Former Celtic player Mark McGhee has decided not to pursue any more management opportunities, retiring after a close to 1000 game career as boss.
McGhee starred for Celtic in the 1980s, winning two league titles and two Scottish Cups. He started his long management career in 1991 after hanging up his boots, first taking charge of Reading.
Stints at Leicester, Wolves, Millwall and Brighton followed before heading back to Scotland and taking charge of Motherwell and Aberdeen.
Highlights along the way included three promotions in the English lower leagues, all of them into the equivalent of the Championship from League One.
Most recently, he was called into the Dundee post after they parted ways from James McPake, however, he could not keep them up and left Dens Park at the end of last season after a relegation.
Speaking to The Sunday Post [25/09 print edition, Post Match supplement, page 6] he confirmed his retirement, stating: “It would have been nice to make it to 1,000 games, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over it. I’m content with what I did in the game, particularly early in my career when I spent three-and-a-half years each at Reading, Wolves, Brighton and Millwall, winning promotion with three of them.
“I took Motherwell into Europe during my first spell at Fir Park. But since I left them for the second time in 2017, I’ve only worked for clubs when I’ve been asked to help out. I was mainly fire-fighting – and occasionally doing the job for nothing.
“So I won’t be pursuing any other managerial vacancies, and nor would I want to be a director of football or a head of recruitment. That’s not what I am – I’m a manager.
“However, I feel that players now deserve a young manager who can give them the energy I was able to when I started out. They don’t need a 65-year-old with a dodgy ankle.”
At one point, McGhee’s management stock was so high in Scotland that he was actually linked with the Celtic post. That was back in 2009, with Celtic opting for Tony Mowbray and McGhee eventually taking charge of Aberdeen.
After such a long playing and management career, it’s a well-earned retirement for him. He’s certainly been a character in Scottish football over the years, for reasons both good and bad, and we wish him all the best.
In other news, Aberdeen hit back at Stewart Robertson as Celtic get set for SPFL ‘crisis talks’.
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