Brian Welsh (born 23 February 1969) 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 ...

coach and former player, who is currently owner and head coach of American club Northern Virginia United. He began his playing career with

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 ...

, where he made 140 league appearances and was part of the team that won the 1994 Scottish Cup final. He joined Hibernian in 1996, where he spent three years, before ending his career with brief spells at

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

Clydebank Clydebank () is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling, West Dunbartonshire, Bowling and Milton, West Dunbartonshire, Milton beyond) to the w ...

and

Cowdenbeath Cowdenbeath () is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is north-east of Dunfermline and north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a police burgh in 1890. According to a 20 ...

. He also represented the Scotland under-19 team. Welsh returned to Cowdenbeath as manager from 2006 to 2008 and later became Head of Youth Development at Livingston, where he was also briefly

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

, before emigrating to the United States.

Playing career

Welsh began his career with

, making his debut in the 1986–87 season. During that season, Welsh was part of the Scotland under-19 team who reached the semi-finals of the

UEFA European Under-19 Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship, or simply the Euro Under-19, is an annual football competition, contested by the European men's under-19 national teams of the UEFA member associations. Spain is the most successful team in this competit ...

, losing 1–0 to Italy. The following year, he reached the quarter-finals of the World Youth Championship, losing on penalties to

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. Welsh became a regular in the United side in 1993–94 and helped the club win the

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

. He then experienced relegation in 1995 and subsequent promotion with the club. Welsh scored a crucial goal in a promotion play-off match against

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 1996. In August 1996 Welsh left Dundee United to join Hibernian for a £200,000 transfer fee. Leaving Hibernian after three years, Welsh subsequently had spells with

and finally

, before retiring in 2002. Welsh began legal proceedings against Malcolm Morrison, who was employed as Hibernian club doctor during his time with the club, in 2008. He claimed that an injection administered by Morrison had ruined his career, and an out-of-court settlement for a "substantial sum" was reached.

Coaching career

After his playing retirement he helped coach the Cowdenbeath squad before being appointed team

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

in October 2006, succeeding

Mixu Paatelainen Mika-Matti Petteri "Mixu" Paatelainen (born 3 February 1967) is a Finnish former professional football player and manager who is currently serving as the sporting director of Scottish club The Spartans. He scored 18 goals in 70 appearances for ...

. Welsh was sacked by Cowdenbeath in June 2008, following their relegation to the Third Division. In 2009, Welsh won a compensation claim against Cowdenbeath for his dismissal as manager. The club stated that they had dismissed Welsh because he had incurred touchline bans due to misbehaviour during matches, but the judge ruled in his favour because the club had taken no action at the time and had dismissed him for unconnected reasons. Welsh was appointed head of youth development by Livingston in July 2009. He subsequently moved to the United States, where he became Technical Director for Braddock Road Elite Travel Soccer of the Braddock Road Youth Club in

Fairfax, Virginia Fairfax ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in Virginia and the county seat of Fairfax County, Virginia, in the United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 24,146. Fairfax is pa ...

. Currently, he has been appointed as the head coach for Northern Virginia United since January 2018.

Playing career

Coaching career

Career statistics

Honours

External links