Jimmy Mcnulty Named Stockport County Manager on Three-Year Deal
jimmy mcnulty is back at Stockport County, this time as manager, after the club appointed the 41-year-old on a three-year deal. He arrives after leading Rochdale back into the English Football League and after Stockport’s League One play-off final defeat by Bolton Wanderers in May.
The appointment takes Stockport from one promotion push to the next phase of their rebuild. McNulty’s return is also a homecoming of sorts: he played for the club in 2008-09 and now replaces Dave Challinor after two promotions under the departing manager.
McNulty’s Rochdale rise
McNulty’s record at Rochdale gives Stockport a manager who has already handled a difficult rebuild. He initially took over on an interim basis in 2023, later signed a two-year deal, and kept Rochdale moving after they dropped out of the EFL in 2022-23.
Rochdale finished 11th in their first National League season under him, then sealed a play-off spot in 2024-25. Last month they won the National League promotion final at Wembley, coming back from 2-0 down against Boreham Wood and winning on penalties after a 103rd-minute equaliser.
Stockport’s next phase
Stockport reached the play-off final at Wembley in May but were well beaten by Bolton. Challinor had been the fifth longest-serving manager in the English Football League before leaving, so McNulty steps into a job with recent success behind it and a clear expectation to keep pushing.
McNulty described the return as a full-circle moment, saying: “To go full circle and return all these years on as head coach at County feels incredible.” He added: “Some opportunities feel meant to be, and there's so much alignment and connection here for me, so there's amazing pride here for me and my family.”
County and Rochdale split paths
Rochdale said McNulty left them “in a stronger place” and thanked him for his “fight, honesty and love for this club, as both a player and head coach.” For Stockport, the job now is to turn a strong recent run into promotion, with a manager who has already shown he can take a team out of the National League and back into the EFL.
He also made clear what he wants supporters to see again: “We celebrated so much during my time here as a player, because we played a brand of football that we were so proud of as players and we knew the fans loved, and we found a way to win whilst doing it.”
