Gavin Peter McCann (born 10 January 1978) is an English retired 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

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

in the English Premier League. He has one

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

cap to his name, playing against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Villa Park Villa Park is a association football, football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, with a seating capacity of 42,918. It has been the home of Premier League club Aston Villa F.C., Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witt ...

in 2001. He is currently the First Team coach at Hyde United.

Club career

McCann played junior football for Y.M.C.A juniors in

Lytham St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population of the built-up area at the 2021 United Kingdom census, ...

. He signed for Everton where he was a product of their

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. In 1998, he moved to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

where he was a member of the side which won the Division One title and promotion to the Premiership with 105 points in 1999. He signed for Aston Villa in 2003, where he had numerous injury setbacks. He scored one goal in the 2006–07 season in a 3–1 home loss to

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. He was no longer guaranteed first team football, so decided to leave Villa Park, and in June 2007, he signed a five-year contract with

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 ...

. McCann scored his first goal for Bolton in their 1–0 UEFA Cup group win over

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

in December 2007 and followed this up with a goal in a 1–1 draw with

Sporting Clube de Portugal Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

at the

Reebok Stadium The Toughsheet Community Stadium is a Association football, football stadium in Horwich near Bolton, Greater Manchester, England. It is the home ground of Bolton Wanderers F.C., Bolton Wanderers Football Club, with an all-seated capacity of 28, ...

three months later in the

knockout stage A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

of the cup. He scored his first league goal for Bolton in a 1–0 victory over

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

at the

Riverside Stadium The Riverside Stadium is a football stadium in Middlesbrough, England, which has been the home of Middlesbrough since its opening in 1995. It has an all-seated capacity of 34,742, although provisional planning permission is in place to expan ...

on 19 April 2008. In November 2008 he received high acclaim from the Bolton manager Gary Megson who stated that the midfielder was playing some of the best football of his career since moving to the Reebok Stadium. McCann's contract ran out at the end of June 2010, McCann had picked up a knee injury and

Owen Coyle Owen Columba Coyle (born 14 July 1966) is a professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Indian Super League club Chennaiyin. He played as a striker for several clubs in England and Scotland, and made one appearanc ...

said that once he recovered from the injury, he would have a chance to earn a new contract. In early 2011, teammate Kevin Davies confirmed on the social networking site Twitter that McCann had retired from the game having failed to overcome injury.

International career

McCann has played once for the England national team, in a friendly against

in 2001.

Coaching career

In February 2008, McCann launched his own football academy in

, the first one on the Fylde coast. The ''Milligan-McCann Academy'' is aimed at 8- to 12-year-olds and runs at King Edward VII and Queen Mary School. McCann teamed up with former

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

players, Jamie Milligan, who has been at Fleetwood Town since 2004 and John Hills who also signed for Fleetwood Town in August 2008, both of whom were born in Blackpool and grew up with McCann, to create the academy. In October 2008 the academy landed a major sponsorship deal with Northern Care, with coaching sessions continuing at King Edward VII & Queen Mary School each weekend as well as week-long summer courses. The academy has also received a grant to encourage children to play "park football". After retiring, McCann remained active at

in the backroom at youth level. In May 2012, he was appointed as Assistant Manager and first team coach at Hyde, alongside manager Scott McNiven. He left Hyde's management team in early 2015, and studied for his professional coaching badges and also worked for Wrea Green FC on a Sunday morning whilst also playing in a soccer sixes league back where he started at Lytham YMCA. In late 2015, he was back at Bolton, coaching their U15 team. In 2018, he was promoted to coaching Bolton's U18 team. He left Bolton on 29 January 2021. After six years back at Bolton working with the academy sides, he returned to Hyde United as the first team coach in February 2022, reuniting once again with his former Wanderers colleague Nicky Spooner.https://www.tamesidecorrespondent.co.uk/2022/02/19/former-player-nicky-spooner-named-new-hyde-united-manager/, Former player Nicky Spooner named Hyde United manager, Tameside Correspondent, 19 February 2022

Personal life

McCann lives in

with his wife and children.

Career statistics

Club

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCann, Gavin 1978 births Living people Footballers from Blackpool English men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Everton F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Aston Villa F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players England men's international footballers English football coaches Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff Bolton Wanderers F.C. non-playing staff