Gary John McSwegan (born 24 September 1970) 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 ...

. A striker, he began his career with

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 ...

, leaving to join

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football, football club in Nottingham, England, which competes in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of Football in England, English football, following promotion and relegation, promotion ...

in England. He returned to Scotland and had spells 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 ...

, Heart of Midlothian and

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 ...

. Later in his career he went on to play for Ross County,

Inverness Caledonian Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...

, and Clyde. He made two international appearances for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

whilst a Hearts player.

Career

Domestic

McSwegan was born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

and started his career with

, where he scored 5 goals in only 24 appearances during his six years at Ibrox, including a goal against

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

in the 1992-93 Champions League. His first team opportunities at Rangers, however, appeared to be limited and in 1993 he joined

for £400,000. One of his highlights at Notts County was scoring twice as they knocked

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

side

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

out of the

1994–95 Football League Cup The 1994–95 Football League Cup (known as the Coca-Cola Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 35th Football League Cup, a knockout competition for England's top 92 football clubs. Liverpool won the competition, beating Bolton Wanderers 2–1 in ...

. After two seasons in England he returned to Scotland with

for £375,000 where he remained for three seasons, scoring 42 goals. He joined Hearts in 1998 on a free transfer where he scored 31 goals in 98 appearances. By 2002, however, McSwegan had fallen out of favour at Hearts and subsequently had loan spells in England with

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

and

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

before joining

where he remained for two seasons, scoring 17 goals. His next professional club was Ross County where he played 39 games, scoring just 1 goal against Queen of the South in two injury-ravaged seasons. Despite these problems, McSwegan returned to top flight football, when signed by Inverness Caledonian Thistle in September 2006 on a short-term deal. McSwegan left

at the end of the 2006–07 season and joined Peterhead. McSwegan joined Clyde on 14 March 2008, after previously training with the club and appearing in reserve games. He made his debut the following day, in a 1–1 draw against

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Profession ...

in the

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

. He scored his first goal for the club in the final league game of the season, scoring the first in a 3–0 win over

. He then went on to score two goals in their successful relegation playoffs in ties against Alloa and Airdrie. In June 2008, McSwegan signed a one-year contract extension with the Broadwood side. He scored three goals in his second season, with two goals against Queen's Park in the League Cup and a late winner in the league against Livingston. This meant that all six of his goals for Clyde came in the

Broadwood Stadium Broadwood Stadium is a multi-use community stadium and sports complex in the Westfield, Cumbernauld, Westfield area of Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire. The stadium is currently the home of Scottish League One side Hamilton Academical F.C., Hamilt ...

. McSwegan was released by Clyde in June 2009 along with the rest of the out of contract players, due to the club's financial position.

International

McSwegan won two caps for

in 1999. He won his first cap on 5 October 1999, coming on as a late substitute in a

EURO 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

qualifier against

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

, which Scotland won 1–0. His second and final cap came four days later, against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. McSwegan started the game, and scored Scotland's second goal in a 3–0 victory.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.''

Career statistics

''After 25 October 2008''

References

External links

Notts County ex-player interview: Gary McSwegan
* {{DEFAULTSORT:McSwegan, Gary Living people 1970 births Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Rangers F.C. players Notts County F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Preston North End F.C. non-playing staff Men's association football forwards