Patrick Anthony Cregg (born 21 February 1986) is an Irish football coach and former player, who was most recently the manager of

Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club w ...

. During his playing career he played for

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

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 ...

Hibernian Hibernian may refer to: * Of Hibernia, Latin name for Ireland; hence ** Irish (disambiguation) Hibernian, Hibernians or The Hibernian may refer to: Sports clubs * Hibernian F.C., a Scottish football club, founded 1875 * Hibernian W.F.C., a Sc ...

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

, St Mirren, Bury,

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 ...

Shamrock Rovers Shamrock Rovers Football Club is an Irish professional Association football, football club based in Tallaght, South Dublin. The club's senior team competes in the League of Ireland Premier Division and it is List of football clubs by competit ...

St Patrick's Athletic St Patrick's Athletic Football Club, commonly known as Pat's or The Athletic, is a professional List of association football clubs in the Republic of Ireland, Irish association football club based in Inchicore, Dublin, that plays in the League ...

Forfar Athletic Forfar Athletic Football Club are a Scottish semi-professional football club from the town of Forfar, Angus. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League and currently play in . They play their home games at Station Park, in t ...

and Montrose. He also represented the Republic of Ireland at youth international levels.

Club career

Having come through the youth academies at

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and

, Cregg started his senior career at Arsenal; his first senior appearance was in a 3–1 victory against Everton in the League Cup on 9 November 2004, as an 89th-minute substitute for Arturo Lupoli. In all he made three appearances, all of them being in the League Cup. Cregg joined

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

club

in January 2006 and made over 100 Scottish Premier League appearances for the club. He was released in the summer of 2009, having made his last appearance for the club in the 2009 Scottish Cup final. After his release by Falkirk, Cregg signed for

. Cregg followed

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 ...

John Hughes John Hughes may refer to: Arts and Entertainment Literature *John Hughes (poet) (1677–1720), English poet *John Hughes (1790–1857), English author *John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–1887), Welsh poet *John Hughes (writer) (born 1961), Australian au ...

in making the move. He left Hibs at the end of the season. Cregg then played in a reserve team

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

for

against

. Cregg then played as a trialist for

in a

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 ...

match against Ross County on 25 September 2010. The ''

Greenock Telegraph The ''Greenock Telegraph'' is a local daily newspaper serving Inverclyde (the council area containing the towns of Gourock, Greenock and Port Glasgow), Scotland. Founded in 1857, it was the first halfpenny daily newspaper in Britain. It w ...

'' reported on 1 October 2010 that Cregg had turned down a contract offer from Morton to sign for their

Renfrewshire derby The Renfrewshire derby is a football derby in Scotland, contested between the senior clubs Greenock Morton and St Mirren. Since the sides first met in 1882, the fixture has grown in significance over the years, due in part to the demise of oth ...

rivals St Mirren. Cregg signed for the Paisley club, agreeing a contract until January 2011. Cregg signed a one-year contract with Bury in August 2011. In May 2012, he was released by the club after being deemed surplus to requirements. Cregg then played for

as a trialist in July 2012 before agreeing a one-year contract with the club. In August 2014, Cregg signed a contract until the end of the season with League of Ireland side

. After two and a half seasons with Rovers, Cregg signed for

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

rivals

on 22 November 2016 on a one-year deal. On 31 January 2017 Cregg made his Pats debut in a 4–0 Leinster Senior Cup win over

Bray Wanderers Bray Wanderers Football Club are an Irish association football club playing in the League of Ireland First Division. The club in its present form was founded in 1942 in Bray, and was known until 2010 as ''Bray Wanderers A.F.C.'' It was elect ...

at the

Carlisle Grounds The Carlisle Grounds is a football stadium in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided ...

. After half a season with Pats in which he was in and out of the team, Cregg requested to leave and came to a mutual agreement with the club to cancel his contract on 4 July 2017. Cregg signed for

on 13 August 2017. He was released from his contract on 31 January 2018. He spent one full season at Montrose before retiring in August 2019 to take up a role as assistant manager of his old club

, under new manager and former

teammate of Cregg's, Stephen O'Donnell.

International career

While he was at Arsenal, Cregg became a regular in the Republic of Ireland under-19 team. He later represented the

Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team The Republic of Ireland national under-21 football team is a representative team of Irish football players. It is governed by the Football Association of Ireland and represents them at Under-21 level against the national teams of other national ...

Coaching career

Cregg served as assistant manager under Stephen O'Donnell at both

from 2019 to 2021 and at

Dundalk Dundalk ( ; ) is the county town of County Louth, Ireland. The town is situated on the Castletown River, which flows into Dundalk Bay on the north-east coast of Ireland, and is halfway between Dublin and Belfast, close to and south of the bor ...

until 2024. Cregg was awarded his first managerial role on 5 June 2024, when he was appointed manager of Highland League side

. He was sacked on 2 March 2025 with the club sitting in second position, three points off top and unbeaten in the league since October.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

St Johnstone *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2013–14

References

External links

*
Republic of Ireland profile
at Soccer Scene {{DEFAULTSORT:Cregg, Patrick 1986 births Men's association football midfielders Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Arsenal F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Bury F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Shamrock Rovers F.C. guest players St Patrick's Athletic F.C. players Forfar Athletic F.C. players Montrose F.C. players Living people Association footballers from Dublin (city) Republic of Ireland men's association footballers Republic of Ireland expatriate men's association footballers Republic of Ireland men's under-21 international footballers Republic of Ireland men's youth international footballers Scottish Football League players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players English Football League players League of Ireland players Irish expatriate sportspeople in England Irish expatriate sportspeople in Scotland 21st-century Irish sportsmen St Patrick's Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Irish association football managers Brechin City F.C. managers Highland Football League managers