[4] McClelland led his team to the first round proper of that season's FA Cup, in which Halifax were drawn at home to Southern League champions Queens Park Rangers.
He led them to the last 32 of the 1923–24 FA Cup, in which they took First Division club Manchester City to two replays before going out, and fifth- and fourth-place league finishes in 1926 and 1927, but after a second application for re-election in 1930, McClelland resigned.
[8] When Brown retired for health reasons in September 1933, McClelland acted as caretaker until the appointment of Billy Walker in December, when his role became purely a secretarial one.
[12] McClelland remained in post throughout the war years and for the first post-war campaign before the club appointed his assistant, Bill Anderson, as team manager in July 1947.
[1][13] He remained in the Lincoln area, where he worked for Ruston & Hornsby, scouted for Halifax Town, and served on the committee of the Lincolnshire Football League.