He played a smaller role (mostly on Scottish affairs) during the 1984–1985 miners' strike, as he was nearing retirement. He opposed the holding of a national ballot and favoured letting regions make their own decisions on whether to strike. He saw the appointment of Ian MacGregor as chair of the National Coal Board as a "declaration of war". James Cowan, then deputy chairman of the NCB, claims that McGahey warned him to retire in 1983 and protect his health, as he feared that a "bloody" strike was inevitable with the appointment of Ian MacGregor and that there would be conflict between different regions in the NUM.