Mark McGhee

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Mark McGhee bigraphy, stories - Footballer

Mark McGhee : biography

25 May 1957 –

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..

Playing career

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

Early years

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

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.