Paul George Sheerin (born 28 August 1974) is a Scottish former

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 ...

player and coach. Sheerin 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 ...

for

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. Formed as Alloa in 1880, the football club shortly changed its name to Alloa Association, and then to Alloa Ath ...

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

Östersunds FK Östersunds Fotbollsklubb, commonly known simply as Östersunds FK, Östersund () or (especially locally) ÖFK, is a Swedish professional football club located in Östersund, Sweden and since 2022 play in the Swedish second tier, Superettan. The ...

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is ...

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 St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

and

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 ...

. While continuing as a player, he was appointed

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 ...

of Arbroath in May 2010. He held this post until June 2014, when he returned to Aberdeen as a youth team coach. Sheerin became manager of

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 ...

in May 2021, but was sacked later that year and moved to

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. ...

as first team coach.

Playing career

Sheerin signed as a professional for

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot where ...

from junior side Whitehill Welfare, although he had been on the books of

Celtic 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 Fo ...

as a schoolboy. Paul Sheerin signed for

in October 1992 and while at The Dell he played under several managers including

Ian Branfoot Ian Grant Branfoot (born Gateshead, 26 January 1947) is an English former footballer and manager. He played as a defender, and after starting at Gateshead joined Sheffield Wednesday, making his Football League debut in 1965. After 42 senior ...

, Alan Ball and

Graeme Souness Graeme James Souness (; born 6 May 1953) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager, and current TV pundit. A midfielder, Souness was the captain of the successful Liverpool team of the early 1980s, player-manager of Ranger ...

. However, he failed to break through and left in December 1997 without having made a first team appearance. During his time at Southampton he earned international recognition after playing for Scotland Under-21 in a 1–0 win over

San Marino San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...

in November 1995. After a summer playing in Sweden with

, he had a brief period back at his former club

before joining

in January 1998. His stint at Caley Thistle lasted to the end of the 2000–01 season, in which period he made 136 appearances, scoring 45 goals. He then had spells at

and

, where he finished as the top scorer in the 2002–03 season. After leaving Aberdeen, Sheerin joined St Johnstone on the eve of the 2004–05 season on a free transfer, signing a two-year contract. On 15 November 2006, Sheerin was awarded the Scottish Football League "Player of the Month" award for October. He scored as St Johnstone won the

2007 Scottish Challenge Cup Final The 2007 Scottish Challenge Cup Final was an association football match between Dunfermline Athletic and St Johnstone, held on 25 November 2007 at Dens Park in Dundee. It was the 17th final of the Scottish Challenge Cup since it was first orga ...

against Dunfermline Athletic. In May 2008, Sheerin had his contract extended with St Johnstone by another year. He coached

U17s.

Coaching career

While still playing for the St Johnstone first team, Sheerin coached their under-17 team that won the SFL Under-17 Youth Division in 2008–09.

Arbroath manager

On 27 May 2010, Sheerin was confirmed as the new player/manager of

. Sheerin guided Arbroath to the Third Division championship in his first season in charge, the club's first national trophy win in their 133-year history. He agreed a new contract with Arbroath at the end of the 2010–11 season. Arbroath were relegated after finishing last in the

2013–14 Scottish League One The 2013–14 Scottish League One was the 19th season in the current format of 10 teams in the third-tier of Scottish football. This was the first season of the competition being part of the newly formed Scottish Professional Football League afte ...

Aberdeen

After the end of the season, Sheerin left Arbroath and became the manager of

's under-20 team. Aberdeen won the Development League title in his first season in 2014–15. The under-20 team also reached 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 in 2017–18, but lost 3–1 to Hibernian. Following the departure of

Derek McInnes Derek John McInnes (born 5 July 1971) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is the manager of Scottish Premiership club Kilmarnock. He featured prominently for Greenock Morton, Rangers, West Bromwich Albion and Dund ...

on 8 March 2021, Sheerin was appointed interim manager at Aberdeen. Sheerin took charge of one game, a 1–0 defeat against

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 ...

, before the club appointed

Stephen Glass Stephen Randall Glass (born September 15, 1972) is an American paralegal who previously worked as a journalist for ''The New Republic'' from 1995 to 1998, until it was revealed that many of his published articles were fabrications. An internal i ...

as the new manager.

Falkirk manager

On 28 May 2021, Sheerin was named as the new head coach of

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

side

. He was sacked by Falkirk after a 6–0 defeat by Queen's Park that left them in fifth place, three points outside of the promotion play-off positions. Soon after leaving Falkirk, Sheerin took up a coaching position with Derek McInnes at

in January 2022.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

St Johnstone *

Scottish 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 ...

: 2008–09 *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

: 2010–11

Manager

St Johnstone U-17 * SFL Under-17 Youth Division: 2008–09 Arbroath *

Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

: 2010–11 Aberdeen U-20 *

SPFL Development League The SPFL Development League was the top level of youth football in Scotland, which was contested in various formats between 1998 and 2018. History A youth league was founded as the Scottish Premier under-18 League in 1998. Clubs fielded under-1 ...

: 2014–15

References

External links

* *
St Johnstone's official site profileScotland U21 stats
at Fitbastats {{DEFAULTSORT:Sheerin, Paul Living people 1974 births Scottish footballers Footballers from Edinburgh Association football midfielders Scotland under-21 international footballers Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish Football League players Celtic F.C. players Alloa Athletic F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Östersunds FK players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Ayr United F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Arbroath F.C. players Scottish football managers Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League managers Scottish Football League managers Arbroath F.C. managers Aberdeen F.C. non-playing staff Falkirk F.C. managers Kilmarnock F.C. non-playing staff Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Sweden