Archibald (Archie) Renwick Macaulay was a huge name in English football after World War II.
Born in Falkirk, Scotland, the wing-half’s career began at Rangers, where he won the title in 1935. He headed south to join West Ham United for £6,000 in 1937. He served with the Essex Regiment Territorials on the outbreak of war two years later and represented his home nation on five occasions in wartime internationals.
Archie signed for Brentford when the hostilities were over but was soon on his way out of Griffin Park when the Bees’ hierarchy insisted he went full-time. Reluctant to give up his other role as a sports coach, the determined Scot put in a transfer request and was snapped up by Arsenal, where he won a First Division championship medal in his first campaign.
After three years at Highbury, then three at Craven Cottage, Archie moved into player/management at Southern League Guildford City, one of the biggest clubs in non-league at the time.
His talents soon became evident a couple of years later in the Norwich City hotseat, taking the third division club to the FA Cup semi-finals, narrowly missing out to eventual runners-up Luton Town. By 1963 Macaulay was running things at top tier West Bromwich Albion. Supporting his unsettled wife, he asked to be relieved of his contract. Brighton chairman Eric Courney-King got wind of Archie’s availability and swiftly moved in to secure his services at the Goldstone Ground.
Having just been relegated to the fourth tier for the first time, Albion fans needed a boost. Archie soon delivered it by signing former England international Bobby Smith – for just £5,000! Imagine Harry Kane putting pen to paper at Harrogate Town or Salford City, in the next two or three years. It simply wouldn’t happen these days.
Smith and his teammates ran riot, scoring 102 goals on their way to the title, in front of average attendances of nearly 18,000. He couldn’t build on the momentum of promotion and the club stagnated for a few years, nearly heading back down in 1967.
The following season financial struggles resulted in the reserve team being scrapped and Macaulay’s position becoming untenable after a poor run of results. Archie resigned from his post in October 1968 and pretty much gave up on football thereafter, apart from a brief stint scouting for Liverpool.
A traffic warden for a while, he ended up working back in Norwich, this time in local government. He died in 1993, aged 77.