Thomas "Tam" Courts (born 10 August 1981) 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 former player. As a player, he appeared in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

for

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath (; sco, Coudenbeith) is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 18 ...

and East Fife. After a previous spell at the club from 2002 to 2004, he rejoined

Kelty Hearts Kelty Hearts Football Club is a football club based in the village of Kelty in Fife, Scotland. Formed in 1975 and nicknamed ''the Hearts'', ''the Maroon Machine'' and ''the Jambos'', they play their home games at New Central Park. Their home ...

as a player in 2007 and went on to be their player-manager from 2013 until 2018. After joining

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 ...

in 2020 to work in their youth academy, he was their head coach during the 2021–22 season.

Playing career

Courts began his professional career at

and made his first team debut in February 1999 against

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 ...

in a

Scottish Football League Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SF ...

game. With Livingston promoted as champions that year, Courts made four league appearances in the First Division the following season before departing for a loan spell at

. Courts dropped into Junior football with local Fife sides

and Hill of Beath Hawthorn after his release by Livingston in 2002. A further spell in senior football with East Fife in 2006–07 ended with Courts being loaned back to Hill of Beath before joining Kelty for a second time in late 2007. Courts has also played for the

Scotland Junior international team The Scottish Junior Football Association (SJFA) is an affiliated national association of the Scottish Football Association and is the governing body for the junior grade of football in Scotland. The term "junior" refers to the level of footbal ...

and captained the squad in the 2013 Umbro Quadrangular Trophy in the Republic of Ireland.

Coaching career

Kelty Hearts

After the sacking of Willie Newbigging in October 2013, Courts was appointed player-manager of

at the age of 32. He saved the club from relegation before winning the East Region Super League title for the first time in the club's history in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Kelty Kelty (Scottish Gaelic: Cailtidh) is a former coal mining village located in Fife, Scotland. Lying in the heart of the old mining heartlands of Fife, it is situated on the Fife/Kinross-shire boundary and has a population of around 6,000 res ...

went onto win the title again in

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before joining the

East of Scotland Football League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. Fo ...

. Kelty won the East of Scotland League in

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under Courts and were promoted to the

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...

, the fifth tier of the

Scottish football league system The Scottish football league system is a series of generally connected leagues for Scottish football clubs. The Scottish system is more complicated than many other national league systems, consisting of several completely separate systems or 'gra ...

, where they competed for the first time during the 2018–19 season. Courts retired from playing to focus on managing Kelty Hearts in the Lowland League, however he resigned his position as manager on the 11 October 2018, which the club reluctantly accepted.

Dundee United

Courts joined

in February 2020 as head of tactical performance in the club's youth academy. In December 2020 he was put in temporary charge of the club's first team when manager

Micky Mellon Michael Joseph Mellon (born 18 March 1972) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who is the manager of Tranmere Rovers. As a player, he was a midfielder for clubs including Bristol City, West Bromwich Albion, Blackpool, Tr ...

and his coaching staff had to self-isolate during the COVID-19 pandemic, overseeing a 2-0 defeat against Livingston. In June 2021 Courts was appointed as the club's head coach following the departure of Mellon. Courts guided United to a fourth-place finish, and European qualification, in the 2021–22 Scottish Premiership. He was linked with Croatian club

HNK Rijeka Hrvatski nogometni klub Rijeka ( en, Croatian Football Club Rijeka), commonly referred to as NK Rijeka or simply Rijeka, is a Croatian professional association football, football club from the city of Rijeka. HNK Rijeka compete in Croatia's top ...

in June 2022 and soon afterwards left United by mutual consent, as he had expressed his "desire to explore other options".

Budapest Honvéd

After his departure from Dundee United, Courts signed a two-year deal to become the new manager of

Budapest Honvéd Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...

. In an interview with Hungarian Nemzeti Sport, he said that the first match he saw in a stadium was between Celtic and Honvéd. He also added that the fact that Chris Docherty was appointed as the sports director of Honvéd contributed to his decision to accept the offer of Honvéd. On 21 August 2022, Courts-led Honvéd won for the first time in the 2022-23 Nemzeti Bajnokság I season by beating

Vasas SC Vasas may refer to: *Vasas SC, Hungarian sports club *Győri Vasas, former name of Hungarian sports club Győri ETO (1950-65) *Mihály Vasas (born 1933), Hungarian footballer and manager *Zoltán Vasas Zoltán Vasas (born 5 November 1977) is a ...

2-1 at

Illovszky Rudolf Stadion Illovszky Rudolf Stadion is a multi-use stadium in Angyalföld, Budapest, Hungary. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Vasas SC. The stadium holds 5,054 people. History Planning On 8 December 2015 it was announced t ...

. Although his team defeated

Zalaegerszegi TE Zalaegerszegi Torna Egylet Football Club (), commonly known as Zalaegerszegi TE, Zalaegerszeg or ZTE, is a football club from the city of Zalaegerszeg in Hungary. Zalaegerszeg has won one Hungarian League title in 2002. History ZTE traces its r ...

at the

ZTE Arena ZTE Arena is a stadium in Zalaegerszeg, Hungary. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home stadium of Zalaegerszegi TE Zalaegerszegi Torna Egylet Football Club (), commonly known as Zalaegerszegi TE, Zalaegerszeg or Z ...

on 22 October 2022 on the 12th match day of the season, Courts left the club by mutual consent on 24 October 2022.

Managerial record

Honours

Player

; Cowdenbeath *

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 ...

: Promotion 2000–01

Manager

; Kelty Hearts *

East of Scotland League The East of Scotland Football League (EoSFL) is a senior football league based in the east and south-east of Scotland. The league sits at levels 6–9 on the Scottish football league system, acting as a feeder to the Lowland Football League. Fo ...

: 2017–18 *King Cup: 2017–18 * East Junior Super League: 2014–15, 2016–17

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Courts, Tam 1981 births Living people Footballers from Kirkcaldy Scottish footballers Livingston F.C. players Cowdenbeath F.C. players Kelty Hearts F.C. players Hill of Beath Hawthorn F.C. players East Fife F.C. players Men's association football central defenders Scottish football managers Scottish Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scotland men's junior international footballers Kelty Hearts F.C. managers Scottish Junior Football Association managers Dundee United F.C. managers Scottish Professional Football League managers Expatriate football managers in Hungary Scottish expatriate football managers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Hungary Budapest Honvéd FC managers Nemzeti Bajnokság I managers