Gus MacPherson

Gus MacPherson

Gus MacPherson as St. Mirren manager
Personal information
Full name	Angus Ian MacPherson
Date of birth	(1968-10-11) 11 October 1968
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Height
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Queen's Park (Head coach)
Youth career
1984–1989	Rangers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1989–1990	Rangers	0	(0)
1989–1990	→ Exeter City (loan)	11	(1)
1990–2001	Kilmarnock	354	(15)
2001–2003	Dunfermline Athletic	39	(0)
2003–2004	St. Mirren	9	(0)
Total		413	(16)
Managerial career
2003–2010	St Mirren
2011–2012	Queen of the South
2014–	Queen's Park
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Angus Ian MacPherson (born 11 October 1968 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former football player and current manager of Scottish League Two side Queen's Park.

MacPherson's playing career saw spells at Rangers, Exeter City, Kilmarnock, Dunfermline Athletic and St. Mirren.

His management career began at his final playing club St. Mirren (initially player-manager for his first season) and Queen of the South before his current role.

Playing career

Rangers and loan to Exeter City

MacPherson started his career as a youth player with Rangers, but was unable to break into the first team, spending a period on loan to English side Exeter City.

Kilmarnock

In 1991 he moved to Kilmarnock, where he would enjoy the most successful period of his career becoming a regular fixture in the Rugby Park first team. He went on to play over 350 games at Kilmarnock and also was in the side that won the Scottish Cup with a 1–0 win over Falkirk at Ibrox Stadium.

Dunfermline Athletic

MacPherson left Kilmarnock in 2001 to join Dunfermline Athletic for two seasons before moving to St Mirren as player/assistant manager in 2003.

Manager career

St Mirren

MacPherson was then appointed as player/manager on 18 December 2003 after the resignation of John Coughlin. He retired from playing to concentrate solely on management at the end of the 2003–04 season.

MacPherson guided St. Mirren to second in 2004–05 finishing behind Falkirk. This was a significant improvement for the club having finished seventh the previous season. In the following season MacPherson guided St Mirren back to the Scottish Premier League having finished top of the First Division. He also guided the team to a 2–1 win in the Scottish League Challenge Cup final against Hamilton Academical with Simon Lappin and John Sutton netting the goals, becoming the only St. Mirren manager to win a domestic double.

In the 2006–07 season he retained St Mirren's place in the SPL, following a brief relegation fight. In the second last game of the season St. Mirren's place in the SPL was confirmed courtesy of a 3–2 win over Motherwell despite having been 2–0 down. This coupled with other results saw one of MacPherson's former clubs, Dunfermline relegated to the First Division.

In the following season and being continually challenged with budgetary constraints, MacPherson became the first St Mirren manager to be knocked out of both the Scottish League Cup and Scottish Cup by teams from a lower league in the same season. Despite these set-backs he retained St. Mirren's SPL status with 10th place in the division. This was St. Mirren's highest finish since the 1990–91 season, finishing one place above MacPherson's former club Kilmarnock and relegated Gretna.

In the 2008–09 season he led St Mirren to a win over Rangers at Love Street with Stephen McGinn netting the only goal of the game. Also in the same season he led St Mirren on a run of four unbeaten games, resulting in him receiving the SPL manager of the month award for December 2008. He also guided them to the semi-finals of the Scottish Cup, beating Celtic 1–0 in the quarter finals. This result came just a week after a 7–0 defeat at Celtic Park. St. Mirren were in a five club relegation battle, but a penultimate weekend win away to Falkirk, almost guaranteed safety. St Mirren stayed in the top flight on goal difference, two goals better off than Inverness.

In January 2010, after Jim Jefferies left Kilmarnock, MacPherson became the longest serving manager in the SPL. On 11 May 2010, St. Mirren announced that they had parted company with MacPherson.

Queen of the South

In June 2011, MacPherson was announced as the new manager of Dumfries club, Queen of the South on a one-year contract. His assistant manager was announced as Andy Millen. MacPherson left the club, declining to take up the offer of another year at Palmerston, after they were relegated to the Second Division in April 2012.

Queen's Park

MacPherson was appointed manager of Scottish League Two side Queen's Park in January 2014. He led the "Spiders" to the Scottish League One play-offs finals at the end of his first full season but lost to Stenhousemuir over two legs.

Managerial Statistics

As of match played 2 January 2016

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	Win %
St. Mirren		November 2003	May 2010	289	101	83	105	34.95
Queen of the South		June 2011	April 2012	42	10	12	20	23.81
Queen's Park		January 2014	Present	87	36	19	32	41.38
Total				418	146	115	157	34.93

Honours and Achievements

Player

Kilmarnock

• Scottish First Division promotion (1): 1992–93 (second tier)
• Scottish Cup (1): 1996–97

Manager

St. Mirren

• Scottish Challenge Cup (1): 2005–06
• Scottish First Division (1): 2005–06 (second tier)

References

8. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/32679093

External links

• Gus MacPherson career statistics at Soccerbase
• Gus MacPherson management career statistics at Soccerbase