Joe McLaughlin (born 2 June 1960 in

Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...

) is a retired professional

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 ...

er who played for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

for six seasons in the 1980s.

Playing career

McLaughlin started his playing career with

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Green ...

in 1977. During his time at Greenock he became a regular in the

Scotland national under-21 football team The Scotland national under-21 football team, controlled by the Scottish Football Association, is Scotland's national under 21 football team and is considered to be a feeder team for the Scotland national football team. As a European under-21 t ...

, winning 10 caps. In 1983, he was transferred to Chelsea for a fee of £100,000. McLaughlin began his career at Chelsea by winning the

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

championship in his first season. He would go on to play for Chelsea until 1989 winning another Second Division championship as well as the

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. The ...

. He was then transferred to

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

for £650,000 which at that time made him Charlton's record transfer. After one season at Charlton, he was sold to

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

for £500,000. He spent two seasons as Watford captain before returning home to Scotland to play for

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 ...

Injury meant he made only 8 appearances in his first season at Falkirk, the team were relegated from the Premier League. However the following season Joe would captain the team to success by securing the First Division championship. Falkirk almost qualified for Europe the following season and after 4 years at Falkirk, McLaughin was transferred to Hibernian before going on to play for

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Mil ...

and then St Mirren.

Coaching career

McLaughlin is a UEFA A Licence coach and was part of the coaching staff at St Mirren in 1999 whilst still playing. He moved to Clydebank and was also player/coach. In 2001 McLaughlin moved back to London by accepting a position to work with Mark McGhee at

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

. The club reached the play-offs in his first season, narrowly losing to

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

who eventually won promotion the Premiership. After leaving Millwall, McLaughlin returned to Greenock Morton to be Head of youth Academy and also had six games 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 ...

. Joe currently runs a successful Soccer Scholarship busines
Soccer Icon USA
a company that specialises in sending top young footballers to play soccer and study at some of the best USA Colleges. As of May 2019, McLaughlin was assistant manager at

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

and head of scouting in Scotland for Fulham FC.

Honours

Club

;Chelsea *

: 1985–86 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third ti ...

: 1983–84, 1988–89 ;Falkirk *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,1993–94 *

Scottish Football League First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as t ...

: 1993–94 ;St Mirren *

: 1999–2000

References

External links

*
www.soccericon.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:McLaughlin, Joe 1960 births Living people Charlton Athletic F.C. players Chelsea F.C. players Clydebank F.C. (1965) players Falkirk F.C. players Men's association football defenders Greenock Morton F.C. non-playing staff Greenock Morton F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish men's footballers St Mirren F.C. players English Football League players Watford F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Footballers from Greenock St Mirren F.C. non-playing staff Clydebank F.C. (1965) non-playing staff Association football coaches Association football scouts