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Paul Sturrock

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Paul Sturrock
Paul Sturrock
Personal information
Full name Paul Whitehead Sturrock
Position(s) Striker (retired)
Team information
Current team
 Swindon Town (manager)

Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956 in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, Scotland) is the current manager of Swindon Town and the former manager of Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton, Plymouth Argyle, Dundee United and St Johnstone. He was also a Scotland international footballer. He is known by fans as Luggy (from the Scots language word lugs, Eng: ears). He is renowned for his use of the slang word "pointage", which seems to mean the obtaining of points in a league competition.

Playing career

Early days

He was educated at Pitlochry primary and secondary schools and played for junior side Grandtully Vale. In 1972 he joined Vale of Atholl of the Perthshire Amateur First Division, and in the 1972-73 season he scored approximately 100 goals. He then moved on to Bankfoot Athletic, and in the 1973-74 season he scored 53 goals as they finished 2nd in the Scottish Junior FA First Division.

He had trials with Morton and St. Johnstone, but was signed for Dundee United by then manager Jim McLean on 1 July 1974.

Dundee United

He made his debut in the European Cup Winners' Cup match v Juil Petrosani of Romania on 18 September 1974 and his league debut on 28 December 1974 as a substitute v Motherwell.

In his first season at Tannadice he made nine League appearances and came on from the substitutes’ bench for three more and in the process he scored six goals. His first goal for Dundee United was one of two he scored in a 2-2 draw with Rangers at Tannadice on 5 April 1975. Dundee United finished fourth in the League that year. In the following season, he made 18 League appearances, eight as sub, and scored three times. He was also played as a substitute in two of the three Scottish Cup ties and was on from the start in five out of six League Cup games and scored once. He also started in three of the four UEFA Cup games netting one in that competition, too.

1976-77 not only saw Dundee United consolidate their Premier League position but throughout the campaign Paul Sturrock was an ever-present, playing in all 36 League games and incredibly, scoring 15 times. Adding that total to one each in the Scottish Cup and League Cup he was top scorer at the Club that year. He played in United’s only Scottish Cup tie, a 4-1 defeat at Paisley. He also appeared four times plus once as sub out of the six League Cup ties. In a short-lived Anglo Scottish Cup campaign he was brought on as sub in one leg of the tie against Aberdeen. This season was also significant in international terms for Paul as he made his Under-21 debut against Czechoslovakia in a 0-0 draw on 12 October 1976 in the first ever Scotland Under-21 side. Four months later on 9 February 1977 he netted his first international goal in an Under-21 game in which Scotland beat Wales 3-2.

He continued to be a regular in Dundee United’s side and featured heavily in European competition.

1982-83 was to prove to be, arguably, the pinnacle of Paul’s career at Dundee United (although some might say that his World Cup Finals appearance three years later was his zenith). In a season that saw United lose only four League games, they won the Scottish League Championship and Paul contributed to this success with eight goals in his 28 appearances. He also set up Ralph Milne for his spectacular fourth minute opener against Dundee in the final League game and set the side on the final steps to the ultimate reward. The Scottish Cup that year had been yet another early exit at the hands of St. Mirren. Paul scored seven in the nine games he turned out in on the way to a League Cup quarter-final exit. He also played in seven of the eight games and scored once in a UEFA cup run that ended with an exit in Prague.

His playing career ended in 1989. In 385 league appearances from 1974 to 1989 he scored 109 goals for the club. His final tally of 576 games in which he scored 171 goals makes him Dundee United’s top attacking player of all time.

Paul stayed at Tannadice for the next five years as a coach, passing on his knowledge in the role of coach. He left the Club in 1993 after twenty years continuous service.

He once held the record for the most goals in a Scottish Premier League fixture, scoring five times for Dundee United against Morton on 17 November 1984. This has since been equalled in 1997 by Marco Negri for Rangers against Dundee United, by Kenny Miller in 2000 for the Ibrox club against St. Mirren and by Kris Boyd for Kilmarnock against Dundee United in 2004.

Scotland

He made his full international debut for Scotland v Wales on 16 May 1981, and on 8 November 1981, he scored his first goal for Scotland in the 2-1 World Cup qualifier defeat v Portugal in Lisbon.

Sturrock won 20 caps for his country, scoring 3 goals. He was a non-playing member of the Scotland squad for the 1982 World Cup finals in Spain and appeared twice in Mexico in 1986.

Management

Since retirement in 1989, he has become a coach and latterly a first team manager. He is one of the most qualified coaches in Europe, and he assessed current Chelsea manager José Mourinho at one point.

St. Johnstone and Dundee United

In 1993, he became the manager of a First Division team, St Johnstone. During this time, he is reported to have suffered a heart attack, although he claims that he only suffered hyperventilation, brought on by tiredness and stress; nonetheless he guided them to promotion in 1996-97.

In September 1998 Sturrock was appointed manager at Dundee United. He made a bright start to his time as manager at Tannadice, where he was feted by the fans for his excellent spell as a player. His United team failed to recover from the sale of top scorer Billy Dodds in December 1999, when they were lying third in the table. The team scored few goals following Dodds' departure, and Sturrock resigned after two games of the 2000-01 season.

Plymouth Argyle

Sturrock shocked Dundee United fans by resigning from the club in August 2000. [1] Perhaps more shockingly, he made a bold move to manage Plymouth Argyle, a club which was struggling in the English Division Three. The following season, he guided them to the Division Three title with a record points total of 102. In October 2003, Sturrock had successfully taken Argyle back to the top of the Football League Second Division and left when Plymouth Argyle had just 12 games to play in what would prove to be another season when they would finish divisional champions. As a result of his success at Home Park he has remained a folk hero and was named as the manager of Argyle's all time team. During the troubled reign of his successor Bobby Williamson Argyle fans often chanted 'We want Luggy'.

