Mark McGhee
Mark Edward McGhee is a Scottish former professional football player and coach. A forward, McGhee started his career at Morton in 1975 and had spells at 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 league titles.
McGhee has since managed several clubs in England and Scotland, including Reading, Millwall, Aberdeen and Brighton & Hove Albion.
Playing career
Born in Glasgow, McGhee was raised in Cumbernauld. He began his professional career in 1975 at Morton, where he developed into a very promising centre forward. In December 1977 he moved to England, signing for Newcastle United. Despite an encouraging start at St James' Park, managerial changes at the club saw McGhee fall down the pecking order. McGhee returned north in March 1979 as Alex Ferguson's first major signing for Aberdeen.McGhee won the SFL Reserve Cup with the Dons in 1979. He made his debut for T#the Dons on 1 April 1979 against former club Morton. This was the start of the most successful part of McGhee's playing career. He won his first major honour the following season when Aberdeen won the Scottish Premier Division, the first time in 15 years that a club outwith the Old Firm had finished Scottish champions. At Aberdeen McGhee won a further league title in 1984 as well as three successive Scottish Cup wins from 1982 to 1984. He was part of the Aberdeen side that defeated Real Madrid 2-1 in the final of the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1983, with his cross from the left setting up John Hewitt to score the winning goal. McGhee also won the European Super Cup the following season, with him scoring against Hamburg in the second leg at Pittodrie. During his time at Aberdeen, he won the Scottish PFA Players' Player of the Year in 1982.
McGhee moved to Germany in the summer of 1984, with Hamburg paying Aberdeen a transfer fee of £330,000. His time there was not a success, primarily due to injuries, and McGhee moved back to Scotland 16 months later after scoring only 12 goals to join Celtic in a £170,000 deal. McGhee won a further Scottish Premier Division title in 1986 as Celtic pipped Hearts on goal difference. The following year saw McGhee struggle at Parkhead through injury and the inability to displace Mo Johnston and Brian McClair from the starting line-up. The departure of several Celtic players in the summer of 1987 gave McGhee a new lease of life at Celtic Park and he won a League and Scottish Cup double in the club's centenary season. He won a further Scottish Cup in 1989 and was Celtic's top scorer that season, also finishing joint top scorer in the Scottish Premier Division alongside Aberdeen's Charlie Nicholas.
McGhee joined Newcastle United for a second time in 1989. He quickly forged a successful partnership up front with Micky Quinn, and their goals saw Newcastle come close to gaining promotion to the First Division, finishing third in the Second Division. McGhee and Quinn were less prolific the following season, and the arrival of Ossie Ardiles as manager in March 1991 saw McGhee dropped from the team.
A brief spell in Sweden at IK Brage followed before McGhee joined Reading as player-manager in May 1991. He finally retired from playing in 1993 due to injury.
During his playing career, McGhee won four caps and scored two goals for the Scotland national football team.
Management career
Reading
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.Leicester City
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 to 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 five wins from their previous 21 games, and his first game saw another loss, as they went down 1–0 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 eight fixtures, ending in 20th, just three 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 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 ten 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 stated that he would no longer be "the golden tit", supplying the club with endless finance. He cut McGhee's spending power and also dismissed his own 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 ninth. 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 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.
Millwall
On 6 July 2000, McGhee joined Coventry City, who were at the time managed by Gordon Strachan, as a scout. After only two months he was appointed manager at Millwall who were playing in the third tier 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 ninth, 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.
Brighton
McGhee was appointed manager of Brighton on 28 October 2003, just 13 days after leaving Millwall. He inherited the team left by Steve Coppell, who had moved to Reading. Brighton 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.
Motherwell
In February 2007 was reported to have applied for the manager's position at Swansea City. However, on 18 June 2007, he was appointed new manager of Motherwell and to be assisted by Scott Leitch.McGhee transformed Motherwell from a team that just avoided relegation in the 2006–07 Scottish Premier League to finishing third in the 2007–08 Scottish Premier League, 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. 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 and the wider community.
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. 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, but McGhee changed his mind before flying to Lithuania to meet with Romanov.