Gavin Beith (born 7 October 1981) 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 ...

coach and former player, who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is currently co-manager of

Scottish Women's Premier League The Scottish Women's Premier League (SWPL) is the highest level of league competition in women's football in Scotland. Its two divisions are SWPL 1 and SWPL 2. The league was formed when the Premier Division of the Scottish Women's Football League ...

team

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 ...

, having previously been head coach of the Dundee United women's team from 2015 to 2021. As a player, he began his career with

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

, from where he was loaned to East Fife and

Peterhead Peterhead (; gd, Ceann Phàdraig, sco, Peterheid ) is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement (the city of Aberdeen itself not being a part of the district), with a population of 18,537 at the 2011 Census. ...

. He later played for

Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club ...

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( gd, Obar Bhrothaig ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the council area of Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast some ENE of Dundee and SSW of Aberdeen. The ...

, East Fife again,

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in Scottish League Two. They play their home games a ...

and Carnoustie Panmure.

Early life

Beith was born in

on 7 October 1981. He grew up supporting

Dundee F.C. Dundee Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Dundee, Scotland, founded in 1893. The team are nicknamed "The Dark Blues" or "The Dee". The club plays its home matches at Dens Park. The club was formed after a merg ...

and lived in Fleming Gardens, close to their

Dens Park Dens Park, officially known as Kilmac Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland, which is the home of club Dundee F.C. and has a capacity of . Tannadice Park, the home of rivals Dundee United, is just 200 yards ...

ground. He left school at the age of 16 and signed for the club as a professional.

Playing career

During his youth career at Dundee, Beith played for the club in the

Scottish Youth Cup The Scottish Youth Cup (also known as the SFA Youth Cup) is an annual Scottish football competition run by the Scottish Football Association for under-18 teams,

final. He made a few first team appearances and spent time on loan to East Fife and

. In November 2003, Beith was one of the players whose contracts were cancelled when Dundee entered administration. He went on to have spells as a part-time footballer with

, East Fife,

and

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

club Carnoustie Panmure before retiring from playing in 2011.

Coaching career

Beith entered football coaching, obtaining

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

B Licence and

Scottish Football Association The Scottish Football Association (also known as the SFA and the Scottish FA; sco, Scots Fitba Association; Scottish Gaelic: ''Comann Ball-coise na h-Alba'') is the Sport governing body, governing body of association football, football in Scot ...

(SFA) Advanced Youth Licence qualifications. He began his coaching career at Arbroath, where he was appointed youth coach in 2009, before working as a Player and Coach Development Officer at the SFA East Region office in Dundee. In June 2015 he was appointed as the first head coach of

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

's newly formed women's team. During six years at the club, he won the Scottish Women's Football League (SWFL) Division 2 East and the SWFL Second Division Cup in his first season, then promotion from SWFL Division 1 North in 2018. He stepped down in July 2021, having narrowly missed out on promotion to the top flight of the

(SWPL) in the 2020–21 season. In September 2021 he joined Aberdeen Women, newly promoted to the top division of the SWPL, as joint co-manager alongside Emma Hunter. He has also assisted

Pauline MacDonald Pauline MacDonald (born 17 April 1975) is a Scottish Association football, football coach and former player who was appointed manager of the Scotland women's national under-17 football team, Scotland under-17 women's team in October 2017. As a p ...

with coaching the Scotland women's under-17 team.

Career statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Beith, Gavin 1981 births Living people Footballers from Dundee Association football midfielders Scottish footballers Scottish football managers Dundee F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Peterhead F.C. players Brechin City F.C. players Arbroath F.C. players Forfar Athletic F.C. players Carnoustie Panmure F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Dundee United W.F.C. managers Scottish Women's Premier League managers Aberdeen F.C. Women managers