Bruce David Rioch (; born 6 September 1947) is a

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 ...

manager and former player for the Scotland national team. His last managerial post was at AaB in the

Danish Superliga The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each yea ...

in 2008. As a player, he made more than 550 appearances in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

and, by virtue of his parents' birthplaces, represented Scotland in 24 matches; he became the first player born in England to

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Scotland. As a manager, he has taken charge of clubs in England, including Arsenal where he signed the famous Dennis Bergkamp, the United States, and Denmark. His brother

Neil Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. ...

, son

Gregor Gregor is a masculine given name. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People * Gregor Abel (born 1949), Scottish footballer * Gregor Adlercreutz (1898–1944), Swedish equestrian * Gregor Aichinger (c. 1565–1628), Ger ...

and nephew

Matty Holmes Matthew Holmes (born 1 August 1969) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He notably played in the Premier League for West Ham United, Blackburn Rovers and Charlton Athletic. He also played in the Football L ...

were also professional footballers.

Playing career

Rioch was born in

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alder ...

, Hampshire: his father was serving there with the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the E ...

, eventually as a sergeant-major. His father had been born in Kinneff, Aberdeenshire, and his mother in

Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated ...

, each qualifying him to play for Scotland. After moving to

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

, Bedfordshire, at the age of 14, he joined his local side, Luton Town, turning professional in September 1964. He made his first team debut later that month, and his league debut in November 1964 in a 1–0 defeat at home to Southend United. He spent a couple of years establishing himself and was a regular member of the Luton team, scoring 24 goals, that won the Fourth Division title in 1968. He moved to

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park, ...

in July 1969 for a fee of £100,000, then a record fee paid by a

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side. He won a

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 ...

runners up medal in 1971, Villa losing 2–0 to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. He moved to

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 188 ...

in February 1974, winning a League Championship medal. He joined Everton in December 1976, but returned to Derby County in November 1977. After a dispute with the Derby manager,

Tommy Docherty Thomas Henderson Docherty (24 April 1928 – 31 December 2020), commonly known as The Doc, was a Scottish football player and manager. Docherty played for several clubs, most notably Preston North End, and represented Scotland 25 times betw ...

, Rioch had brief loan spells with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

in December 1978 and with

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

in March 1979. He then left the

Baseball Ground The Baseball Ground (sometimes referred to as the BBG) was a stadium in Derby, England. It was first used for baseball as the home of Derby Baseball Club from 1890 until 1898 and then for football as the home of Derby County from 1895 until 1 ...

to play for NASL side

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

. While playing with Seattle Sounders in 1980 he was named to the NASL First Team All-Stars. He returned to England in October 1980 when he joined

Torquay United Torquay United Football Club is a professional football club based in Torquay, Devon, England. The team currently compete in the , the fifth tier of English football. They have played their home matches at Plainmoor since 1921 and are nickna ...

as player-coach, working at first under Mike Green and then under

Frank O'Farrell Francis O'Farrell (9 October 1927 – 6 March 2022) was an Irish football player and manager. He played as a wing half for Cork United, West Ham United and Preston North End. He made over 300 appearances in the Football League before joining We ...

Managerial career

Torquay United

In July 1982, Rioch became player-manager of Torquay United, but left in January 1984. In February 1985, after 13 months out of the game he was appointed manager of FC Seattle, of the US

Western Soccer Alliance Western Soccer Alliance was a professional soccer league featuring teams from the West Coast of the United States and Western Canada. The league began in 1985 as the Western Alliance Challenge Series. In 1986, it became the Western Soccer Alli ...

, but resigned in September 1985 to return to England.

Middlesbrough

He was appointed as manager of

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

in February 1986 and his first success in management came in 1987 when he guided Middlesbrough to runners-up spot in the Third Division and promotion to the Second Division at the end of a season which had started with them locked out of

Ayresome Park Ayresome Park was a football stadium in Middlesbrough, Yorkshire, England. It was the home of Middlesbrough F.C. from its construction in time for the 1903–04 season, until the Riverside Stadium opened in 1995. It was demolished in 1997 and ...

by the official receiver and on the verge of bankruptcy. A year later they won a second successive promotion, this time as winners of the Second Division promotion/First Division relegation playoffs. Middlesbrough showed great promise in the first half of 1988–89, but fell away badly and were relegated on the last day of the season (despite having not occupied a relegation place prior to that). He was sacked the following March as the Teessiders hovered just above the Second Division drop zone but on the brink of their first ever Wembley final in the Zenith Data Systems Cup.

Millwall

Rioch made a quick return to management the following month with

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

and guided them to a playoff place in the 1990–91 Second Division campaign, but left in March 1992.

Bolton Wanderers

Rioch's next stop was at

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

, becoming manager in May 1992. In his first season they beat cup holders Liverpool 2–0 at Anfield in an FA Cup replay which many fans feel was the start of Bolton's resurgence. They finished runners-up in Division Two and won promotion to Division One. The following year Bolton finished in a respectable mid-table position as well as beating Premier League opponents Arsenal, Everton and Aston Villa in the F.A cup. In the 1994/95 season they were League Cup losing finalists to

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

and beat

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

4–3 in extra time in the Division One playoff final after being 2–0 down at half time. The playoff final victory was Rioch's last game as Bolton manager. A few weeks later he accepted the

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

manager's job and was replaced at Bolton by Roy McFarland. He is considered to be one of the best Bolton managers of all time by the club's supporters.

