Stuart Murray Balmer (born 20 September 1969 in

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 ...

) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

professional

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 ...

, who played as a defender.

Playing career

Balmer was a young player at Celtic, having progressed from the

Celtic Boys Club St Patrick's Sports Academy is a youth football and sports club based in Motherwell, near Glasgow in Scotland. It operates football teams in age groups from under-9 to under-19. Formerly Celtic Boys Club, it helped more than 50 players towards p ...

, in the late 1980s. Having never made a competitive first team appearance at Parkhead, he was sold 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 ...

in August 1990 for a fee of £120,000. He has the distinction of being the first outfield player in the English league to be allocated the squad number 1; Charlton in the early 1990s allocated their squad numbers alphabetically, hence Balmer (and not a goalkeeper as is typical) wore the number 1 shirt for the season. After eight years at Charlton, Balmer moved to

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

in September 1998 for £200,000. In three seasons there, Balmer made over 100 appearances before going on to play for several lower league English sides. Whilst at Wigan he also played in the final as they won the

1998–99 Football League Trophy The Football League Trophy 1998–99, known as the Auto Windscreens Shield 1998–99 for sponsorship reasons, was the 16th staging of the Football League Trophy, a knock-out competition for English football clubs in Second and Third Division. Th ...

. In July 2004, Balmer returned to Scotland as player/assistant-manager to Billy Reid at

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 ...

and then followed him when he moved to

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

a year later. Balmer scored one goal for Hamilton, ironically in a game against former club Clyde.

Coaching career

In January 2011, Balmer joined the coaching staff at Ross County as assistant to manager Willie McStay. McStay was sacked as manager a month later, but Balmer remained on the coaching staff under

Jimmy Calderwood James Calderwood (born 28 February 1955) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Calderwood played for Birmingham City and Dutch clubs Sparta Rotterdam, Willem II Tilburg, Roda JC and Heracles Almelo. After retiring as a player, Calder ...

who was appointed to manage the side until the end of the season. Ross County only narrowly avoided relegation and Calderwood left at the end of the season. Balmer was re-appointed assistant manager by

Derek Adams Derek Watt Adams (born 25 June 1975) is a Scottish football manager and former player who is currently manager of Morecambe. Adams played professionally for six clubs, including Aberdeen and Motherwell, where he made over 300 league appearances ...

on his appointment as manager in June 2011, and that following season the management team helped Ross County win the

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 ...

championship and promotion to the

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' ...

. In a further readjustment of the coaching staff at

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

in November 2012, Balmer took on the duties of coaching the Under-20 side., before leaving the club completely in May 2013. Balmer joined Airdrie in November 2013 as assistant to their recently appointed manager,

Gary Bollan Gary Bollan (born 24 March 1973) is a Scottish professional football player and coach. He played for Dundee United (two spells), Rangers, Wolverhampton Wanderers (loan), St Johnstone, Livingston, Motherwell, Clyde, Brechin City and Carnou ...

and subsequently followed Gary, as his assistant, to

Forfar Forfar ( sco, Farfar, gd, Baile Fharfair) is the county town of Angus, Scotland and the administrative centre for Angus Council, with a new multi-million pound office complex located on the outskirts of the town. As of 2021, the town has a p ...

in December 2015. After Bollan was sacked by Forfar in September 2017, Balmer took charge of the side on an interim basis.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Balmer, Stuart 1969 births Living people Footballers from Falkirk Scottish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Celtic F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Wigan Athletic F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Boston United F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Ross County F.C. non-playing staff Clyde F.C. non-playing staff Hamilton Academical F.C. non-playing staff Forfar Athletic F.C. managers Scottish Professional Football League managers