During his career, McCracken
captained both English club
Newcastle United and the
Ireland national side. He played for Newcastle from 1904 to 1924, helping them win three
Football League titles and one
FA Cup. In total he played 432 games for the
Magpies, scoring eight goals. McCracken gained sixteen international caps (including one match against
Scotland in 1902 which is
not counted as official by the Scots due to its unusual circumstances as a fundraiser following the
Ibrox disaster, but excluding two '
Victory matches' in 1919 against the same opposition), scoring one goal. During
World War I he helped to arrange two fundraising matches featuring top players and turned out for the England XI in both, facing Ireland on the second occasion. His Ireland teammates included
Archie Goodall,
Billy Scott,
Jack Kirwan and
Robert Milne. McCracken is one of just a few players whose actions have brought changes to the
Laws of the Game when, as a right full back at Newcastle, he masterminded the technique of making opposition forwards ruled "
offside" when the rules stated that three defenders must be between the attacking player and the goal line. So successful was McCracken's defensive ploy that the Offside Law was changed to "two defenders" between the foremost attacker and the goal line". Illustrious Italian coach
Vittorio Pozzo, who had personally seen him play, praised McCracken, in his own words, as the 'master of
fuori-giuoco (offside)'. According to Pozzo he even wrote a booklet to explain his "offside trick". ==Managerial career==