Southampton

Sturrock was named as the successor to Gordon Strachan as manager of Southampton on 4 March 2004. On 23 August 2004 [2] it was announced that Sturrock was leaving the club 'by mutual consent', after a disappointing run of form and rumours of player unrest and boardroom dissatisfaction with his management.

Sheffield Wednesday

He was then appointed by League One club Sheffield Wednesday languishing in 14th place on September 23 2004, and he guided the club to the League One play-offs. After beating Brentford in the semi-final with an aggregate score of 3-1, Sturrock took Wednesday to the play-off final at the Millennium Stadium and beat Hartlepool United 4-2 after extra-time, winning promotion to the Championship.

Despite numerous injuries to key players he helped Wednesday to finish 10 points clear of relegation in their first season back in The Championship.

A slow start to the 2006-07 season sparked rumours that Wednesday were about to sack Sturrock, but this speculation looked to be false when he agreed a new four-year contract on 14 September. But he was sacked on the evening of 19 October[3], just five weeks and 3 games after agreeing this new deal. The new contract was agreed while the club were at the bottom of the League, while he was sacked when they were fourth from bottom.

Swindon Town

In late October, 2007 Swindon Town allowed their management team of Dennis Wise and Gustavo Poyet to join Leeds United. Wise had stabilised the Wiltshire outfit after being relegated into League One as a result of the disastrous 2005/2006 campaign under Andy King and later Iffy Onuora. Swindon had begun the season well but the Swindon season was beginning to stagnate during the latter stages of Wise’s tenure. Adrian Williams took control as caretaker-manager with Barry Hunter as his assistant for an unsuccessful two game stint which resulted in two loses for Swindon.

Meanwhile, after a surprising and emotional departure from Sheffield Wednesday the Scotsman declared that he would accept the first job offered to him. There were speculative rumours that Edinburgh based Scottish Premier League outfit Hibs were interested in Sturrock but the rumour was soon quashed after Hibs appointed John Collins. It was only Swindon Town was showed interest in Sturrock, mainly due to the fact that they were one of the only clubs that needed a manager at that time.

Swindon Town pounced at the opportunity to acquire the services of Sturrock and on November 7 2006 [4] Sturrock was confirmed as manager with Kevin Summerfield and John Blackley following him from Wednesday.

Sturrock's first game in charge came in the FA Cup tie versus Carlisle United, Swindon winning 3-1. The Robins won the following three games (none of which were convincing performances) before a 2-0 loss at Mansfield Town put an end to Sturrock's unbeaten run. The following fixture at eventual champions Walsall resulted in a 2-0 win and what was arguably Swindon's finest performance of the season.

Throughout the remainder of the campaign, Swindon Town grinded out results often settling for one goal advantages. With Swindon, Lincoln City and MK Dons all fighting for the last automatic promotion spot. Sturrock brings in Barry Corr from his old club Sheffield Wednesday in time for the televised fixture at promotion rivals Lincoln City - Corr's presence changes Swindon's fortunes in the final games of the season including a debut goal against Lincoln, a 3-2 win.

A 2-0 win at home to Mansfield Town results in premature promotion celebrations due to a late surge by MK Dons means that Swindon had to wait one more week. One week was prolonged even further after a dire 1-0 loss at Bristol Rovers.

However, on 5 May, 2007, Sturrock achieved promotion from the League Two with Swindon Town and will be looking to consolidate Swindon's status as a League One team during the forthcoming campaign.


Thus far, Sturrock's tenure at Swindon Town has has seen the Scot gain a reputation of bringing in staff and players that has worked under Sturrock during various sections of his managerial career - these include youth coach

Ex-Sturrock players that have been linked to Swindon since he took over have included Graham Coughlan and Yoann Folly.

Honours

As a player

(All with Dundee United)

As a manager

Note: Paul Sturrock was in charge for the first 30 games of Plymouth Argyle's 2003-04 Second Division success.

In January 2004, Sturrock came top of the Tissot Managers Performance League, which is run by the League Managers Association.

Managerial stats

Team Nat From To Record
G W L D Win %
St Johnstone Scotland August 1 1993 September 5 1998 197 90 51 56 45.68
Dundee United Scotland September 5 1998 August 7 2000 85 27 39 19 31.76
Plymouth Argyle England October 31 2000 March 4 2004 178 85 46 47 47.75
Southampton England March 4 2004 August 23 2004 13 5 6 2 38.46
Sheffield Wednesday England September 23 2004 October 19 2006 104 35 40 29 33.65
Swindon Town England November 7 2006 Present 32 18 8 6 56.25

See also

Preceded by Scottish Football Writers' Association
Footballer of the Year
1982 		Succeeded by
Preceded by St. Johnstone F.C. manager
1993-1998 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Dundee United F.C. manager
1998-2000 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Kevin Summerfield (caretaker)
 Plymouth Argyle F.C. manager
2000-2004 		Succeeded by
Kevin Summerfield (caretaker)
Preceded by Southampton F.C. Manager
2004 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Sheffield Wednesday F.C. manager
2004-2006 		Succeeded by
Sean McAuley (caretaker)
Preceded by
Adrian Williams (caretaker)
 Swindon Town F.C. manager
2006- 		Succeeded by
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