Rhys McCabe (born 24 July 1992) is a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and coach who plays as a

central 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 ...

, and is the

player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...

for

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

. McCabe started his senior career with

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. McCabe has also played for Dunfermline Athletic,

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 w ...

and Queen of the South in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

clubs

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

and

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, and Irish clubs

Sligo Rovers Sligo Rovers Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Ruagairí Shligigh) is an Irish professional football club playing in the Premier Division of the League of Ireland. The club is based in Sligo in the west of Ireland. The club was founded in 1928 ...

and

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club ( ga, Cumann Peile Lúthchleas Phádraig Naofa) is a professional Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the Irish Premier Division. Founded in May 1929, they played origin ...

. McCabe has also represented the Scotland national under-21 football team.

Club career

Rangers

A member of Rangers under-19 squad McCabe scored in the Youth Cup Final in April 2011 in what was ultimately a 2–1 defeat to

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 ...

. In July 2011 he made his first team debut as a substitute in a friendly against

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, going on to make subsequent appearances in friendlies against

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

. He signed a contract extension in December 2011 extending his stay with the club to 2015. Having been an unused substitute in nine previous fixtures that season, he made his

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for 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' ...

debut on 3 March 2012, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–1 defeat to Hearts. On 25 March he made his

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

debut in a 3–2 win over

Sheffield Wednesday

He then signed a three-year contract with

. On 11 October 2012 Sheffield Wednesday agreed an undisclosed settlement with Rangers. His first goal for Sheffield Wednesday was an edge of the box screamer from a corner against Charlton Athletic on 22 December 2012. The goal was subsequently voted goal of the day on Sky Sports News. He scored his second goal for the club in a League Cup tie against Rotherham United. On 17 March 2014, McCabe joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

on loan for the rest of the 2013–14 season. He was recalled early from his loan spell by The Owls on 24 April 2014. McCabe was released along with 10 other players from his contract at the end of the 2014–15 season.

Dunfermline Athletic

After his release, McCabe was reported as having attracted the interest of a number of clubs in his native

. Following trials with

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 Hibernian, McCabe signed for

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 Dunfermline Athletic in September 2015 making his debut as a first half substitute in a 5–0 victory against

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; gd, Featha Thaigh nan Clach) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk (council area), Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in ...

, one day after signing for the club as. His first goal for the Pars came against

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 ...

, after an error from Rovers keeper Ross M. Stewart saw McCabe's long-range effort punched into the goal.

Sligo Rovers

On 7 June 2017, McCabe agreed to sign for

League of Ireland Premier Division The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland f ...

club

during the July transfer window, following the end of his contract with Dunfermline Athletic.

St Patrick's Athletic

On 23 January 2019, it was announced that McCabe had signed for

alongside Chris Forrester who signed from

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 ...

. It was announced on 6 November 2019 that McCabe was released, following the end of his contract with the Saints which whom he played for 27 times over the season, scoring once.

Brechin City

In January 2020, McCabe signed a six-month contract with

Queen of the South

On 24 August 2020, McCabe signed a one-year contract with Queen of the South until 31 May 2021. On 23 January 2021, McCabe captained the club in the absence of

Stephen Dobbie Stephen Dobbie (born 5 December 1982) is a Scottish former professional footballer. He is Senior Professional Development Phase coach at his former club Blackpool. Dobbie is Queen of the South's second-highest goalscorer of all time (166 goa ...

''captain'' and Gregor Buchanan ''vice captain'' through injury, as Queens won 2-1 versus

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 Greeno ...

Palmerston Palmerston may refer to: People * Christie Palmerston (c. 1851–1897), Australian explorer * Several prominent people have borne the title of Viscount Palmerston ** Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston (c. 1673–1757), Irish nobleman and ...

Airdrieonians

On 11 June 2021, McCabe signed a one-year contract with

. On 26 May 2022, following the departure of manager Ian Murray, McCabe was announced as the

of Airdrieonians.

International career

McCabe made his debut for the Scotland national under-21 football team in April 2012.

Personal life

McCabe's cousin

Callum Fordyce Callum Fordyce (born 23 June 1992) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back, and is a player-assistant manager for Airdrieonians. Fordyce started his career as a youth player with Hibernian and Livingston, before signi ...

is also a professional footballer; the two play together at

and previously played alongside each other at Dunfermline Athletic.

Shelley Kerr Michelle Kerr (born 15 October 1969) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is currently the English Football Association's technical lead for women's national teams. As a player Kerr was a powerful centre back, who captained ...

, the former Scotland Women's manager is his aunt.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

;Dunfermline Athletic *

: 2015–16

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCabe, Rhys 1992 births Living people Footballers from West Lothian People from Polbeth Scottish footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Association football midfielders Rangers F.C. players Sheffield Wednesday F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Sligo Rovers F.C. players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Brechin City F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players League of Ireland players Expatriate association footballers in the Republic of Ireland Airdrieonians F.C. managers Scottish Professional Football League managers Scottish football managers