John Holt (born 21 November 1956) 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 retired footballer. He played at either full-back or in midfield. He began his career with

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 ...

, where he made more than 400 appearances between 1974 and 1987. Holt won three major domestic trophies with the club, the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and the Premier Division title in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. He also featured for United in many European runs including to the

1983–84 European Cup The 1983–84 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for a fourth time by Liverpool in a penalty shootout in the final against Roma. The game had finished 1–1. Phil Neal had scored for Liverpool and Roberto Pruzzo for Roma ...

semi final and the

1987 UEFA Cup Final The 1987 UEFA Cup Final was a football tie played on 6 and 20 May 1987 between IFK Göteborg of Sweden and Dundee United of Scotland. Göteborg won 2–1 on aggregate, their second UEFA Cup triumph, following victory in 1982. It was Dundee Unit ...

. He also played for Dunfermline Athletic,

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 ...

and Forfar Athletic before becoming player-manager at Deveronvale and then Montrose. He has also managed

Celtic Ladies Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

as well as holding coaching roles at Forfar, Dundee and Dundee United. Holt also had a short period as caretaker manager of Montrose in 2016.

Playing career

-born Holt broke into the

first team in 1974 along with the likes of David Narey and Andy Gray. He won three domestic trophies with United in two

s ( 1979-80 and 1980-81) as well as being Scottish league champions in 1982-83. The club reached the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

semi-final in 1983-84 and the final of the UEFA Cup in 1986-87. En route to that UEFA Cup final, Holt was man of the match in the victory against Barcelona at

Camp Nou Camp Nou (, meaning ''new field'', often referred to in English as the Nou Camp), officially branded as Spotify Camp Nou for sponsorship and financial reasons, is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It has been the home stadium of FC Barcelo ...

. In the dressing room after the game he told teammate Jim McInally he was thinking of joining Forfar Athletic. Holt made regular appearances in midfield or defence for the club until 1987, when he left for Dunfermline Athletic. He also later played for

and Forfar Athletic.

Coaching career

Holt became player-manager of Deveronvale and then Montrose. He returned to Dundee United in the mid-1990s and spent several years in many coaching roles, before leaving in 2003 when Ian McCall was appointed manager. Holt went on to become a scout for Celtic, operating in the Dundee area, before joining Dundee as youth development coach. In May 2012, Holt moved on to take an academy role at Dundee United. In February 2015, he became assistant manager on a temporary basis until the end of the season at Montrose under manager and former United teammate Paul Hegarty. After staving off the threat of relegation into the Highland League in a two-leg play-off against

Brora Rangers Brora Rangers Football Club are a Scottish football club from the village of Brora, Sutherland, in the Highland council area of Scotland. They play in the Highland Football League, of which they have been champions four times, having won thei ...

, Holt and Hegarty were offered and accepted their positions on a permanent basis. Both signed two-year deals. After Hegarty was sacked in November 2016, Holt was appointed caretaker manager of the club. Holt left the club after

Stewart Petrie Stewart Petrie (born 27 February 1970) is a Scottish people, Scottish association football, football player and Coach (sport)#Association football, coach, who is currently manager of Scottish League One side Montrose F.C., Montrose. He spent mo ...

was appointed permanent manager on 4 December 2016.

Honours

Club

;

: * Scottish Football League Premier Division: 1982–83 *

: 1979–80, 1980–81

References

External links

;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Holt, John 1956 births Living people Footballers from Dundee Scottish footballers Dundee United F.C. players Deveronvale F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Forfar Athletic F.C. players Montrose F.C. players Scottish football managers Montrose F.C. managers Association football fullbacks Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Dundee United F.C. non-playing staff Celtic F.C. Women managers Scottish Women's Premier League managers