Frank Walter Yallop (born 4 April 1964) is a professional soccer coach and former player. He is currently head coach of McKinney Chupacabras FC in USL League Two. Born in England, he played for the Canada national team.
He played 13 years in England for Ipswich Town, including the club's first three seasons in the Premier League. He also played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for the Tampa Bay Mutiny, and earned 52 caps for the Canada national team.
He spent a further 13 years as coach in MLS for San Jose Earthquakes, LA Galaxy, and Chicago Fire, as well as three years coaching the Canada national team. After his time in MLS he served in coaching and management positions in various clubs in the USL Championship, working with Phoenix Rising, Fresno FC, Las Vegas Lights, and Monterey Bay FC.
Early life Yallop was born in Watford and spent his early childhood there before his father, a meat cutter by trade, joined a brother in Canada in 1974 bringing his wife and three children to Vancouver. Yallop continued playing in British Columbia, where he caught the eye of an Ipswich Town scout who invited Yallop to try out for Ipswich aged 14.
Club career Ipswich Town (1983–1996) In 1983, aged 19, Yallop signed a professional contract with Ipswich Town. He would make his debut the following year, in a 1-0 defeat away to Everton. He was part of the Ipswich squad that was relegated from the First Division in 1986 and of the squad that won the 1991–92 Second Division title promotion six years later to the inaugural season of the newly formed FA Premier League, where Ipswich stayed for three years before being relegated once again to the second tier. Yallop was named the club's Player of the Year in 1987–88. In August 1992, Ipswich held a testimonial match against West Ham United in honour of Yallop. In the later years of his Ipswich career, he played alongside fellow Canadian Craig Forrest. In the season following the relegation, Yallop was loaned out to third-tier side Blackpool F.C. in November 1995, where he featured for the team in a few Second Division matches. He departed the club following the conclusion of the 1995–96 season.
Two of his eight goals for the Town came in the span of three days in February 1993. The first came against Tottenham Hotspur with Yallop breaking a four-year scoring drought in a 2–0 victory. The second goal helped to push Ipswich to beat Premier League title favourites Manchester United 2–1 at Portman Road, a result which saw Ipswich occupy fourth place in the league and spark hopes of a late run to the title, but instead a slump in form followed and Ipswich finished 16th.
At the end of his time at Ipswich, Yallop amassed 385 appearances in all competitions, which puts him just outside the top ten in appearances for the club all time. Yallop was inducted into the club's Hall of Fame in 2023, a recognition of his nearly 15 years spent with the club between academy and professional play. Yallop had collected his award in December 2022, as the March match of honor fell within the USL Championship season.
Tampa Bay Mutiny (1996–1998) After a lengthy career in England, Yallop returned to North America in 1996, when he signed with Major League Soccer and was drafted 57th overall by the Tampa Bay Mutiny in the MLS Inaugural Player Draft. Week 23 of the season saw Frank Yallop win his first and only MLS Player of the Week award. This award was also the first for any Tampa Bay player. Tampa Bay would finish the inaugural MLS season with the best record, for which they'd retroactively be awarded the Supporter's Shield. However, in the playoffs Tampa would fall just short of reaching the first ever MLS Cup, losing in the Eastern Conference finals to eventual champions D.C. United.
Yallop was given his only MLS All-Star honor with an appearance in the 1997 game, representing Tampa Bay on the Eastern Conference team. The 1997 MLS season saw Tampa slightly regress, finishing with the third best record overall, and second best in the East behind D.C. United. Tampa would make the playoffs for the second season in a row but would fall in the first round to the Columbus Crew. The 1998 season saw yet another regression, with Tampa Bay failing to quality for the playoffs. In the final match of his MLS career, Frank Yallop scored the game winner, which was his first goal of his MLS career.
After three seasons with the Mutiny, in which he served as captain and started nearly every game, Yallop retired from professional soccer. He was released from the Mutiny roster due to MLS shrinking their foreign player limit from 5 to 4 players per team. At the time of his retirement, Yallop was second on the team all-time in games played (88), games started (84), and minutes played (7,646).
During the 1999 season the team lost Jan Eriksson and R.T. Moore to injury and retirement respectively. The Mutiny petitioned the league to sign Yallop, who was still participating in player drills and could resume his career, but the league denied the request and Yallop remained retired.
International career Yallop made five appearances for England's youth team in 1981–82 before switching allegiance to Canada.England Youth Appearances
He had initially been ineligible to feature for Canada and thus missed out on their first World Cup participation in 1986. After FIFA's rules changed regarding national team player eligibility, Yallop was finally able to make his official debut and start for Canada at 26 years of age on 13 May 1990, against Mexico in the 1990 North American Championship, helping Canada win the tournament. Yallop had featured in Canada's first match of the tournament against the United States, however since the US sent a B-squad to the match, it did not count as a full international.
Over his Canada career he earned 52 caps, serving as captain multiple times, and scoring no goals at the international level. He represented Canada in 27 FIFA World Cup qualification matches across the 1994 and 1998 World Cup qualifying campaigns.Record at FIFA Tournaments – FIFA His final international was on 16 November 1997 away to Costa Rica in Canada's final 1998 World Cup qualification match.
