Scott Booth

Scott Booth (born 16 December 1971) is a Scottish football coach and former player, who is the head coach of Aberdeen Women in the Scottish Women's Premier League 1.

A forward by position, he began his playing career at Aberdeen as a teenager, before moving to Germany in 1997 to play for Borussia Dortmund. After a spell in the Netherlands with FC Twente (as well as loans from Dortmund to FC Utrecht and Vitesse Arnhem), he returned to Aberdeen in 2003, retiring a year later due to injury.

After his retirement as a player Booth became a coach, working with the Scotland youth teams. After a year as manager of Stenhousemuir he moved into women's football, becoming manager of Glasgow City. Booth left this position in June 2021 to become manager of FA WSL club Birmingham City, but was sacked five months later. He was appointed by Lewes in May 2022.

Club career

Aberdeen

Born in Aberdeen, Booth started his career at his hometown club Aberdeen, making his debut in 1990 aged 18 and emerging into the team alongside fellow youth graduate Eoin Jess.

Booth was part of the Aberdeen side that came close to winning the League title on the final day of the Scottish Premier League in the 1990–91 season, and achieved further league runners-up finishes in 1993 and 1994, plus losing finals in the 1992–93 League Cup and Scottish Cup campaign in 1995 until an injury ruled him out of the final, in which Aberdeen defeated Dundee 2–0.

Germany, Netherlands and return

In summer 1997, Booth left Pittodrie for a surprise move to Borussia Dortmund in Germany under the Bosman ruling. The success of fellow Scot Paul Lambert was perhaps one of the reasons behind the move; nevertheless, he never really got an extended run with the then-European champions after the coach who brought him in – Ottmar Hitzfeld – moved to another role at the club, although he got a brief taste of Champions League football alongside the likes of Andreas Möller and Matthias Sammer, scoring against Sparta Prague. He is also notable for being the first Scot to win the Intercontinental Cup (albeit as an unused substitute in the match against Cruzeiro).

Booth moved on loan to Dutch club FC Utrecht in 1998, seeking more playing time to secure his place in the Scotland squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. A year later he moved to another Eredivisie side, Vitesse Arnhem, again on loan, and contributed to a strong season where the club only missed out on Champions League qualification by a goal difference of two.

He thereafter left Borussia Dortmund permanently, returning to the Netherlands to sign with FC Twente for a fee equivalent to £400,000. He played there for four years and picked up a winner's medal when Twente won the KNVB Cup in 2001 after a penalty shoot-out (in which he scored) in the final. In the following season he had to fight for his place, and was close to returning to Scotland to play under former manager Alex Smith; he also made his last appearances in continental competition in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup.

Booth rejoined Aberdeen in the summer of 2003. He was the club's top scorer in the 2003–04 season, but was hit by injury. He retired from playing at the end of his contract in 2004, aged 32. Over his two spells he made 229 appearances in all competitions for Aberdeen, scoring 70 goals.

International career

Booth won 22 caps for Scotland, scoring six goals, and was a member of Scotland's Euro 1996 and 1998 World Cup squads. He had previously played for the Under-21 team, and set a goalscoring record for the team.

Commentator

After retiring from football, Booth began a career in broadcasting. He worked as a match co-commentator and pundit for Setanta Sports until its UK broadcasting operation went into administration. He has also worked for STV, BBC Radio Scotland and ESPN. Booth scaled back these commitments when he was appointed as a national youth team coach by the Scottish Football Association.

Coaching career

Having gained a UEFA Pro Licence, Booth was appointed by the Scottish Football Association as Scotland under-15 and under-16 assistant manager in December 2011, working under Mark Wotte.

He was appointed manager of Scottish League One club Stenhousemuir in February 2014. On 1 February 2015 he was relieved of his duties with the club sitting just above the relegation positions in League One.

Glasgow City

Booth was appointed head coach of Scottish Women's Premier League club Glasgow City in July 2015, taking over from Eddie Wolecki Black.

The club won the (summer seasonal) League Championship in 2015, 2016 and 2017 — taking their run of consecutive titles to 11 — and also lifted the Scottish Women's Cup in November 2015 to clinch a fourth treble in a row, although defeats to main challengers Hibernian in the two cup finals of both 2016 and 2017 brought the treble sequences to an end.

Glasgow City won the SWPL again in 2018, but they did not win either domestic cup and were heavily beaten by FC Barcelona Femení in the Champions League; media observers suggested Booth may have reached the limit of what he could achieve at the club, with little hope of making an impact in Europe given the superior resources of the fully professional clubs from the leading nations, and any interruption to dominance in Scotland being viewed as failure.

In the 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League Booth led Glasgow City to the quarter-final, their joint-best finish in Europe, before they succumbed to a heavy 9–1 defeat to eventual finalists Wolfsburg.

Booth left Glasgow City in June 2021, having won six consecutive league championships with the club.

England

Booth became the manager of Women's Super League club Birmingham City in June 2021. He was sacked in November 2021 after five months in charge of Birmingham.

In May 2022, he was appointed as head coach of Women's Championship side Lewes.

Return to Aberdeen

On 24 October 2024, Booth was appointed head coach of Aberdeen Women in the SWPL, leaving a post as assistant to Leanne Ross at Glasgow City he had taken up three months earlier. He replaced Colin Bell at Aberdeen, while Leanne Crichton was appointed to the Glasgow City role a week later.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Booth goal.''

Managerial record

(end of 2018 season)

Honours

Player

Aberdeen
* Scottish League Cup: 1995–96, runner-up 1992–93
*Scottish Premier Division: runner-up 1990–91, 1992–93, 1993–94
*Scottish Cup

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