Arsenal

In 1995–96, his only season at Arsenal, Rioch guided

to a

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

place, finishing fifth in the Premiership. It was achieved on the last day of the season, at the expense of Everton,

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

and

. Arsenal also reached the

semi-finals, but lost on away goals to

, and were knocked out of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

in the third round by First Division side

. Just before the beginning of the 1996–97 season, Rioch was sacked, after a dispute with the club's board of directors over transfer funds. Rioch was also known for his intensive training methods, according to former Arsenal player Adrian Clarke.

Queens Park Rangers

After leaving Arsenal, he worked as assistant manager under

Stewart Houston Stewart Mackie Houston (born 20 August 1949) is a Scottish former football player and coach who played as a left-back. Born in Dunoon, he began his professional career in 1967 with Chelsea, before moving to Brentford and then Manchester Unite ...

(his former assistant at Arsenal) at

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

, but was sacked along with Houston after just over a year at

Loftus Road Loftus Road is a football stadium in White City, London, England, which is home to Queens Park Rangers. In 1981, it became the first stadium in British professional football to have an artificial pitch of Omniturf installed. This remained in ...

Norwich City

In May 1998, Rioch was appointed manager of Norwich City in Division One. He resigned after less than two seasons at the helm after failing to get the Canaries anywhere near the promotion and playoff places that the club had long been hoping for. He cited a perceived lack of ambition at the club as the main reason for his decision to resign (he correctly predicted that the club's star player Craig Bellamy would inevitably be sold), however he also acknowledged that the club's uncertain financial position meant that the transfer funds available to him were limited.

Wigan Athletic

Rioch made a swift return to management with

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

for the 2000–01 season. He won the Manager of the Month award for November 2000, but left the club the following February, as they occupied the Division Two play-off zone. The club said that Rioch had resigned, but he said he was dismissed.

Odense Boldklub (OB)

Rioch was intent on returning from management, and was linked with the

manager's job after John Gregory was sacked at the end of the 2002–03 season. But it was four years before he made his return to management. He was appointed as head coach of

side OB in June 2005. He led OB to a third place in his first season in charge, but decided to leave the club on 12 March 2007 due to his wife's illness, as the official explanation. The media, however, reported that the actual cause was a dispute between Rioch and the management of OB.

Aalborg BK (AaB)

In June 2008, Rioch returned to management with Danish champions AaB after former head coach

Erik Hamrén Erik Anders Hamrén (born 27 June 1957) is a Swedish manager and former football player, who is the manager of Danish Superliga club AaB. He also previously coached the Sweden national football team between 2009 and 2016 and the Iceland nationa ...

moved to

Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional association football, football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien (football), Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles ...

. His first priority was to try to qualify AaB for the Champions League which they entered in the second qualifying round. He guided them into the group stage after defeating FK Modriča and FBK Kaunas. By beating

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 Foo ...

, AaB came third and thus entered the

. Rioch, however, did not witness this victory from the bench: On 23 October 2008 he was dismissed as AaB had only two victories from ten games and were second from bottom of the Danish league.

Later career

In November 2009, Rioch was linked with a return to football as manager of the Scotland national team, this following the departure of

George Burley George Elder Burley (born 3 June 1956) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He had a professional career spanning 21 years as a player, making 628 league appearances and earning 11 Scotland caps. His most successful spell came whi ...

. In March 2010, he took training sessions at Cornish non-League club

Falmouth Town Falmouth Town Association Football Club is a football club based in Falmouth, Cornwall, United Kingdom. They are currently members of the and play at Bickland Park. The club were the first Cornish team to reach the first round proper of the FA ...

, near his home. He later became involved with coaching at another Cornish club, Penryn Athletic of the South West Peninsula League.

Honours

Player

Luton Town *

Football League Fourth Division The Football League Fourth Division was the fourth-highest division in the English football league system from the 1958–59 season until the creation of the Premier League prior to the 1992–93 season. Whilst the division disappeared in name ...

: 1967–68 Aston Villa *

Football League Third Division The Football League Third Division was the third tier of the English football league system in 1920–21 and again from 1958 until 1992. When the FA Premier League was formed, the division become the fourth tier level. In 2004, following the ...

: 1971–72 *

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

Runners-up: 1970–71 Derby County *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1974–75 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Scotland *

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

: 1975–76, 1976–77

Manager

Bolton Wanderers *

Play-offs: 1994–95 *

Football League Second Division The Football League Second Division was the second level division in the English football league system between 1892 and 1992. Following the foundation of the FA Premier League, the Football League divisions were renumbered and the third t ...

Promotion:

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 '' Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since t ...

Runners-up: 1994–95 Middlesbrough *

Play-offs: 1987–88 *

Promotion: 1986–87 *

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. Th ...

Runners-up: 1989–90

Managerial statistics

References

External links

*
Profile
at the

League Managers Association The League Managers Association (LMA) is the trade union for Premier League, EFL and national team managers in English association football. The LMA awards the LMA Manager of the Year award annually. History The union was founded in 3045 as ...

Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rioch, Bruce 1947 births Living people Sportspeople from Aldershot English footballers English people of Scottish descent Scottish footballers Scotland international footballers Luton Town F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Derby County F.C. players Everton F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Seattle Sounders (1974–1983) players Torquay United F.C. players English Football League players North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players 1978 FIFA World Cup players English football managers Premier League managers Torquay United F.C. managers Middlesbrough F.C. managers Millwall F.C. managers Bolton Wanderers F.C. managers Arsenal F.C. managers Queens Park Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Norwich City F.C. managers Wigan Athletic F.C. managers Western Soccer Alliance coaches Odense Boldklub managers AaB Fodbold managers Seattle Storm (soccer) coaches Expatriate football managers in Denmark Association football midfielders Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish expatriate football managers English expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate footballers Footballers from Hampshire