Mark McGhee

Mark McGhee
Personal information

Full name	Mark Edward McGhee
Date of birth	(1957-05-25) 25 May 1957 (age 55)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Height	5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
1975–1977	Greenock Morton	64	(37)
1977–1978	Newcastle United	28	(5)
1978–1984	Aberdeen	164	(63)
1984–1985	Hamburg	30	(7)
1985–1989	Celtic	88	(27)
1989–1991	Newcastle United	67	(24)
1991	IK Brage	3	(2)
1991–1993	Reading	45	(7)
Total		489	(172)
National team
1983–1984	Scotland	4	(2)
Teams managed
1991–1994	Reading
1994–1995	Leicester City
1995–1998	Wolverhampton Wanderers
2000–2003	Millwall
2003–2006	Brighton & Hove Albion
2007–2009	Motherwell
2009–2010	Aberdeen
2012	Bristol Rovers
2013–	Scotland (assistant manager)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Mark Edward McGhee (born 25 May 1957 in Glasgow) is a former Scottish professional football player and current assistant manager of the Scottish national team. McGhee started his career at Greenock Morton in 1975 and spent spells at clubs including Newcastle United, Aberdeen, Hamburg, Celtic, IK Brage and Reading. McGhee was part of the Aberdeen side which won the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup and 1983 UEFA Super Cup, as well as three Scottish Premier Division titles. McGhee has since managed several clubs in both England and Scotland, including Millwall F.C., Aberdeen F.C. and Brighton & Hove Albion F.C..

1 Playing career
2 Management career
3 Managerial statistics
4 Honours
- 4.1 As a Manager
  - 4.1.1 Promotions
5 References
6 External links

Playing career [edit]

McGhee played for a host of Scottish and English clubs, before he had to abruptly retire because of injury. He started his playing career at Greenock Morton before moving on to Newcastle United – where he scored 36 goals in 99 appearances, including a fantastic last minute winner against Bradford - Aberdeen, Hamburg, Celtic, IK Brage and Reading and won the Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year in 1982 as well as four caps and two goals for the Scotland national football team. He also played for Queen of the South as a guest player against Manchester United in a benefit game following the Lockerbie air disaster.

His greatest career moment came in 1983 when he was in the Aberdeen side that defeated Real Madrid 2–1 to lift the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup in Gothenburg. He also scored as Aberdeen won the 1983 UEFA Super Cup.

Management career [edit]

Early years [edit]

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McGhee's management career began as player-manager at third tier Reading in 1991, succeeding Ian Porterfield, after being recommended for the post by his ex-manager Alex Ferguson. He officially retired as a player in 1993 and won the Division Two title with the Royals the following season and quickly adapted to the second flight during the next campaign, taking the team as high as second place by December 1994. This spotlighted him as an up-and-coming young manager and he was offered the chance to move to Premier League Leicester City. His move in December 1994 came despite having agreed a long term contract to remain at Reading. However, he joined with the Foxes adrift in the relegation zone and was unable to keep them up, finishing second bottom.

He remained at Filbert Street post-relegation and set about launching a promotion campaign but did not see the season out after being approached by Wolverhampton Wanderers. He left to take control at Wolves in December 1995, less than 12 months after arriving at Leicester.

Wolverhampton Wanderers [edit]

McGhee moved to Wolves on 13 December 1995, taking his assistant Colin Lee along with him, following the sacking of Graham Taylor. The club's hopes of promotion lay in tatters at the time after just 5 wins from their previous 21 games, and his first game saw another loss, as they went down 0–1 to Port Vale at Molineux.

He quickly added midfielders Simon Osborn and Steve Corica and tried to implement a more passing game than the direct tactics of his predecessor. The team enjoyed a strong start to 1996, and had lifted themselves to the verge of the play-offs by March. However, their early season form returned in the final months and they failed to win any of their final 8 fixtures, ending in 20th, just 3 points clear of relegation, marking their lowest finish since returning to the division in 1989.

