Craig Hinchliffe (born 5 May 1972) is a Scottish former professional
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 ...
who played as a
goalkeeper
In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...
. He is currently the goalkeeping coach at Aberdeen.
Playing career
Hinchliffe made one
Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...
(SFL) appearance for
Albion Rovers
Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They play in the , the fifth tier of the Scottish football league system.
Founded in October 1882, the club joined the Scottish Foot ...
in the 1991/92 season, before moving to Highland League club Elgin City. In 1995, he moved back into the SFL with
Arbroath
Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...
, where he made nearly 200 appearances for the club. In the summer of 2003 he transferred to St Mirren and made 70 appearances, including several in their promotion season in 2005–06. In the 2006–07 season, he played a handful of games for Queen of the South during a loan spell at the
Dumfries
Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...
club.
In the summer of 2007, he signed for
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 ...
as goalkeeper and goalkeeper coach. Thistle's manager, Ian McCall, had also signed Hinchliffe (on loan) for Queen of the South. He was released at the end of the 2009/10 season but rejoined in a player-coach role in time for the 2010/11 season.
Coaching career
In April 2011, Hinchliffe continued his role under the new management team of
Jackie McNamara
Jackie McNamara (born 24 October 1973) is a Scottish professional Association football, football Sports agent, agent, and former football player, player, Manager (association football), manager and executive. He won 33 international caps playin ...
and
Simon Donnelly
Simon Thomas Donnelly (born 1 December 1974) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player. Donnelly played as a forward or wide midfielder for Queen's Park, Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday, St Johnstone, Dunfermline Athletic, Parti ...
. McNamara and Donnelly left Partick Thistle in January 2013, with the club sitting in 2nd place, to join
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 ...
. Hinchliffe worked closely with new caretaker manager
Alan Archibald
Alan Archibald (born 13 December 1977) is a Scottish association football, football coach and former player, who is currently a first-team coach at Heart of Midlothian F.C., Hearts. Archibald, who played as a Defender (football)#Centre back, def ...
. Archibald later guided Thistle to the Championship gaining the Jags promotion to the Scottish Premiership with a 16-game unbeaten run. Despite Thistle's attempts to secure Hinchliffe's services he opted to rejoin Jackie McNamara and Simon Donnelly at Dundee United, signing a three-year deal in time for season 2013–2014. Hinchliffe left Dundee United in September 2015, following McNamara's departure. In November 2015 he was appointed as goalkeeping coach at
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 the . They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United Football Club ...
, but a month later reunited with McNamara at League Two club
York City
York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...
. Returning to Scotland, he became goalkeeping coach 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 ...
in June 2017.
On 13 May, after 5 successful seasons at Motherwell working with
Trevor Carson
Trevor Carson (born 5 March 1988) is a Northern Irish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Dundee.
Born in Killyleagh, Northern Ireland, Carson started his youth career with Killyleagh Boys before moving to Sunderland in 2 ...
, Mark Gillespie and Liam Kelly, Hinchliffe returned to Dundee Utd for a second spell under Thomas Courts. Before the 22/23 SPFL season began Courts left the club. On June 21 2023, he was announced as
St Johnstone
St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...
's
On June 24 2024 he signed for
Aberdeen F.C.
Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional Association football, football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the and have List of unrelegated association football clubs, never been relegated from the top division of th ...