Allan McGonigal (born 27 March 1964) is a Scottish retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

, the former manager of

Berwick Rangers Berwick Rangers Football Club is a football team based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, England, just south of the border with Scotland. Founded in 1881, they currently play in the , the fifth tier of Scottish football, despite hailing fr ...

and, as of 2019, the director of football at

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club Hamilton Academical.

Playing career

McGonigal was a

striker Striker or The Strikers may refer to: People *A participant in a strike action *A participant in a hunger strike *Blacksmith's striker, a type of blacksmith's assistant *Striker's Independent Society, the oldest mystic krewe in America People wi ...

with

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

(playing only one game for the club as a 16-year-old),

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

(where his development was stalled by a badly broken arm),

East Stirlingshire East Stirlingshire Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish association football club based in the town of Falkirk. The club was founded in 1881 and competes in the , in the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system. The club's origins ca ...

, Meadowbank Thistle, Cowdenbeath and East Fife. He was in the Meadowbank side that were runners-up to Hamilton Academical in the First Division in 1987–88, although he scored a hat-trick against the ''Accies'' in a 5–1 win earlier in that season. In 1990, he moved down to the Junior level, playing with Linlithgow Rose and

Camelon Camelon (; sco, Caimlan, gd, Camlann)
is a large set ...

, winning several trophies with the latter including the Scottish Junior Cup in 1995 plus a losing appearance in its final the following year. He retired from playing altogether aged 32 to concentrate on coaching and other interests.

Managerial career

As well as starting a business running a chain of

Post Office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...

s, McGonigal became assistant manager to George Fairley at Camelon then moved with him to Linlithgow Rose in 1999, becoming manager there himself soon after. Having worked with his brother at Camelon, McGonigal served as

Brian Fairley Brian Fairley (born 18 April 1959 in Falkirk) is a Scottish former association football manager. His coaching career began at Whitburn Juniors before going on to manage Stenhousemuir, however after a dispute with the board over a signing he res ...

assistant manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

at Senior clubs

(2000 to 2001),

Bo'ness United Bo'ness United Football Club is a Scottish football club, based in the town of Bo'ness. The team plays in the after winning the East of Scotland and gaining SFA membership in 2020. They presently play their home games at Newtown Park, which ...

(2001 to 2003), Dumbarton (2003 to 2004), and Forfar (2004 to 2005) before becoming manager of Sauchie and Camelon in the Juniors, prior to a short unsuccessful period at Berwick Rangers in the

2008–09 Scottish Third Division The 2008–09 Scottish Football League Third Division (also known as the 2008–09 Irn-Bru Scottish Football League Third Division for sponsorship reasons) was the 14th season in the format of ten teams in the fourth-tier of Scottish football. Th ...

. He reunited with Brian Fairlie for another spell at Linlithgow Rose (2008 to 2009) and was then persuaded to return to Bo'ness United as manager. On 24 June 2010, Hamilton Academical announced the appointment of McGonigal as their under-19 team manager. He remained in that role for two years, thereafter taking on an administrative role for one year alongside

Allan Maitland Allan Maitland is a Scottish football manager and administrator. He became the chairman of Hamilton Academical in December 2018. Career Maryhill Maitland was assistant to Ronnie MacDonald at Maryhill Juniors. Together they won three cons ...

while maintaining a continued presence at Bo'ness United as a director. He resumed managerial duties at Bo'ness in 2012 until resigning in January 2018 for personal reasons, with successes including the 2013–14 East Superleague and a subsequent run to the Fourth Round in the

2014–15 Scottish Cup The 2014–15 Scottish Cup was the 130th season of Scotland's most prestigious football knockout competition. The tournament was sponsored by bookmaker William Hill in what was the fourth season of a five-year partnership. The defending champi ...

. In December 2018, following the appointment of Allan Maitland as chairman of Hamilton Academical, McGonigal was brought back to the club as director of football; they soon replaced struggling manager

Martin Canning Martin Canning (born 3 December 1981) is a Scottish football player and coach and is assistant manager at Stoke City. Canning played as a central defender for Ross County, Peterhead, Gretna, Hibernian and Hamilton Academical. Playing care ...

with Brian Rice whose remit was to be

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

working alongside McGonigal.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McGonigal, Allan 1964 births Living people Footballers from Stirling Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Stenhousemuir F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players East Stirlingshire F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Linlithgow Rose F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Berwick Rangers F.C. managers Hamilton Academical F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Football League managers Scottish Junior Football Association managers Sauchie Juniors F.C. managers