McGhee was given further funds to invest in the summer and brought in Iwan Roberts and Dougie Freedman to boost the attack. The 1996/97 season duly saw them launch a promotion campaign, with ambitions of an automatic spot. However, a poor string of results in the final 10 games, allowed surprise package Barnsley to snatch second place behind runaway champions Bolton Wanderers, condemning Wolves to the play-offs. McGhee saw his team concede two late goals in a 3–1 defeat at Crystal Palace in their semi final tie, which ultimately cost them the chance of reaching the Premier League, despite a 2–1 victory in the return leg.

His failure to reach the top flight prompted a tirade from Wolves owner Sir Jack Hayward, who moaned that he would no longer be "the golden tit", supplying the club with endless finance. He cut McGhee's spending power and both Freedman and Roberts, McGhee's previous big money buys, were quickly sold off. Hayward also fired his son Jonathan as chairman, who had been instrumental in bringing McGhee to the club, thus undermining his job security.

The 1997/98 season saw the club largely outside the play-off places, ending in 9th. McGhee's high point of the campaign was their FA Cup run which saw them make the semi finals for the first time since 1981, and marked his best Cup run as a manager. However, his Wembley dream was dashed by Arsenal (double winners that season) as they edged past the Midlanders 1–0 at Villa Park.

The following season started well for McGhee as he won his opening four games, but the following twelve brought just two victories. This prompted Wolves to fire him on 5 November 1998. His assistant Colin Lee took over the reins on a temporary basis, later made permanent.

He managed a total of 156 competitive games for Wolves; 64 of them were won, 38 drawn and 54 lost.^[1]

Millwall [edit]

On 6 July 2000 McGhee joined Coventry City, who were at the time managed by Gordon Strachan, as a scout.^[2] After only two months he was appointed manager at third flight Millwall in September 2000, replacing the duo of Keith Stevens and Alan McLeary. McGhee swiftly won the Division Two title in his first season and led the club to the Division One play-offs in the following campaign. Here, he suffered more play-off agony as the club lost to a last minute Birmingham City goal to deny them a place in the final.

The 2002–03 season saw McGhee take the club to 9th, falling eight points short of another play-off finish. The next season saw things take a downward turn as his relationship with chairman Theo Paphitis strained and players began to be sold. McGhee left The New Den on 15 October 2003, following a 0–1 home defeat to Preston North End.^[3]

Brighton [edit]

McGhee was appointed manager of Brighton on 28 October 2003, just 13 days after leaving Millwall . Here, he inherited the team left by Steve Coppell who moved to one of McGhee's former clubs, The club had been relegated to League One the previous season, but McGhee managed to regain promotion to the Championship in his first season as they won the play-offs, after beating Bristol City 1–0 in the final. He managed to keep the club in the Championship the following season in 2004/05, finishing 20th, their highest league position in 14 years.

However, he led the club to relegation the following season, when they were finally mathematically condemned at home by Sheffield Wednesday. McGhee was sacked as Brighton manager on 8 September 2006 after nearly three years with the club, following three consecutive defeats in the 2006–07 season.^[4]

Motherwell [edit]

In 2006, he was linked with the vacant managerial post at Irish club Bohemians^[5] and in February 2007 was reported to have applied for the manager's position at Swansea City.^[6] However, on 18 June 2007, he was appointed new manager of Motherwell and to be assisted by Scott Leitch.^[7]

McGhee transformed Motherwell from a team that just avoided relegation in 2007 to finishing third in 2008, which meant that Motherwell qualified for the 2008-09 UEFA Cup. This was the first time in 13 years that Motherwell had qualified for European competition. Pundits believed this was due to the fluent, attacking style of football that McGhee had introduced.^[8] Gordon Strachan, a longtime friend and former teammate of McGhee, recommended him for the then-vacant Scotland job in November 2007. However, despite making the shortlist of candidates, he eventually missed out on the post to George Burley.

His sensitive handling of the death of club captain Phil O'Donnell, who collapsed on the pitch during a game with Dundee United and never regained consciousness, enhanced his profile within the club, Lanarkshire and Scotland.

