Walter Gardner Speirs (born 14 April 1963) is a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 ...

and former player.

Career

Playing

During his playing career, Speirs played for St Mirren,

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

(on loan),

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

(on loan),

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

Bathgate Thistle Bathgate Thistle Football Club are a Scottish football club, based in the town of Bathgate, West Lothian. They play in the . Nicknamed ''Thistle'', they were formed in 1937 and presently play their home games at Creamery Park, which has room f ...

and

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 ...

Managerial

He was on the coaching staff at

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

, and from 1996 to 1998 held the position of Manager. Subsequently, he joined the coaching staff at

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, eventually taking the role of assistant manager and in December 2002 was briefly named caretaker manager following the resignation of

Ebbe Skovdahl Ebbe Skovdahl Hansen (5 July 1945 – 23 October 2020) was a Danish football manager. He most prominently was a successful manager at Brøndby IF, for whom he had also played in his active years. He helped turn the side into the most dominant D ...

. He worked as caretaker manager of Ross County in October 2005 until the end of the 2005–06 season. He became assistant manager of

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

in May 2007. He became manager at Queen's Park after taking over from

Billy Stark William Stark (born 1 December 1956) is a Scottish former football player and current coach. He made 500 league appearances in total, including successful spells at Aberdeen and Celtic. He then turned to management, which has seen him take ca ...

in 2008. Speirs extended his contract at the end of the 2009–10 season for a further two years, subsequently signing another extension on 27 January 2012 through until 2014. He left Queen's Park by mutual consent in December 2013. Spiers briefly joined the Rangers Academy as a youth coach in March 2015. On 28 August 2015, Gardner joined

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...

side

East Kilbride East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a rais ...

as assistant manager. He left that position in March 2016. Having performed the role of Head of Youth Development for Queen's Park for a few years, Speirs was named as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

of the club on 31 December 2021, following the departure of

Laurie Ellis Laurie Ellis (born 7 November 1979, in Edinburgh) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer. Ellis played for Raith Rovers over three spells, St Mirren, Cowdenbeath and Stirling Albion. As a coach, he has twice served as ...

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Speirs, Gardner 1963 births Aberdeen F.C. managers Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Men's association football midfielders Bathgate Thistle F.C. players Clyde F.C. managers Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players East Stirlingshire F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Living people Footballers from Airdrie, North Lanarkshire Scottish football managers Scottish men's footballers Queen's Park F.C. managers Ross County F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers Scottish Professional Football League managers Scottish Premier League managers St Mirren F.C. players Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Queen's Park F.C. non-playing staff