Angus Ian MacPherson (born 11 October 1968) 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 ...

former player and coach. MacPherson's playing career saw spells at Rangers, Exeter City,

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, Dunfermline Athletic and St Mirren. His management career began at his final playing club St Mirren (initially as a

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. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...

), who he guided to promotion in 2006. MacPherson has since managed Queen of the South and Queen's Park who he guided to promotion in 2016. He returned to St Mirren in September 2018 in an advisory role, a position he held until August 2020. MacPherson then had a stint as manager of

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

Playing career

Rangers and loan to Exeter City

MacPherson started his career as a youth player with Rangers, but was unable to break into the first team, spending a period on loan to English side Exeter City.

Kilmarnock

In 1991, he moved to

, where he would enjoy the most successful period of his career becoming a regular fixture in the Rugby Park first team. He went on to play over 350 games at Kilmarnock and also was in the side that won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had ...

Ibrox Stadium Ibrox Stadium is a football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest football stadium in Scotland, with an all-seated capacity of . ...

Dunfermline Athletic

MacPherson left Kilmarnock in 2001 to join Dunfermline Athletic for two seasons before moving to St Mirren as player/assistant manager in 2003.

Manager career

St Mirren

MacPherson was then appointed as player/manager on 18 December 2003 after the resignation of John Coughlin. He retired from playing to concentrate solely on management at the end of the 2003–04 season. MacPherson guided St Mirren to second in 2004–05 finishing behind

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had ...

. This was a significant improvement for the club having finished seventh the previous season. In the following season MacPherson guided St Mirren back to the

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

having finished top of the First Division. He also guided the team to a 2–1 win in the

Scottish League Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...

with

Simon Lappin Simon Lappin (born 25 January 1983) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a left back and as a left winger during his career. Lappin began his career with St Mirren before moving to Norwich City in 2007. He had short loa ...

and John Sutton netting the goals, becoming the only St Mirren manager to win a domestic double. In the 2006–07 season he retained St Mirren's place in the SPL, following a brief relegation fight. In the second last game of the season St Mirren's place in the SPL was confirmed courtesy of a 3–2 win over

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

despite having been 2–0 down. This coupled with other results saw one of MacPherson's former clubs, Dunfermline relegated to the First Division. In the following season and being continually challenged with budgetary constraints, MacPherson became the first St Mirren manager to be knocked out of both the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existe ...

and

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,the 1990–91 season, finishing one place above MacPherson's former club Kilmarnock and relegated Gretna. In the 2008–09 season he led St Mirren to a win over Rangers at Love Street with Stephen McGinn netting the only goal of the game. Also in the same season he led St Mirren on a run of four unbeaten games, resulting in him receiving the SPL manager of the month award for December 2008. He also guided them to the semi-finals of the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,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 ...

1–0 in the quarter finals. This result came just a week after a 7–0 defeat at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

. St Mirren were in a five club relegation battle, but a penultimate weekend win away to Falkirk, almost guaranteed safety. St Mirren stayed in the top flight on goal difference, two goals better off than Inverness. In January 2010, after Jim Jefferies left Kilmarnock, MacPherson became the longest serving manager in the SPL. On 11 May 2010, St Mirren announced that they had parted company with MacPherson.

Queen of the South

In June 2011, MacPherson was announced as the new manager of

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; sco, Dumfries; from gd, Dùn Phris ) is a market town and former royal burgh within the Dumfries and Galloway council area of Scotland. It is located near the mouth of the River Nith into the Solway Firth about by road from t ...

club, Queen of the South on a one-year contract. His assistant manager was announced as

Andy Millen Andrew Frank Millen (born 10 June 1965) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. He is the assistant manager of Greenock Morton. During his career, which lasted from 1986 to 2011, Millen played primarily as a defender for ...

."Gus is our new Manager" www.qosfc.com 10 Jun 2011
/ref> MacPherson left the club after they were relegated to the Second Division in April 2012.

Queen's Park

MacPherson was appointed manager of Scottish League Two side Queen's Park in January 2014. He led the "Spiders" to promotion to

Scottish League One The Scottish League One, known as cinch League One for sponsorship reasons, is the third tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish League One was ...

through the play-offs in his second full season in charge beating Clyde over two legs in the playoff final. The club enjoyed two seasons in the third flight before relegation via play-offs in May 2018. MacPherson left Queen's Park on 18 September 2018 to become the St Mirren technical director. He left St Mirren in August 2020.

Greenock Morton

In March 2021, MacPherson was appointed manager of

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

side

until the end of the 2020–21 season. He led the Ton to safety after winning the

play-offs beating

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

in the two-legged final in May 2021. McPherson parted company with Greenock Morton on 4 December 2021, with the team sitting in 8th place (ahead of the relegation places on goal difference).

Managerial Record

Honours and achievements

Player

;Kilmarnock *

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as ...

promotion: 1992–93 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2005-06 *

: 2005-06 ;Queen's Park *

play-offs: 2015-16

References

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/57788350

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Macpherson, Gus 1968 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Association football defenders Scottish footballers Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Rangers F.C. players Exeter City F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Scottish football managers Scottish Premier League managers St Mirren F.C. managers St Mirren F.C. non-playing staff Queen of the South F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers English Football League players Queen's Park F.C. managers Scottish Professional Football League managers People educated at Lenzie Academy Greenock Morton F.C. managers