 |accessdate=27 March 2013|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110305041158/http://www.portsmouthfc.co.uk/LatestNews/news/Ashdown-Joins-Clean-Sheet-Elite-1955.aspx |archivedate=5 March 2011}}</ref> <ref name=Gilfillan>{{cite news |title=Portsmouth's hopes |work=Daily Mirror |date=15 August 1930 |page=26}}</ref> <ref name=Maidment>{{cite news |title=Strong forwards |work=Daily Express |date=18 August 1931 |page=13}}</ref> <ref name=Punch>{{cite news |title=Vale faults |work=Daily Express |date=27 December 1933 |page=13 |quote=There was an unpleasant scene seven minutes before the end ... It resulted in Nolan, the Vale centre forward, and McPhail, the Lincoln goalkeeper, being ordered from the field. Nolan had charged the goalkeeper, who was holding the ball. Tempers became frayed, and blows were struck.}}</ref> <ref name=Wall>{{cite news |title=Millwall's biggest win |work=Daily Mirror |date=1 January 1934 |page=26}}</ref> }}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McPhail, Dan}} Category:1903 births Category:1987 deaths Category:People from Campbeltown Category:Scottish men's footballers Category:Men's association football goalkeepers Category:Falkirk F.C. players Category:Third Lanark A.C. players Category:Portsmouth F.C. players Category:Lincoln City F.C. players Category:English Football League players Category:Footballers from Argyll and Bute Category:20th-century Scottish sportsmen