1910-1936 Michael McGahey
Birth Date
17th July 1873
Birthplace
Portsea, Hampshire
Biographical Text
Michael McGahey assumed the chair of Exeter City from Fred Harvey in 1910 when the Grecians had been a professional club for no more than two years. Proving to be the club's longest-serving chairman of the 20th century and beyond, his time at the helm of the club had almost exactly mirrored the reign of King George V when he stepped down in 1936.
The son of a military man from County Monaghan, Mr McGahey's family moved to Exeter in the late 1870s when he was still a small child. Living on Stepcote Hill, he attended the Blue Boy and Hele's schools before becoming a solictor’s clerk with Dunn & Baker in Castle Street at the age of seventeen in 1890. Encouraged by one of the senior partners, Michael gained legal qualifications and eventually became a partner.
Having married Isabella, with whom he had six children, he started to show an interest in the embryonic Exeter City along with his colleague T J W Templeman who later became mayor and an alderman. Their interest appears to have been stimulated by Sidney Herbert Thomas, the firm's managing clerk, performing the role of player/secretary of both St Sidwell's United and Exeter City.
Following Mr Templeman on to the city council, and eventually serving as both an alderman and freeman of the city, Mr McGahey was a man of influence in the town and - no doubt encouraged again by Sid Thomas - was just the right man to become involved in the new professional set-up that was emerging at St James' Park. Finding a taste for watching the improved level of football, Michael McGahey accepted a position on the board and soon became chairman in 1910.
City meanwhile had made a sound if unspectacular transition to life in the Southern League but were to hit choppy waters in 1912 when the Football Association conducted an enquiry into the affairs of the club following complaints made by three directors. The concerns related to a series of illegal bonuses paid to players over each of the four seasons since the club had turned professional. Captain Harvey, the previous chairman, admitted that such payments had been made and the club was found guilty of producing incomplete cash books. Mr McGahey was exonerated although fellow directors Cook, Fenwick, Thomas, Parkhouse and Oliver were censured for their improper action. The Grecians were fined £20 as a consequence.
Relationships with the governing body had clearly improved by 1914 when City accepted an invitation to represent the FA on a tour of Argentina. Mr McGahey, possibly not aware of how significant the event would prove in the history of the club, was an enthusiast for the venture and, once in South America, readily agreed to the extension of the tour to include three games in Brazil.
No sooner than the rather hazardous return journey from Rio been made than Britain was at war although football continued for another season. Not only was there a loss of income for four years but there was the constant worry too of news from the front involving players and others associated with the club. There were the inevitable losses and casualties to be followed, in 1919, by the death of Mrs Isabella McGahey during the post-war influenza pandemic.
Once football resumed for the 1919/20 season Exeter City were afforded the opportunity to join the new third section of the Football League in 1920 along with the rest of the Southern League. Consequently Mr McGahey found himself as chair of a Football League club, a status City would enjoy until relegation in 2003.
Ably supported by secretary - and former legal colleague - Sid Thomas, Mr McGahey had now completed ten years in the chair with another sixteen to follow. The start of 1923 saw the board having to make its first managerial appointment since 1908 as Arthur Chadwick departed for Reading. Fred Mavin was the chosen man to be followed by David Wilson in 1928 and Billy McDevitt in 1929 as the first eleven seasons in the Football League resulted in just two top-ten finishes and five in the bottom-four. A particular low-point of the decade came when the main stand burnt down in 1926.
Although Mr McGahey was still only fifty-seven as of 1930, he had held the position of chairman for twenty years and could have been excused for believing that steering Exeter City had become an unrelenting, never-ending slog. Yet the appointment of Billy McDevitt had proved a masterstroke as the Grecians reached the 6th round of the FA Cup in 1931, finished runners-up in Division Three (South) in 1933 and also won the Division Three (South) Cup. In addition there was the reflected glory of enjoying the success of former players Dick Pym in the 1920s and Cliff Bastin in the 1930s.
But the veneer soon faded and, once the club had survived a winding-up order in 1935 and appointed Jack English to replace the departing McDevitt, Mr McGahey stepped down in 1936 and died in 1944 at the age of seventy-one after serving as club president in his final years.
