Gregor Abel (born 9 April 1949) is a Scottish former

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 ...

player and

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 ...

. Abel played for

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

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

Alloa Athletic Alloa Athletic Football Club is a Scottish association football semi-professional club based in the town of Alloa, Clackmannanshire. They compete in as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. According to the official club hist ...

. After retiring as a player, he became a coach at

and then

, assisting

Alex Totten Alexander Totten (born 12 February 1946) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Playing career Growing up in Dennyloanhead, Stirlingshire, he signed for Liverpool straight from school in 1960 before signing for top division Dundee ...

. Abel was appointed Falkirk manager in November 1983, after Totten left the club to become assistant manager of

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 ...

. He resigned in February 1984 due to the pressures of combining that job with working as a schoolteacher. Abel assisted

Jim Leishman Jim Leishman MBE (born 15 November 1953) is a Scottish Labour Party politician and former professional football player and manager. He is currently Provost of Fife and an honorary director of Scottish Championship side Dunfermline Athletic ...

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

rose from the

Scottish Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SF ...

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) ...

with successive promotions in 1985–86 and 1986–87. Abel left Dunfermline in July 1987 after the club converted to fully professional status, however, because he wanted to retain part-time status and continue his teaching career. After leaving Dunfermline, Abel became assistant manager of Forfar Athletic. Later that year, Abel was appointed manager of

. The club won a promotion under his management and reached the quarter-finals of the 1988–89 Scottish Cup. Abel was sacked by Alloa Athletic in February 1990 as the club struggled 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 ...

, having won promotion the season before. Abel then worked as a reserve team and youth coach for

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 ...

for eight years. He then had five years with

as a youth coach. He continued to teach at Alva Academy until his retirement in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abel, Gregor 1949 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Bo'ness United F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Clydebank F.C. (1965) players Alloa Athletic F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Dunfermline Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Falkirk F.C. managers Alloa Athletic F.C. managers Aberdeen F.C. non-playing staff Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Football League managers