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 ...

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 lea ...

player/manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make change ...

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

Irvine, North Ayrshire Irvine ( ;
; ) is a town and former

Troon Troon (Scottish Gaelic: ''An Truthail'') is a town and sea port in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about north of Ayr and northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with ferry and freight serv ...

resident O'Ware attended Queen Margaret Academy in

Ayr Ayr ( ; ; , meaning "confluence of the River Àir"), is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With ...

.

Playing career

Youth

After beginning his career with hometown team Troon Thistle boys club, O'Ware spent five years in the

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

youth system at Murray Park, then a further two at

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

. He then signed for youth side Bonnyton Thistle, where he was part of the team that won the Under-19 Scottish Cup final.

Morton

O'Ware joined

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

in 2011. He made his début at left back in a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Deveronvale on 19 November 2011. O'Ware also had a trial at

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

side

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

. He broke into the Morton team at left back due to an injury to

Ross Forsyth Ross Forsyth (born 20 November 1982 in Glasgow) is a Scottish semi-professional footballer and coach who last played for Clydebank. Forsyth has previously played for St Johnstone, Greenock Morton, Dumbarton and Stirling Albion. Career Playing F ...

. In January 2012, O'Ware suffered a stress fracture to his tibia making him miss at least a month of Morton's season. O'Ware agreed one-year extensions with Morton in 2013, 2014 and 2015. In April 2016, O'Ware's good form resulted in him being awarded a two-year contract extension with the club. He won the

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

Player of the Month award for October 2016 and was twice named in the Scottish Championship Team of the Year in successive seasons. He also finished season 2016/17 as Europe's top scoring defender with 11 goals. This form brought him to the attention of a host of

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

clubs, and he was linked with a move to his boyhood heroes

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 Foot ...

in the summer of 2017, as

Brendan Rodgers Brendan Rodgers (born 26 January 1973) is a Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is manager of Scottish Premiership club Celtic. Rodgers began his career as a defender at Ballymena United, where he stayed until h ...

looked to solidify his back line. After the sacking of manager Jim Duffy in May 2018, O'Ware left the club seeking "a new challenge". Thomas featured at full-back, centre-back, centre midfield, and occasionally as a striker during his seven seasons at

Cappielow Cappielow, also known as Cappielow Park supported by Dalrada Technology UK for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Greenock Morton, w ...

.

Partick Thistle

O'Ware signed a two-year contract with

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

in June 2018. He scored his first goal for the Jags on 14 August 2018, opening the scoring in a 5–0 win at Stranraer in the

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...

side Kelty Hearts on 30 July 2021 ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.

International

O'Ware represented Scotland at schoolboy level in 2011.

Coaching

During his playing career, O'Ware began his coaching career by working with the Greenock Morton academy. After rupturing his ACL at Partick Thistle, O'Ware helped out with the coaching staff under then manager

Gary Caldwell Gary Caldwell (born 12 April 1982) is a Scottish former professional footballer and coach who is the manager of Exeter City. Caldwell played for Newcastle United, Darlington, Coventry City, Derby County, Hibernian, Celtic, Wigan Athletic an ...

, and spent matchdays in the dugout as part of the non-playing staff. O'Ware was appointed as Head Coach for the Troon F.C. Development Team in August 2020, who will be competing in the Lowland Development League (West) in season 2020–21. In November 2021, O'Ware joined the coaching staff at

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

, coaching the club's under-16 team. In May 2023, O'Ware was appointed the new head coach of Queen's Park's development squad, known as Young Queen's Park. He was appointed

player/manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make change ...

of Kelty Hearts in May 2025, having previously filled the role twice on a caretaker basis.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Bonnyton Thistle * Under-19 Scottish Cup: 2010–11 Greenock Morton *

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foot ...

: 2014–15 Kelty Hearts *

Scottish League Two The Scottish League Two, known as William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill League Two for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association football, foo ...

: 2021-22