Robbie Muirhead (born 8 March 1996) is a Scottish 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 ...
, who plays as a
forward for
Greenock Morton.
Muirhead began his career with
Kilmarnock before joining
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in ...
in February 2015. After a loan spell with
Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been mem ...
between September 2015 to January 2016, Muirhead was released by Dundee United in April 2016, before signing for
Heart of Midlothian. In 2017, he moved to
Milton Keynes Dons, then spent a season at
Dunfermline Athletic.
He has represented Scotland at all levels up to
U19 level.
Early life
Born in
Irvine Irvine may refer to:
Places On Earth Antarctica
*Irvine Glacier
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Australia
* Irvine Island
*Mount Irvine, New South Wales
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United Kingdom
*Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scot ...
, Scotland, Muirhead was known for playing football and golf locally, and was mentioned on several occasions in his local newspaper.
Muirhead is also the first and still the only boy to win both the West of Scotland Cup and Scottish Cup when representing Annanhill Primary School during year 6 and year 7 when he was Captain of the schools team.
Club career
Kilmarnock
Muirhead joined
Kilmarnock academy before joining the first team. He made his professional league debut in the last game of the season, coming on as a substitute in the second half for
Cillian Sheridan, in a 3–1 loss against
St Mirren, which was
Kenny Shiels
Kenny Shiels (born 27 April 1956 in Magherafelt)Marshall Gillespie, ''The Northern Ireland Football Yearbook 1996/97'', UTV Books, 1996, p. 59 is a former Northern Irish football player and manager, who is currently the manager of the Northern I ...
's last game as Kilmarnock Manager.
Muirhead's playing time in the 2013–14 season soon increased with 21 appearances and scoring twice against
Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been mem ...
. and
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 ...
. His first team chance attracted interests from English clubs.
In the first half of the 2014–15 season, Muirhead added two more goals to his career tally, against
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...
and St Mirren. His two goals to his tally career led
Daily Record naming Muirhead as the next successor to
Kris Boyd.
Dundee United
Muirhead left Kilmarnock to sign for
Dundee United
Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in ...
on the transfer deadline day for a fee of £150,000 plus add-ons, as well as signing a three-year deal. The sale of Muirhead caused the Kilmarnock manager
Allan Johnston
Allan Johnston (born 14 December 1973) is a Scottish football player and coach, who was most recently the manager of Queen of the South.
Johnston started his professional playing career with Heart of Midlothian and then followed on to French ...
to resign in protest.
Celtic was also keen to sign Muirhead, having signed Dundee United's
Stuart Armstrong and
Gary Mackay-Steven
Gary Sean Mackay-Steven (born 31 August 1990) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a winger for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian. He will become a free agent on 30 June 2023.
Having not made the first team at Englis ...
. Muirhead made his Dundee United debut, coming on as a substitute for
Henri Anier
Henri Anier (born 17 December 1990) is an Estonian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Thai League 1 club Muangthong United and the Estonia national team.
Club career Flora
Anier came through the Flora youth system. He moved to ...
, in a 3–2 loss against Kilmarnock. He scored his first goal for the club in a 1–0 win against
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), ...
on 2 May. He followed this up three days later with another goal, in a 2–1 defeat against
Inverness Caledonian Thistle.
On 1 September 2015, Muirhead was loaned to fellow
Scottish Premiership
The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...
club
Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. The club have been mem ...
on an initial three-month deal. Muirhead scored his first and second goal, including a 30-yard strike, for Thistle in a 5–2 win on 28 November against his former club Kilmarnock. He returned to Dundee United on 4 January 2016 following the expiry of his loan period. Muirhead did not play for United after his return, and was released from his contract in April 2016.
Heart of Midlothian
Muirhead signed a one-year deal with
Scottish Premiership
The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottis ...
side
Heart of Midlothian in June 2016. On 30 November 2016, Muirhead scored twice in a 2–0 win over
Rangers.
Milton Keynes Dons
On 19 January 2017, Muirhead signed a two-and-a-half-year deal to join English
League One side
Milton Keynes Dons for an undisclosed fee.
He made his debut coming on as a substitute in a 5–3 home league win over Northampton Town on 21 January 2017. On 1 April 2017, Muirhead scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 home league win over
Gillingham. On 13 March 2018, Muirhead scored twice in a 3–2 home win against
Rotherham United
Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around ...
.
Dunfermline Athletic
On 31 August 2018, Muirhead joined
Scottish Championship
The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...
club
Dunfermline Athletic for an undisclosed fee, signing a one-year deal. He left in May 2019.
Greenock Morton
On 12 June 2019, Muirhead signed for
Greenock Morton on a one-year contract. He scored his first goal for the club in a 0–5 victory against
Annan Athletic in the Scottish League Cup group stages on 23 July 2019.
Muirhead would have a slow start to life at Morton, scoring very rarely for the club. He would be offered another contract by manager
David Hopkin at the early end of the season brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
His second season in white and blue was also fairly quiet, scoring 4 goals for the season, 3 of these coming in both legs of the Championship play-off final against
Airdrieonians, including a stunning 18-yard volley at Cappielow. Muirhead was promptly offered another year-long contract following this.
Muirhead started slowly again in season 2021/2022, however his form took a slight turn for the better under Manager
Dougie Imrie, scoring 4 times in the second half of the season, including against
Motherwell
Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...
and his former club Partick Thistle. Muirhead would sign a 2 year contract in the summer of 2022.
Muirhead would finally regain his form in the 2022/2023 season, scoring his first goal of the season against
Ayr United in a 2-1 home defeat, however would go on to hit the 10 goal mark in a season for the first time in his career. Muirhead was also awarded Championship Player of the Month for September/October. He would go on to finish the season with a total of 13 goals, scoring on the last day of the season in a 2-1 away win over
Cove Rangers, a goal which would relegate the Aberdeenshire side to league 1.
International career
Muirhead has previously represented Scotland at
U16,
U17,
U18 and
U19 international levels. While playing for Scotland U19, Muirhead scored a goal that was nominated for a "goal of the season" award by
UEFA
Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs foo ...
. On 13 March 2018, Muirhead was called up to the Scotland
U21 national team for the first time.
Career statistics
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muirhead, Robbie
1996 births
Living people
Scottish men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
Scottish Premier League players
Scottish Professional Football League players
English Football League players
Kilmarnock F.C. players
Scotland men's youth international footballers
Footballers from Irvine, North Ayrshire
Dundee United F.C. players
Partick Thistle F.C. players
Heart of Midlothian F.C. players
Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players
Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players
Greenock Morton F.C. players