reputation of the academy being enhanced so much, it is no wonder the SLFA pricked up their ears.
“When the job came about I’d been living there for three years, and with three games to go in World Cup qualifying, word on the street was that they were looking for a local coach [following Lars-Olof Mattsson’s resignation]. I thought – “get me in that room, let me talk to them, and it won’t be a decision”. I was that confident. I felt that I was the best coach in the country, so I got the meeting [with the SLFA] set up, got a hold of some DVDs of their last games and put together a portfolio analyzing them. I showed them how I could make Sierra Leone better, and most importantly, how we could beat Tunisia in the next game. And it must have worked, because two days later I was offered the job”.
A team already on the rise, the Leone Stars had been flying up the rankings, and still had a slim chance of qualifying for the World Cup playoff. And in McKinstry’s first game managing a professional team, his side were 2-1 up when the clock hit 88 minutes. Having started 16-year-old left-winger George Davis – to make not only his international debut but his full, professional debut – Tunisia were ravaged, having subbed off their right-back at half-time, such was the skinning he was receiving at the hands of this young boy. But alas, it was not meant to be.
“That goal was burned into my mind. I was on the edge of my technical area, with a completely unobstructed view of the goal, and as soon as it happened, I was down on my knees. I couldn’t believe it. Look it up – it’s on YouTube”.
And I did look it up. In the 89th minute, Fakhreddine Ben Youssef poked home a goalmouth scramble to make it 2-2 and essentially end their hopes of qualifying, as you see McKinstry concertina down to be practically fetal. But Sierra Leone had put down a marker with this performance; as they ended up 1 point behind Cape Verde in third place, as Tunisia went on to lose to Cameroon in the playoff match.
In a reign that ended up lasting just eight matches in total, the SLFA made the surprising decision to dismiss him in September of 2014, despite the almost-impossible circumstances he was forced to work under. With restrictions to contain Ebola meaning Sierra Leone were banned from playing their games in Freetown, a failure to find a neutral home meant that they were forced to play all their home games in the backyard of their opponent. In other words, they would have to play six away games, made up of a squad entirely based outside of the country.
“I pushed for the SLFA and the government to use Morocco, but they didn’t do it – for whatever reason – and Guinea got Morocco. They supposedly made contact with Ghana, and there was a last minute thing with Egypt, but we ended up