Archibald Gall Knox (born 1 May 1947) is a Scottish

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 ...

player and coach. He was most recently the assistant manager of

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

until leaving the club in March 2013. Knox worked with

Alex Ferguson Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (born 31 December 1941) is a Scottish former professional football manager and player, best known for managing Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. He is widely regarded as the greatest manager of all time and ...

as an assistant manager at Aberdeen and

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, and with

Walter Smith Walter Ferguson Smith (24 February 1948 – 26 October 2021) was a Scottish football player, manager and director, primarily associated with his two spells as manager of Glasgow club Rangers. A defender, Smith's playing career consiste ...

at Rangers and Everton.

Playing career

As a player, Knox played in his native Scotland, featuring for Forfar Athletic (twice), St Mirren,

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

and a short spell with Montrose. During his time with Dundee United, Knox was a runner-up in the 1974

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

capacity when he returned to first club Forfar in 1976, spending four years in the dual role. In 1980, Knox became assistant to

, helping the team to two Scottish Cups, the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

and subsequent

European Super Cup The UEFA Super Cup is an annual super cup football match organised by UEFA and contested by the winners of the two main European club competitions: the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League. The competition's official name was original ...

in his three years with the Dons. In 1983, Knox returned to management with

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

, where he would spend two-and-a-half years, with a best finish of sixth place in 1984–85 and 1985–86, narrowly missing out on UEFA Cup qualification. There then followed a short spell back at Aberdeen, where he was made co-manager so Ferguson could fulfil his duties as Scotland manager. He went on to join Ferguson at

in 1986, where he stayed until April 1991. At this point, Knox came back to Scotland, becoming assistant to

at Rangers, where the pair would enjoy six titles over the next seven years together. In July 1998, both men moved south to Everton, although their time was ended by March 2002. It was at this point that Knox's association with the national team began, with a three-year spell assisting then-manager Craig Brown. Short spells followed 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 ...

and Coventry City (as assistant to

Mark McGhee Mark Edward McGhee (born 25 May 1957) is a Scottish former professional football player and coach. A former forward, McGhee started his career at Greenock Morton in 1975 and had spells at clubs including Newcastle United, Aberdeen, Hamburg, ...

and Eric Black respectively) before returning to Scotland as Richard Gough's assistant at Livingston in November 2004. Knox again assisted the national team as a coach, helping at the

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan national football team, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (Internatio ...

in May 2006. Knox was appointed Scotland under-21 manager in July 2006 following Rainer Bonhof's departure. In August 2007 he was appointed as Bolton's Assistant Manager by Wanderers manager Sammy Lee. When Lee left Knox was made caretaker manager for two games (against

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 mostly ...

and in the UEFA Cup against S.C. Braga) before Gary Megson took over. Knox remained at the club under Megson. Two days after

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club ( ) is a professional association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

secured their premiership status he was axed by Megson with six other members of the coaching staff at the club. The club denied it was due to cost-cutting measures and stated it was due to Megson wanting to bring in his own staff. On 4 July 2008 Knox was appointed as the first-team coach of Blackburn Rovers by

Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who was most recently manager of Reading. A midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1986 to 2007, starting his career with West ...

. They had previously worked together at Manchester United. He became the second member of the backroom staff to be appointed by Ince; his appointment followed that of Ray Mathias as assistant manager. On 18 December 2008, Knox was relieved of his duties along with Ray Mathias following the sacking of

and the subsequent arrival of

Sam Allardyce Samuel Allardyce (born 19 October 1954) is an English football manager and former professional player. Allardyce made 578 league and cup appearances in a 21-year career spent mostly in the Football League, as well as brief spells in the North ...

as the new Rovers manager. On 29 December 2009, he was appointed as the assistant manager to Craig Brown at

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

. On 10 December 2010, after Brown moved to Aberdeen, Knox followed him back to his former club. After three years with Brown, it announced that he and Brown would leave the club at the end of the season. Though leaving the club, Knox reversed his decision to retire, insisting he "not retiring now. I still feel young and I've plenty to offer." In October 2013, Knox returned to Scottish Championship side Dundee as a playing scout role. Knox will be reunited with manager John Brown, whom he signed whilst manager at Dundee. In November 2017, he was one of four inductees into the Aberdeen ''Hall of Fame''.

Honours

Individual * Scottish Football Hall of Fame: 2018

References

External links