On 29 April 2005, Yallop was selected for induction into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame for his playing career. On 24 May 2012, Yallop was selected by the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame as the right back of Canada's Best XI for the 1963–2012 era.
Coaching career Early coaching career After retiring following his 1998 season with the Tampa Bay Mutiny, Yallop was offered the opportunity to become an assistant coach for the club starting with the 1999 MLS season. In the interim period before the pre-season would begin, Yallop began his coaching career in 1998 as an assistant-coach under Lothar Osiander with the U.S. Project-40 team, joining the team on a 5-game tour of England. Osiander joked that he brought Yallop on board because "I needed someone who knew how to drive on the other side of the road." Following the tour, he began his duties as an assistant coach for the Tampa Bay Mutiny. In 2000, he became chief assistant coach for D.C. United under Thomas Rongen. In December 2000, it had been reported that Yallop was considered as an early candidate to coach for his former team Tampa Bay Mutiny, but he did not make the final group of candidates.
San Jose Earthquakes (2001–2003) In 2001, Yallop was named head coach for the San Jose Earthquakes, just three days before the MLS SuperDraft. He replaced Lothar Osiander, who he had briefly coached under just few years prior with Project-40. Yallop was the first former MLS player to become an MLS head coach after retiring. During the pre-season, Yallop acquired Jeff Agoos, Landon Donovan, Dwayne DeRosario, Manny Lagos, Ramiro Corrales and Ronnie Ekelund, as well as assistant coach Dominic Kinnear. Kinnear, a former teammate of Yallop's at Tampa Bay Mutiny, initially thought he was being recruited as a player, but Yallop asked him to join the club as an assistant coach. Kinnear would end his playing career to join Yallop's coaching staff. In his first year as head coach, Yallop proceeded to lead the San Jose Earthquakes to the playoffs for their second time in franchise history, the first time since the club's and league's inaugural season in 1996. The 2001 playoff run culminated with the club's first MLS Cup appearance, which ended with a win over California Clásico rivals LA Galaxy. At the season's conclusion, Yallop was named 2001 MLS Coach of the Year.
The following year the Quakes would improve their regular season performance and finish in second place overall. They set or tied records for an MLS all-time best home record (12–1–1), a then MLS record 12-game winning streak at home, and went on a 15-game home unbeaten streak that tied their previous club best from 1999 to 2000. However, San Jose would succumb to an upset in the first round of the 2002 MLS Playoffs against the Columbus Crew, ending their defense of the MLS Cup. The season was also notable for Yallop as he coached in the 2002 MLS All-Star Game in only his second season as head coach, leading the MLS All-Stars to a 3–2 victory over the US men's national team.
In 2003, the Earthquakes yet again improved upon their regular season form and finished as the best team in the West, and just two points shy of winning the Supporters Shield as the best regular season team. Yallop would lead the team to their second MLS title through these playoffs, their second title in the span of three seasons. Beside the MLS Cup final, this Earthquakes playoff run is most known for the club completing the greatest comeback in MLS playoff history, a 5–4 aggregate win after being down 4–0 on aggregate heading into the second half of the return leg of the home and away series. MLS Cup 2003 is the Earthquakes' most recent appearance in the playoff final as well as the last time they won the MLS Cup.
Canada (2004–2006) On 16 December 2003 it was announced that Yallop would become head coach of the Canada National Team starting on 1 January of the following year. Yallop oversaw Canada's appearances at the 2003 and 2005 editions of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, both of which featured group stage exits, as well as their qualification campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup which ended in the third round of CONCACAF qualifying out of four total rounds. On 7 June 2006, Yallop resigned as coach of the Canada national team, as he was announced as the new head coach of Los Angeles Galaxy. He finished with an 8-9-3 record as Canada's head coach. Yallop stated in a 2021 interview that his "one regret" was leaving the Earthquakes to coach Canada, "I think I maybe jumped into Canada a little bit too soon and I wasn’t ready for it anyway."
Los Angeles Galaxy (2006–2007) Yallop took the helm for the Galaxy midway through the 2006 MLS season, eventually guiding the team to finish just outside the playoffs, missing qualifications by three points. The Galaxy recruited English star David Beckham ahead of the 2007 MLS season, though he would not transfer to the club until July and did not make his first appearance until August due to lingering injuries. The Galaxy ultimately failed to qualify for the playoffs once again in 2007. Yallop has been defended for his part in that, with forward Alan Gordon, who played on the 2007 Galaxy team, stating "it had nothing to do with Frank. We had 11 guys come in and out of there in a couple months. We had no team chemistry. We had a bunch of individuals who were trying to hang on and make the best of it." Despite not making the MLS playoffs in either season, Yallop led the Galaxy to two tournament finals, the 2006 U.S. Open Cup and the 2007 North American SuperLiga, which the Galaxy lost to the Chicago Fire and Pachuca respectively.
Return to San Jose Earthquakes (2008–2013)