Kevin Rutkiewicz (born 10 May 1980) is a Scottish professional football player and coach, who is the current manager of Lowland League 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 ...

. He was formally the manager of

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as cinch League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League Two was e ...

club

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in Scottish League Two as a member of the ...

. Ruthkiewicz played as a defender for

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 ...

, St Johnstone,

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 ...

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 ...

, East Fife and American club

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games ...

. After a stint as player/assistant manager at Annan Athletic, Rutkiewicz was appointed

manager in October 2018. He would announce his resignation in December 2021.

Career

Glasgow born Rutkiewicz began his professional career with

, making his debut in an SPL fixture against Hibernian in November 1999 at the age of nineteen. He went on to make almost seventy first-team appearances for the Pittodrie club, scoring his only goal for the club in a 3-2 defeat to Hearts in April 2002. Rutkiewicz became then St Johnstone manager John Connolly's first signing for the

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

club in June 2004. He scored his first goal for Saints in a 3–0 win over Queen of the South in the

league cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

two months into his St Johnstone career. He signed a new two-year contract at the end of 2005–06, but missed all of 2006–07 due to an injury. In his first game back, on 11 August 2007, he scored a goal in Saints' 2–2 draw with

McDiarmid Park McDiarmid Park is a stadium in Perth, Scotland, used mainly for association football. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone since its opening in 1989. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of . As well as St J ...

. Rutkiewicz was made club captain in 2008–09 after the previous captain, Kevin James, suffered injury problems and dropped out of the first team. In March 2009 he received the Scottish First Division Player of the Month Award for a string of solid performances that helped the team maintain their lead at the top of the league table. In January 2011, Rutkiewicz joined Dunfermline on loan. This successful spell at the club led to him being offered a permanent contract for the 2011/12 season, which he accepted. He missed most of the season due to a hip injury. Soon after making a comeback he suffered an ankle injury. He made a second comeback but then immediately suffered a third injury, which ruled him out of action for the rest of the season. After he was released by Dunfermline in May 2012, and went on trial with

starting in a friendly match against

Concordia Chiajna Clubul Sportiv Concordia Chiajna, commonly known as Concordia Chiajna, is a Romanian professional football club based in Chiajna, Ilfov County, which competes in the Liga II. Founded in 1957, the team's best period was between 2011 and 2019, wh ...

and coming off the bench to replace

Martin Hardie Martin Hardie may refer to: * Martin Hardie (footballer) * Martin Hardie (artist) {{hndis, Hardie, Martin ...

in the

Renfrewshire Cup The Renfrewshire Cup was an annual association football competition between teams in the historic county of Renfrewshire in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The final was generally a Renfrewshire derby contested between the two largest team ...

final against St Mirren. He signed for Morton towards the end of July 2012. In April 2013, Rutkiewicz agreed a two-year player/coach deal with

in the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

. In October 2015, Rutkiewicz dropped down to

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 ...

level when he signed for Blantyre Victoria in a player/coach role. He took temporary charge of Vics after the departure of Davie Greig in December 2015 but followed his former manager to Irvine Meadow in January 2016. Rutkiewicz returned to the

SPFL The Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) is the national men's association football league in Scotland. The league was formed in June 2013 following a merger between the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League. As we ...

tier-system in March 2017, signing a short-term contract with

side

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 ...

. Rutkiewicz left the club in May 2017 after his contract ended, subsequently signing a deal with Annan Athletic which would see him become player-assistant manager to Peter Murphy. In October 2018, Rutkiewicz was appointed manager of

club

. In December 2021, Rutkiewicz announced is resignation from the role. On 28 March 2022, Rutkiewicz was appointed manager of Lowland League side

Personal life

Rutkiewicz is of Polish descent. His grandfather Ernest was born in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, but moved to Scotland during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Career statistics

Manager

Honours

St Johnstone * Scottish Challenge Cup: 2007–08

References

External links

* * (Clyde; incorrect surname) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutkiewicz, Kevin 1980 births Aberdeen F.C. players Association football defenders Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish people of Polish descent Scottish Football League players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Scottish footballers Scottish Premier League players St Johnstone F.C. players Scottish Junior Football Association players Larkhall Thistle F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Blantyre Victoria F.C. players Irvine Meadow XI F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Annan Athletic F.C. players Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Scottish expatriate footballers North Carolina FC players North American Soccer League players Scottish football managers Stirling Albion F.C. managers Scottish Professional Football League managers East Kilbride F.C. managers