Paul Hegarty

Paul Anthony Hegarty (born 25 July 1954 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish football player and manager. He was captain of Dundee United during their most successful era in the 1970s and 1980s, winning the Scottish league championship in 1983 and the Scottish League Cup twice. Hegarty won eight full international caps for Scotland. He has managed Forfar Athletic, Aberdeen, Dundee United, Livingston and Montrose.

For other people named Paul Hegarty, see Paul Hegarty (disambiguation).

Paul Hegarty
Personal information
Full name Paul Anthony Hegarty
Date of birth (1954-07-25) 25 July 1954
Place of birth Edinburgh, Scotland
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
Tynecastle Boys Club
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1972–1974 Hamilton Academical 81 (22)
1974–1990 Dundee United 493 (52)
1990 St. Johnstone 14 (1)
1990–1992 Forfar Athletic 40 (1)
Total 628 (76)
National team
1978 Scottish League XI[1] 1 (0)
1979–1983 Scotland 8 (0)
Teams managed
1990–1992 Forfar Athletic
1999 Aberdeen
2002–2003 Dundee United
2008–2009 Livingston
2015–2016 Montrose
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Playing career

Hamilton Academical

Hegarty's senior career began as a striker with Hamilton Accies in 1972.

Dundee United

In November 1974, Dundee United manager Jim McLean signed him for a fee of £27,500. Two years later, McLean transformed Hegarty's career when he experimented by pairing him with Dave Narey in United's central defence. The partnership they forged would be integral to United's successes for over a decade and Hegarty would develop into a top class central defender. As club captain, Hegarty led United to their first ever major trophy, the Scottish League Cup in 1979, which they retained the following year.

In 1982–83, Hegarty was an ever-present as United captured the Scottish League title.[2] Hegarty temporarily played as a goalkeeper during a match against Morton that season, after Hamish McAlpine was injured.[2] He also featured in many notable victories in European competition, albeit injury restricted his participation in United's run to the 1987 UEFA Cup Final.

In recognition of his contribution to Dundee United, the club allowed him to leave on a free transfer in January 1990.

St Johnstone

He briefly played for St. Johnstone, helping them to promotion.

Scotland

Hegarty represented his country between 1979 and 1983, captaining the side against Northern Ireland in his eighth and final appearance for Scotland. He is widely regarded as one of the best central halves to have never been a regular for Scotland. He also turned out for the under-21 side as a permitted over-age player and represented the Scottish League.[1]

Player manager

Forfar Athletic

He next before joined Forfar Athletic as player/manager. His tenure at Station Park ended in relegation in 1992 and Hegarty left shortly afterwards.

Management and coaching

Hegarty's next role was a return to Dundee United when he was offered a position on the club's coaching staff. After leaving Tannadice again in 1995 he went on to work for Hearts and Aberdeen in coaching capacities, returning to management at Aberdeen. Following the dismissal of Alex Miller, he was appointed as manager on an interim basis in January 1999. However, despite saving the club from relegation, Aberdeen elected at the end of the season not to continue with Hegarty in the job on a long-term basis. Once again, Dundee United offered Hegarty a coaching role, which became a manager role in October 2002 after chairman Eddie Thompson was unable to prise first-choice Ian McCall from Falkirk.[3] Initially appointed as caretaker,[4] Hegarty's role was to be extended until the end of the season[5] before he was sacked in January 2003 – and subsequently replaced with McCall.[6]

Since his latest departure from Tannadice, Hegarty continued to work in coaching, having been on the staff of both Livingston[7] and Dunfermline.[8] While at Dunfermline, Hegarty was approached by Inverness CT to be part of the management with former Dundee United colleague Maurice Malpas,[9] although the move never materialised. He was eventually appointed as assistant to Malpas at Motherwell on 25 May 2006,[10] although later replaced by Scott Leitch when Malpas was sacked in June 2007.[11] In March 2008, Hegarty was reported to be one of new Scotland manager George Burley's scouts for the World Cup qualifying group.[12] However, in December 2008 he was appointed as the manager of Livingston after Roberto Landi was sacked.[13] Livingston had severe financial problems, however, and Hegarty left the post a few months later. He has most recently been working as an assistant to George Burley with the Scotland national team until Burley was sacked on 16 November.[14] In February 2010 Paul returned 'home' when he took up the position of first team coach at the club he was most successful at as a player, Dundee United.[15] Following the resignation of manager Peter Houston in January 2013, Hegarty was named as the club's caretaker manager, almost exactly a decade after his own dismissal as manager. While he was due to take charge of an SPL match against Motherwell, the match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, and Jackie McNamara was named as the club's manager before the next match came around. The new manager soon confirmed that Hegarty would be staying at the club in some capacity, saying 'Heggy will be staying here. He's a tremendous person and a credit to himself the way he's conducted himself the last couple of days.'[16] However, it was announced soon after that Hegarty had left the club.[17]

