Francis McAvennie (born 22 November 1959) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a striker. He spent two spells playing for each of St Mirren, West Ham United and Celtic. With Celtic, he won the Scottish Premier Division in 1987–88 and the Scottish Cup in 1988. He was capped five times at senior level for Scotland during the 1980s, scoring one goal.
Born in Glasgow, McAvennie grew up in Milton and attended St. Augustine's School there.
McAvennie started his playing career in Scottish Junior League football. In 1979 during an amateur game with a local side, the 200 Club, in Kirkintilloch, McAvennie, playing well, came to the attention of local scouts. He was recommended to local junior side Johnstone Burgh signing for them for a £500 fee. He completed a trial for Partick Thistle playing in a single game where he was sent on as a substitute only to be substituted off in the same game and be told by manager Bertie Auld that he would never make a career in the game of football. Before turning professional, he had joined the Territorial Army and later had trials with the British Army but was not accepted for a role with them due to his inability to hit the target during shooting practices. He also had a spell working as a road sweeper. He did not move into professional football until he joined St Mirren in 1980, at the age of 20. His league debut came in the 1981–82 season in a 4–3 defeat of Airdrieonians. Playing as a midfielder, McAvennie scored two goals. In 1982, he was named Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year. He made 135 league appearances for them over the next five years, scoring 48 goals.
His strong form in Scotland attracted attention from south of the border and McAvennie had talks with Luton Town and their manager, David Pleat, in the summer of 1985. With talks progressing well McAvennie decided not to sign for Luton due to the attitude of their chairman, David Evans. With St Mirren then agreeing a fee with West Ham United, McAvennie met with their manager John Lyall and his staff at Toddington services on the M1 motorway, and he signed for them in June 1985 for £340,000. He made his West Ham debut on 17 August 1985, the opening game of the season, in a 1–0 away defeat to Birmingham City with his first two goals coming in his second game, a 3–1 home defeat of Queens Park Rangers. Originally signed as an attacking midfielder, he was played as an out-and-out striker after an injury to Paul Goddard in the opening game of the season. He went on to keep Goddard out of the team and spark his transfer from the club the following season.
He formed a formidable partnership with young English striker Tony Cottee with McAvennie scoring 26 league goals and Cottee 20. One additional goal in both the League Cup and the FA Cup saw his tally rise to 28 goals in 51 appearances in all competitions.
In his first season, he helped West Ham to their highest ever final position in English football when they came third, just four points behind champions Liverpool. His 26 goals in the league was only bettered by Gary Lineker, who found the net 30 times for second-placed Everton.
At this time McAvennie's success on the pitch came to the attention of TV producers. He appeared on the BBC's Wogan show, hosted by Terry Wogan, an event which McAvennie claims changed his life and introduced him to a celebrity lifestyle. He is quoted as saying "Then I signed for West Ham and money and girls were thrown at me and, hey, who was I to say no? Then I went on Wogan and it really took off. I was never under any illusions why it was happening. It wisnae because of my looks, it was because I was a footballer."
West Ham were denied UEFA Cup action for the following season due to the ban on English clubs in European competitions, which had started a year earlier due to the Heysel disaster.
The following season was less successful as they finished 15th as McAvennie scored just seven league goals from 36 games and eleven from 47 games in all competitions. He began the 1987–88 season still at West Ham.
McAvennie played eight games for the Hammers at the start of 1987–88, failing to score, before he moved to Celtic for a then club record fee of £750,000 on 2 October 1987. Graeme Souness had approached him to join rivals Rangers at the 1986 FIFA World Cup which would have made him the first high-profile Catholic player to play for the Protestant club, but he refused, being a supporter of Celtic. He made his debut for Celtic the following day in a 1–1 draw at home against Hibernian.
McAvennie made a slow start at Celtic and his progress was not helped when he got involved in an on-field fracas with Chris Woods, Terry Butcher and Graham Roberts in an Old Firm game in November 1987. McAvennie and Woods were sent off in the initial incident, whilst Butcher was sent off later in the game. All four were later reported to the Procurator Fiscal and appeared in court on disorder charges relating to their conduct in that game. McAvennie was found not guilty, Roberts not proven, whilst Butcher and Woods were both convicted of Breach of the Peace.
McAvennie eventually found his form at Parkhead, and his 15 goals in 1987–88 helped Celtic to a Scottish Premier Division and Scottish Cup double. That season (the club's centenary season), he was part of a formidable front trio with Andy Walker and Joe Miller. One of the high-points during the season for McAvennie were his two goals in Celtic's 2–0 win over Rangers in January 1988. The cup final in May was particularly memorable for McAvennie as he scored two late goals to beat Dundee United 2–1, the winning goal coming in the final minute.
The following season, 1988–89, was not a happy one for Celtic and the team finished in third place in the league behind winners Rangers and second-placed Aberdeen. McAvennie was one of Celtic's few form players that season and he had scored 11 goals by Christmas 1988, but a broken arm sustained in the New Year game at Ibrox against Rangers curtailed his goalscoring. McAvennie also wished to return to London to enable him to spend more time with then girlfriend, glamour model Jenny Blyth. After a public row with manager Billy McNeill over being dropped for a league match at Tynecastle in March 1989 against Hearts, Celtic relented to McAvennie's repeated requests for a transfer and sold him back to West Ham.
McAvennie returned to West Ham United in March 1989 in a £1.25 million deal, making him their record signing. His weekly wages were £2,200, his highest ever weekly wage as a footballer. According to Celtic manager Billy McNeill's autobiography, McAvennie wanted to return to London and his model girlfriend Jenny Blyth. McAvennie claims in his autobiography that Celtic were refusing to pay him a signing-on fee. Just before his return to Boleyn Ground, Celtic had accepted an offer from title chasing Arsenal, whose manager George Graham was looking for a proven goalscorer to partner Alan Smith. McAvennie turned down the chance to join Arsenal and accepted John Lyall's offer shortly afterwards. While Arsenal won the First Division, West Ham were relegated to the Second Division and McAvennie failed to score a single goal in the remaining nine games of the season. He has since admitted that his decision to join West Ham and not Arsenal was based on his love of the club and not on the likelihood of footballing success.
His second spell in London was not as successful as his previous one. Now playing in the Second Division, things got worse for both McAvennie and West Ham when the striker suffered a broken leg on the opening game of the season on 19 August 1989, following a challenge by Stoke City's Chris Kamara, which put him out until March 1990. He made his return on 31 March 1990 against Port Vale. By this time West Ham were 10th in the league and ultimately finished in seventh place missing out on the playoffs. This unsettling period at Upton Park also saw manager Lou Macari resign and being succeeded by Billy Bonds.