Scott Brian Fitzgerald (born 13 August 1969) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former professional player, who is academy director at

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 Poplar, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east of ...

. As a player, he was a defender who notably played in the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

for

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

and 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, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

for Sheffield United,

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its ea ...

and

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

. He was capped at Republic of Ireland U21 and B team level. After retiring he began his career in coaching, heading the youth teams at Brentford, Gillingham and Millwall. He had a spell as a first team manager at Brentford during the 2006–07 season. Fitzgerald is currently academy director at Millwall.

Club career

Wimbledon

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, Fitzgerald signed a professional contract with First Division club

at the start of the 1987–88 season, but did not make his debut for nearly three years, when he came on as a substitute against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

on 28 April 1990. He did not play again until the 1991–92 season, when he played made 36 First Division appearances and scored his first goal for the club. Fitzgerald made 20 appearances during the inaugural Premier League season and then made 28 appearances during the 1993–94 campaign. Fitzgerald made only 17 appearances during the 1994–95 season and lost his place in the team during 1995–96, making only four appearances. He failed to appear at all during the 1996–97 season and left the Dons in July 1997. Fitzgerald made 125 appearances and scored one goal during his decade as a professional with Wimbledon. Fitzgerald moved to First Division club Sheffield United on

loan In finance, a loan is the tender of money by one party to another with an agreement to pay it back. The recipient, or borrower, incurs a debt and is usually required to pay interest for the use of the money. The document evidencing the deb ...

23 November 1995 and made six appearances.

Millwall

Fitzgerald joined Second Division club

on a one-month loan on 11 October 1996, making seven appearances before his loan expired. He returned to the Lions for a second one-month loan on 24 December 1996, but failed to make an appearance before his loan expired. Fitzgerald signed for Millwall permanently on 29 July 1997 for a £50,000 fee. Over the following three seasons, Fitzgerald made 93 appearances and scored one goal, which came with an

injury time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the ga ...

winner in a 2–1 victory over

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 188 ...

on 15 August 1998. Fitzgerald departed the club on 19 October 2000, having lost his place in the team and making only one appearance during the 2000–01 season.

Colchester United

Fitzgerald joined Second Division club

on 19 October 2000 on a free transfer and remained with the club until the end of the 2003–04 season, when he was released. Over the course of his time with the Us, Fitzgerald made 128 appearances and scored no goals.

Brentford

Fitzgerald joined Second Division club

on loan on 16 March 2004 and played an important role in the Bees' successful battle against relegation in the 2003–04 season. He signed a permanent contract on 11 June 2004, though he featured sparingly during the 2004–05 season. The final appearance of Fitzgerald's career came in the last game of the regular season, playing alongside fellow veteran Andy Myers in central defence during a 2–1 victory over already-promoted Hull City. Fitzgerald retired at the end of the 2004–05 season, following Brentford's defeat to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an off ...

in the League One play-off semi-finals. He made 24 appearances during his time with the Bees. Though he had officially retired at the end of the 2004–05 season, Fitzgerald remained on the playing staff on a non-contract basis during 2005–06.

International career

Fitzgerald was a Republic of Ireland B international.

Coaching career

While still a first team player, Fitzgerald was handed the role of assistant

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or Sports league, league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team (a ...

manager of League One club Brentford by first team manager

Martin Allen Martin James Allen (born 14 August 1965) is an English football manager and former player. He played more than 100 games as a midfielder for both Queens Park Rangers and West Ham United before finishing his playing career with Portsmouth and ...

in October 2004. Upon his retirement as a player at the end of the 2004–05 season, he signed a one-year contract to manage the Brentford youth team. He left his role as youth team manager upon being appointed first team manager in November 2006 and departed the club in April 2007. Fitzgerald was appointed youth team manager at League One club Gillingham in July 2007. He worked in the role for four months before leaving the club in December 2007. Fitzgerald was named youth team manager at former club Millwall in December 2007. In 2012, Fitzgerald oversaw the transfer of Millwall's youth development system to a Category Two

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. Fitzgerald is currently academy director with the Lions.

Managerial career

Brentford

Fitzgerald became caretaker manager of League One club Brentford on 18 November 2006, following the sacking of

Leroy Rosenior Leroy De Graft Rosenior (born 24 August 1964) is a football coach and pundit. He is a former footballer whose clubs included Fulham, Queens Park Rangers (for whom he appeared as a substitute in the 1986 League Cup Final), Bristol City and Wes ...

. The position was made permanent on 21 December 2006. Despite a brief improvement in fortunes in February 2007, Brentford were relegated from League One following a 3–1 defeat to

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, England. Its first team competes in League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' ...

on 9 April 2007. Fitzgerald's contract was terminated a day later and he departed the club. Looking back in November 2009, Fitzgerald stated that "the experience has put me off managing a league club again".

Millwall

On 26 December 2013, Fitzgerald and Development Squad manager Neil Harris were appoint joint-caretaker managers following the sacking of

Steve Lomas Stephen Martin Lomas (born 18 January 1974) is a Northern Irish football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, Lomas was a midfielder from 1991 to 2010. He had spells in the Premier League for both Manchester City and West Ham ...

. Fitzgerald ruled himself out of the running for the manager's job the following day. The pair managed to muster just one point from their three

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

games in charge and returned to their original roles on 6 January 2014, following the appointment of Ian Holloway.

Career statistics

Manager statistics

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fitzgerald, Scott 1969 births Living people Brentford F.C. managers Brentford F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Men's association football defenders English people of Irish descent English men's footballers Millwall F.C. players Millwall F.C. non-playing staff Gillingham F.C. non-playing staff Footballers from the City of Westminster People from Westminster Premier League players Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's B international footballers Wimbledon F.C. players English football managers 20th-century Irish sportsmen