Hegarty returned to management in February 2015 when he was appointed manager of Montrose, then placed last in Scottish League Two.[18] He couldn't prevent the side from finishing last at the end of the 2014–15 season which was the first season that a new play-off system with a non-Scottish Professional Football League from both the Highland Football League and Lowland Football League. The club won the first two-legged final against Brora Rangers of the Highland Football League to avoid relegation. Soon after, Hegarty was appointed permanent manager on a two-year contract at Links Park alongside assistant and former United teammate John Holt.[19] Hegarty was sacked by Montrose in November 2016, after a run of bad results left the club in ninth position in the league.[20][21]

Career statistics
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Scotland League Scottish Cup League Cup Europe Total
1972–73Hamilton AcademicalScottish Division Two8122N/AN/AN/A8122
1973–74N/AN/AN/A
1974–75N/AN/AN/A
Dundee UnitedScottish Division One17420--194
1975–76Premier Division3383140324311
1976–773661063-439
1977–78364428320509
1978–79365102020415
1979–80270207240402
1980–8133372114415510
1981–82362507082564
1982–833631010082555
1983–843643010081575
1984–85332506063505
1985–86365505061526
1986–87234414070385
1987–88411913040572
1988–89291602040411
1989–90310502030410
St JohnstoneScottish First Division141N/AN/A-141
1990–91Forfar Athletic401N/AN/AN/A401
1991–92N/AN/AN/A
Career total 6547663787126912873107

Honours and Achievements

Player
Dundee United
St Johnstone

Manager
Montrose

Managerial statistics
As of 12 November 2016
Team Nat From To Record
GWDLWin %
Forfar Athletic 1990 1992
Aberdeen (interim) January 1999 May 1999 16 4 1 11 025.00
Dundee United October 2002 January 2003 18 4 5 9 022.22
Livingston December 2008 April 2009 19 6 5 8 031.58
Montrose February 2015 November 2016 71 20 14 37 028.17
Total 124 34 25 65 027.42
  • no statistics currently available for Forfar Athletic.

See also

References
  1. [Paul Hegarty http://www.londonhearts.com/SFL/players/paulhegarty.html]
  2. Winton, Richard (28 December 2020). "Clocks, bridies & Jim McLean's pyjamas - Dundee Utd's 1983 title win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
  3. "McCall stays with Falkirk". BBC Sport. 9 October 2002. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  4. "Hegarty given time at United". BBC Sport. 6 October 2002. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  5. "Hegarty lands United job". BBC Sport. 5 November 2002. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  6. "Dundee Utd appoint McCall". BBC Sport. 13 February 2003. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  7. "Hegarty joins Livi". BBC Sport. 2 January 2004. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  8. "Cleland replaces Hegarty". BBC Sport. 21 June 2004. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  9. "Caley Thistle make approaches". BBC Sport. 10 November 2004. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  10. "Hegarty made Motherwell assistant". BBC Sport. 25 May 2006. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  11. "Malpas leaves post at Motherwell". BBC Sport. 1 June 2007. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  12. "Sunday's gossip column". BBC Sport. 30 March 2008. Retrieved 28 June 2008.
  13. "Livi confirm Hegarty as new boss". BBC Sport. 5 December 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  14. Burley sacked as Scotland manager, BBC Sport, 16 November 2009.
  15. "Hegarty confirms Tannadice return". BBC News. 2 February 2010.
  16. "Jackie McNamara: Dundee United players can thrive in heat of a packed house". Daily Record. 1 February 2013.
  17. "Dundee United announce club great Paul Hegarty's departure from Tannadice". Daily Record. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  18. Holme, Ben (19 February 2015). "Ex-Dons boss Hegarty takes over at Montrose". Evening Express. Aberdeen. Archived from the original on 20 February 2015. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
  19. http://spfl.co.uk/news/article/hegarty-signs-new-montrose-deal/
  20. "Paul Hegarty sacked as Montrose manager". Montrose Review. Johnston Publishing Ltd. 16 November 2016. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 16 November 2016.
  21. "Montrose look for new manager after sacking Paul Hegarty". BBC Sport. BBC. 17 November 2016. Retrieved 17 November 2016.
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