Gerry McCabe (born 26 September 1956, in Hamilton) is a Scottish football player and coach.
Playing career
McCabe had a lengthy playing career that lasted almost two decades. He made over 200 league appearances for a
Clydebank
Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) 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 and Milton beyond) to the west, and the Yoker and Drumchapel areas ...
side that steamrollered through the divisions to the
Scottish Premier Division
The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994 ...
. In 1977, he played abroad in the
National Soccer League
The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its d ...
with
Windsor Stars
Windsor TFC is a Canadian soccer team based in Windsor, Ontario, that was founded in 2004. They have competed in the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL) and Canadian Soccer League (CSL). Throughout their tenure in the CPSL/CSL, Windsor w ...
, and the following season with
Toronto Italia
The National Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada that existed from 1926 to 1997. Teams were primarily based in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The league was renamed to Canadian National Soccer League in 1993 following the foldin ...
. In 1990, he played with the
Victoria Vistas
The Victoria Vistas were a professional soccer team based in Victoria, British Columbia that competed in the original Canadian Soccer League. The Vistas joined the CSL for the 1989 season and folded after the 1990 season. Victoria All-star team ...
. Towards the end of his playing career, he started coaching
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
youth players.
Coaching career
After retiring as a player McCabe worked as assistant manager to
Bobby Williamson
Robert Williamson (born 13 August 1961 in Glasgow) is a Scottish football player and manager.
Williamson played as a striker for Clydebank, Rangers, West Bromwich Albion, Rotherham United and Kilmarnock. He then became a manager at Kilmar ...
at Kilmarnock. McCabe then went on to be assistant manager to Williamson at his next two managerial positions at Hibernian and
Plymouth Argyle
Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park ...
. McCabe was the caretaker manager of Hibernian when Williamson moved to Plymouth before the end of the 2003–04 season. McCabe then rejoined Williamson at Plymouth at the start of the 2004–05 season.
McCabe became manager of
Dumbarton
Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990.
Dumbarton was the ca ...
in 2006 when he replaced
Paul Martin
Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006.
The son o ...
. McCabe promised a more attacking approach differing from the defensive style that Martin had employed. He also had the difficult but widely expected task of gaining promotion after only one season in the
Scottish Third Division
The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013.
History
The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) f ...
Stephen Dobbie
Stephen Dobbie (born 5 December 1982) is a Scottish former professional footballer. He is Senior Professional Development Phase coach at his former club Blackpool.
Dobbie is Queen of the South's second-highest goalscorer of all time (166 goal ...
on loan from
St Johnstone
St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an ol ...
. Dobbie scored 10 goals in 17 league games which pushed Dumbarton into a high league position. However Dobbie's loan spell ended in December 2006. Any chances of a loan extension were dashed when Dobbie signed permanently for
Scottish First Division
The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013.
History
The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as ...
side Queen of the South. After Dobbie's departure the goals dried up and Dumbarton just fell short of a promotion play-off place and finished in fifth place. McCabe succeeded in leading Dumbarton to a
Scottish Cup
The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,SPL champions
Celtic
Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to:
Language and ethnicity
*pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia
**Celts (modern)
*Celtic languages
**Proto-Celtic language
*Celtic music
*Celtic nations
Sports Foo ...
which they lost 4–0. McCabe also led Dumbarton to a
League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
clash against another SPL team,
Inverness Caley Thistle
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional F ...
eventually losing the match 3–1.
In the 2007 pre-season, Dumbarton were considered one of the promotion favourites. However, after a succession of players left the club, including popular goalkeeper
Stephen Grindlay
Stephen Grindlay (born 13 March 1982 in Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for St Cadoc's.
Club career Early career
Grindlay began his career as a youth player for Celtic before bei ...
Ryan Borris
Ryan Edward Borris (born 7 June 1983) is a Scottish former footballer who last played for Renfrew in the West of Scotland Football League.
He has previously played in the Scottish Football League First Division for Ayr United and also played ...
, McCabe found it hard to replace them. Lack of goals was evident in the league when new signings
Brian McPhee
Brian McPhee (born 23 October 1970 in Glasgow, Scotland) is a Scottish retired footballer who last played for Wishaw Juniors. He had a long career as a striker in the Scottish Football League with several clubs.
Career
McPhee joined Queen's ...
and David McFarlane failed to hit the net on a regular basis. This led to Dumbarton sitting third bottom of the league. With only 3 wins out of 11 league games, McCabe was dismissed in November 2007 after only 18 months at the
Strathclyde Homes Stadium
The Dumbarton Football Stadium, commonly known as The Rock, and currently named The moreroom.com Stadium for sponsorship purposes is a stadium in Dumbarton, Scotland, used mostly for football matches; it is the home ground of Dumbarton Footba ...
.
In January 2008, McCabe was appointed assistant manager to
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. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the sq ...
Jim Jefferies
Geoff James Nugent (born 14 February 1977), known professionally as Jim Jefferies, is an Australian comedian, actor, and writer who holds dual Australian and American citizenship. He created and starred in the American FX sitcom ''Legit'' (2 ...
was appointed Dunfermline's manager but left the club in March 2013 after it entered
administration
Administration may refer to:
Management of organizations
* Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal
** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...
.
McCabe was appointed Queen of the South's assistant manager to McIntyre on 28 June 2013. After one season in Dumfries, McCabe moved to Dundee to become assistant to
Paul Hartley
Paul Hartley (born 19 October 1976) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the manager of Scottish Championship side Cove Rangers.
As a player, Hartley won trophies with both Hearts an ...
League of Ireland Premier Division
The League of Ireland Premier Division ( ga, Príomhroinn Sraith na hÉireann), also known as the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division for sponsorship reasons, is the top level division in both the League of Ireland and the Republic of Ireland ...
**
1992–93
Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...