Tomorrow, he will see the fruits of those words.
Northern has the opportunity to secure the Football South Championship title against Mosgiel at Forrester Park.
It comes after having won its opening three games of the short league for the teams that did not qualify for the South Island league.
That would also give Northern a shot at a promotion-relegation game against the lowest-placed Football South team in the South Island league.
It certainly seemed an unthinkable scenario in July last year, when Mosgiel had just completed a 20-0 rout of Northern.
The club was mired in a two-year winless streak and had long been towards the bottom of the Southern Premier League.
In the aftermatch speeches, McPhail had told the club it hurt to see Northern struggling so much, and that it needed to find who it was and what it was about.
So, the club made changes.
Arran Wilkinson was brought in as coach mid-season, replacing Luiz Uehara.
It sparked a resurgence which led it to finally winning a game this year, after a 1001-day drought.
Three more have followed over the past three weeks.
"We needed to go a different direction," Northern co-president Aaron Warrington said.
"What we were doing wasn’t working. We hadn’t won a game in two years so clearly our direction had to change.
"We couldn’t hold off to the end of the season, because if it didn’t happen then I don’t know what we’d look like this year.
"It was dark but I think that was the beginning, really. Even though we got no points, it was like a fresh start."
Warrington said the club had rebuilt its culture and there was now a positive vibe like there had not been before.
Numbers were consistently high at training and there was interest from all the teams in how each other was doing.
Getting results had been key in giving everyone involved something tangible to show their progress.
While that first win had been exciting, the team had followed it with two big losses.
However, Warrington said it had been impressive the way the side did not buckle.
Now entering this weekend on a three-match winning streak, Northern has a chance to win its first trophy since 1976.
"It’s exciting. I think that’s the thing — we’re just excited to have that opportunity," Warrington said.
"Mosgiel are a great side and if they play to their best they’ll make it difficult.
"But we’re playing at home and we’ve done three in a row — why not dream the dream?
"I think they’re all quite excited to have that opportunity."
Kick-off is at 2.45pm.
