Scott Andrew McNiven (born 27 May 1978) is an English-born Scottish

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 ...

. He started his career at

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional association football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2025–26 EFL League Two, 2025–26 season, the team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the Eng ...

in 1995 before moving on to

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club () is a professional association football, football club based in Oxford, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football. Founded as Headingto ...

in 2002. He jointly managed Hyde with Steve Halford at the end of the 2010–11 season, before returning a year later to take up the full manager's post.

Career

Born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

, West Yorkshire, England, Played youth team football with Y.M.C.A of St Anne's and then he progressed through the youth ranks at

in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

where he eventually went on to make 222 appearances, before leaving in 2002 after ten years at the club. He then joined

where he stayed for two years making 85 appearances, before in 2004, he left the club and went on to play for

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

and then Chester City, but he was released by Chester in 2006 and was unable to find a new club. After his release from Chester McNiven spent time with

Morecambe Morecambe ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster district of Lancashire, England, on Morecambe Bay, part of the Irish Sea. In 2011 the parish had a population of 34,768. Name The first use of the name was by John Whit ...

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Fleetwood, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, the fourth level of the English football league system. Established in 1997, the current Flee ...

and

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is an area in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-west ...

respectively. McNiven joined

Conference National The National League, officially known as Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in England. The National League is the first division of the National League (English football), National Le ...

newcomers Farsley Celtic ahead of the 2007–08 season. His debut on 11 August 2007 saw him come up against his twin brother who was playing for

Stafford Rangers Stafford Rangers Football Club is a semi-professional English football team from Stafford which plays in the Northern Premier League Division One West. The team wear black and white stripes with black shorts. Stafford Rangers' rivals include ...

. It was Scott who came out on top, as Farsley clinched a 1–0 win. In July 2008 Scott joined

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wes ...

on a Free Transfer from Farsley Celtic. At the start of the 2009–10 season he joined up with his twin brother

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

at Hyde. Scott made his debut against

which Scott's Hyde won 1–0. On 17 October 2010, he scored his first goal for Hyde in a 3–1 defeat to Corby Town. He scored once more that season in a 4–3 defeat to the hands of Blyth Spatrans. He finished the 2009–2010 season with Hyde having played 42 games in all competitions scoring 2 goals. On 3 October 2010, McNiven was made assistant manager to Neil Tolson at Hyde following the departure of former assistant manager Glynn Hurst to

FC United of Manchester Football Club United of Manchester, more commonly known as FC United, is a semi-professional football club based in Moston, Manchester, England, that competes in the , the seventh tier of the English football league system, and plays home m ...

. He took over as joint player-manager with Steve Halford after the sacking of Neil Tolson on 4 April 2011. He was replaced as the joint-manager of Hyde before the start of the 2011–12 season by Gary Lowe. In May 2012, he was appointed as full-time manager when Gary Lowe resigned after just a year with the club. He was relieved of his duties on 2 January 2015 following a 7–1 defeat to Stalybridge Celtic.

Personal life

His

father A father is the male parent of a child. Besides the paternal bonds of a father to his children, the father may have a parental, legal, and social relationship with the child that carries with it certain rights and obligations. A biological fat ...

and

twin brother Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of Twin Last Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two e ...

, both named David, were also footballers. In 2007 whilst he was at

he was diagnosed with

testicular cancer Testicular cancer is cancer that develops in the testicles, a part of the male reproductive system. Symptoms may include a lump in the testicle or swelling or pain in the scrotum. Treatment may result in infertility. Risk factors include an c ...

, but made a full recovery. After his time with cancer, he went out to help others with the same illness.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McNiven, Scott 1978 births Living people Footballers from Leeds Footballers from Lytham St Annes Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Chester City F.C. players Morecambe F.C. players Guiseley A.F.C. players Fleetwood Town F.C. players Farsley Celtic F.C. players AFC Fylde players Hyde United F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Scottish football managers Hyde United F.C. managers Anglo-Scots Scottish twins