On 23 May 2008, Hearts made an official approach to Motherwell asking them permission to speak to McGhee about making him their new manager, which Motherwell refused.^[9] It was reported that McGhee wanted a meeting with Vladimir Romanov to seek reassurances about team selection and squad control at Hearts before moving. McGhee was expected to move,^[10] but on 26 May, Motherwell put a statement on their official site stating that McGhee would stay with them.^[11]

Aberdeen [edit]

On 12 June 2009, McGhee was confirmed as the new manager of Aberdeen.^[12] His first competitive match in charge resulted in a 5–1 home defeat by Czech team Sigma Olomouc in the UEFA Europa League.^[13] Aberdeen lost the return leg 3–0, resulting in an 8–1 aggregate defeat,^[14] which is Aberdeen's heaviest defeat in UEFA competition.^[15] After another poor result against First Division side Raith Rovers in February, McGhee claimed he was spat at by members of the Aberdeen support.^[16]

On 6 November 2010, Aberdeen fell to a humiliating 9–0 defeat at the hands of Celtic, which set a new club record defeat.^[15] McGhee failed to apologise for the performance, much to the ire of the fans.^[17] McGhee had previously stated to the press "Go and look me up on Wikipedia. I've got a track record".^[18] It was announced days later that McGhee had been given a vote of confidence to continue as manager. After further poor results, however, McGhee was sacked on 1 December.^[19] The club were second bottom of the SPL and only avoided last place on goal difference.^[20] His tenure ended with McGhee being statistically the second least successful Aberdeen manager, only ahead of Alex Miller, with just 17 wins from 62 matches (27.42%).^[15]^[21]

Bristol Rovers [edit]

On 18 January 2012, McGhee was appointed manager of Bristol Rovers on a two-and-a-half-year contract. His first competitive match in charge was an away game at Cheltenham Town, where a 2-0 victory was secured for Bristol Rovers.^[22] He presided over an upturn in form for Bristol Rovers which saw them go from relegation contenders to finishing in mid-table, including beating Burton Albion & Accrington Stanley 7-1^[23] and 5-1^[24] respectively in the final two home games of the season.

The following season, Rovers were expected to be amongst the contenders for promotion, but they struggled for form and were instead again in a relegation battle. On 15 December 2012, following a 4-1 loss to York City McGhee was sacked as manager with Bristol Rovers second from bottom of the league.^[25]

Scotland [edit]

On 18 January 2013, exactly one year to the day he was appointed Bristol Rovers manager, McGhee joined the Scottish national side as Assistant Manager to his close friend Gordon Strachan.^[26]

Managerial statistics [edit]

As of match played 15 December 2012

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
Team	Nat	From	To	P	W	D	L	Win %
Reading		10 May 1991	14 December 1994	7002183000000000000183	700179000000000000079	700151000000000000051	700153000000000000053	700143170000000000043.17
Leicester City		14 December 1994	7 December 1995	700151000000000000051	700116000000000000016	700114000000000000014	700121000000000000021	700131370000000000031.37
Wolverhampton Wanderers		13 December 1995	5 November 1998	7002159000000000000159	700165000000000000065	700139000000000000039	700155000000000000055	700140880000000000040.88
Millwall		25 September 2000	15 October 2003	7002163000000000000163	700175000000000000075	700139000000000000039	700149000000000000049	700146010000000000046.01
Brighton & Hove Albion		28 October 2003	8 September 2006	7002139000000000000139	700140000000000000040	700138000000000000038	700161000000000000061	700128780000000000028.78
Motherwell		18 June 2007	12 June 2009	700188000000000000088	700135000000000000035	700117000000000000017	700136000000000000036	700139770000000000039.77
Aberdeen		12 June 2009	1 December 2010	700162000000000000062	700117000000000000017	700113000000000000013	700132000000000000032	700127420000000000027.42
Bristol Rovers		18 January 2012	15 December 2012	700145000000000000045	700112000000000000012	700112000000000000012	700121000000000000021	700126670000000000026.67
Total				7002888000000000000888	7002338000000000000338	7002223000000000000223	7002327000000000000327	700138060000000000038.06