For his part Sid Thomas, who started his working life as a junior in Mr McGahey's office, continued as secretary until 1939 before emulating his former employer by becoming chairman and then president of Exeter City.
The son of a military man from County Monaghan, Mr McGahey's family moved to Exeter in the late 1870s when he was still a small child. Living on Stepcote Hill, he attended the Blue Boy and Hele's schools before becoming a solictor’s clerk with Dunn & Baker in Castle Street at the age of seventeen in 1890. Encouraged by one of the senior partners, Michael gained legal qualifications and eventually became a partner.
Having married Isabella, with whom he had six children, he started to show an interest in the embryonic Exeter City along with his colleague T J W Templeman who later became mayor and an alderman. Their interest appears to have been stimulated by Sidney Herbert Thomas, the firm's managing clerk, performing the role of player/secretary of both St Sidwell's United and Exeter City.
Following Mr Templeman on to the city council, and eventually serving as both an alderman and freeman of the city, Mr McGahey was a man of influence in the town and - no doubt encouraged again by Sid Thomas - was just the right man to become involved in the new professional set-up that was emerging at St James' Park. Finding a taste for watching the improved level of football, Michael McGahey accepted a position on the board and soon became chairman in 1910.
City meanwhile had made a sound if unspectacular transition to life in the Southern League but were to hit choppy waters in 1912 when the Football Association conducted an enquiry into the affairs of the club following complaints made by three directors. The concerns related to a series of illegal bonuses paid to players over each of the four seasons since the club had turned professional. Captain Harvey, the previous chairman, admitted that such payments had been made and the club was found guilty of producing incomplete cash books. Mr McGahey was exonerated although fellow directors Cook, Fenwick, Thomas, Parkhouse and Oliver were censured for their improper action. The Grecians were fined £20 as a consequence.
Relationships with the governing body had clearly improved by 1914 when City accepted an invitation to represent the FA on a tour of Argentina. Mr McGahey, possibly not aware of how significant the event would prove in the history of the club, was an enthusiast for the venture and, once in South America, readily agreed to the extension of the tour to include three games in Brazil.
No sooner than the rather hazardous return journey from Rio been made than Britain was at war although football continued for another season. Not only was there a loss of income for four years but there was the constant worry too of news from the front involving players and others associated with the club. There were the inevitable losses and casualties to be followed, in 1919, by the death of Mrs Isabella McGahey during the post-war influenza pandemic.
Once football resumed for the 1919/20 season Exeter City were afforded the opportunity to join the new third section of the Football League in 1920 along with the rest of the Southern League. Consequently Mr McGahey found himself as chair of a Football League club, a status City would enjoy until relegation in 2003.
Ably supported by secretary - and former legal colleague - Sid Thomas, Mr McGahey had now completed ten years in the chair with another sixteen to follow. The start of 1923 saw the board having to make its first managerial appointment since 1908 as Arthur Chadwick departed for Reading. Fred Mavin was the chosen man to be followed by David Wilson in 1928 and Billy McDevitt in 1929 as the first eleven seasons in the Football League resulted in just two top-ten finishes and five in the bottom-four. A particular low-point of the decade came when the main stand burnt down in 1926.
Although Mr McGahey was still only fifty-seven as of 1930, he had held the position of chairman for twenty years and could have been excused for believing that steering Exeter City had become an unrelenting, never-ending slog. Yet the appointment of Billy McDevitt had proved a masterstroke as the Grecians reached the 6th round of the FA Cup in 1931, finished runners-up in Division Three (South) in 1933 and also won the Division Three (South) Cup. In addition there was the reflected glory of enjoying the success of former players Dick Pym in the 1920s and Cliff Bastin in the 1930s.
But the veneer soon faded and, once the club had survived a winding-up order in 1935 and appointed Jack English to replace the departing McDevitt, Mr McGahey stepped down in 1936 and died in 1944 at the age of seventy-one after serving as club president in his final years.
For his part Sid Thomas, who started his working life as a junior in Mr McGahey's office, continued as secretary until 1939 before emulating his former employer by becoming chairman and then president of Exeter City.
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