Billy Dodds

Billy Dodds in 2008 with Queen of the South the start of his coaching career
Personal information
Full name	William Dodds[1]
Date of birth	(1969-02-05)5 February 1969 (age 56)[1]
Place of birth	New Cumnock,[1] Scotland
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[2]
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
	Chelsea
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986–1989	Chelsea	3	(0)
1987	→Partick Thistle (loan)	30	(9)
1989–1994	Dundee	174	(68)
1994	St Johnstone	20	(6)
1994–1998	Aberdeen	140	(49)
1998–1999	Dundee United	45	(25)
1999–2003	Rangers	65	(21)
2003–2006	Dundee United	68	(14)
2006	Partick Thistle	2	(0)
Total		547	(192)
International career
1996–2001	Scotland	26	(7)
Managerial career
2006	Dundee United (caretaker)
2021–2023	Inverness Caledonian Thistle
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

William Dodds (born 5 February 1969) is a Scottishfootball coach and formerplayer who was most recently themanager ofScottish Championship clubInverness Caledonian Thistle and works with BBC Scotland match commentary these days.

His playing career started with English clubChelsea and the rest of his career was spent in Scotland withPartick Thistle,Dundee,St Johnstone,Aberdeen,Dundee United andRangers. Dodds made 26 appearances forScotland, scoring seven goals.

He has had coaching spells atQueen of the South,Dundee,Ross County and Inverness Caledonian Thistle. After a spell as their assistant manager, Inverness appointed Dodds as their manager in 2021. He guided them to the2023 Scottish Cup final, but was sacked later that year.

Born inNew Cumnock, Dodds began his career with English clubChelsea in 1986. He made his senior debut on loan toPartick Thistle in1987–88.^[3] After making only three appearances for Chelsea, he was transferred toDundee in 1989. He scored 68 league goals in 174 appearances for Dundee, winning aScottish First Division title in the1991–92 season and scoring ahat-trick in the1990 Scottish Challenge Cup Final.^[4]

Dodds moved toSt Johnstone, for a club record £400,000 transfer fee in January 1994 but moved toAberdeen within six months.

Dodds was Aberdeen's record signing at £800,000.^[5] During his time atPittodrie, he scored important goals to prevent relegation in1994–95^[5] and was part of the side that won the1995–96 Scottish League Cup, scoring asThe Dons beat his former club Dundee in the November 1995 final^[6] having also netted both goals in the semi-final victory the previous month.^[7] Dodds remained at Aberdeen until September 1998, when managerAlex Miller used him – along with £700,000 – in a swap deal to bringRobbie Winters to Pittodrie Stadium fromDundee United.^[8]

Dodds enjoyed something of a rebirth when Aberdeen offered him and cash for Winters. Restored to playing as a striker, Dodds' full debut for United saw a hat-trick against former club St Johnstone, earning him instant hero status. During his time atTannadice, he scored 25 goals in 45 league appearances.

In December 1999, less than fifteen months after joining United, 30-year-old Dodds was signed forRangers (the club he supported in childhood)^[9] by managerDick Advocaat for £1.3m, following injuries to forwardsMichael Mols andJonatan Johansson.^[10] Dodds proved an instant success atIbrox, scoring goals domestically and in European competition. Dodds was part of the squad that won a League and Scottish Cupdouble in2000, and a cup double in2002.^[11] He has described his time with Rangers as "the pinnacle of my career".^[9] First team opportunities dried up later in his stay, leading to his departure in January 2003.

With few first team opportunities under new Rangers managerAlex McLeish, Dodds returned to Dundee United in January 2003 as he was swapped forSteven Thompson. On Dodds' second debut for United, he scored the first equaliser in a 2–2 draw at home toKilmarnock.^[12]

During 2005, Dodds signed a new contract at Dundee United that would see him work with managerGordon Chisholm as both player and first team coach. Now playing more in midfield or as a sweeper as his pace began to slow, Dodds helped United avoid relegation that year. When Chisholm was sacked as manager in January 2006, Dodds took over as caretaker manager for one match, a 2–1 win againstFalkirk in the Premier League.^[13] WhenCraig Brewster took over as manager the following week, Dodds left the club. He then signed forSecond Division club Partick Thistle as a player later that month, but left after making only three appearances.

Dodds gained his firstScotlandcap on 5 October 1996 againstLatvia while playing for Aberdeen, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute in the1998 FIFA World Cup Qualifier win inRiga. He was in the starting line-up for the following fixture againstEstonia inTallinn four days later, but a scheduling dispute meant the home team did not adhere to a quickly-rearranged afternoon kick-off time, andthe match was abandoned at kick-off with no caps awarded to the Scotland players; the fixture was re-arranged for the following February, but Dodds was not selected.^[14][15]

His form atDundee United attracted the attentions ofScotland coachCraig Brown, who restored Dodds to the Scotland squad after a twelve-month absence. During his time with United, he featured in ten competitive international matches, including theUEFA Euro 2000 play-off matches againstEngland, scoring four times duringthe qualifying, with his first two goals for Scotland coming against Estonia atTynecastle Park, and a long-range winning goal away toBosnia and Herzegovina.^[16]

He continued to be selected whilst at Rangers, with his 26th and final cap coming in September 2001 againstBelgium, a match which Scotland lost 2-0 meaning they would not qualify for the2002 FIFA World Cup.^[17] He scored three times inthe group taking his goals total to seven, all in competitive matches.

Gordon Chisholm appointed Dodds as strikers' coach atQueen of the South.^[18]Queens made it to the2008 Scottish Cup Final, which they lost 3–2 toRangers. This led to the club's first appearance in a UEFA organised competition, the2008–09 UEFA Cup.^[19]

Chisholm selected Dodds to be his assistant manager when he was appointed manager ofDundee in March 2010. In October 2010, as Dundee enteredadministration, Chisholm and Dodds were made redundant as the administrator Bryan Jackson set about the task of saving the club fromliquidation.^[20] Dodds subsequently objected to thecompany voluntary arrangement (CVA) that took Dundee out of administration in 2011.^[21]

On 9 September 2014, Dodds become assistant manager toJim McIntyre atRoss County.^[22] He left the club on 25 September 2017 when both he and McIntyre were sacked.^[23] When McIntyre was appointed Dundee manager in October 2018, Dodds was linked with the assistant position there.^[24][21] This move did not proceed as Dundee fans objected to Dodds due to his vote against the CVA, andJimmy Boyle was appointed assistant instead.^[21]

Dodds joinedInverness Caledonian Thistle as an assistant to interim managerNeil McCann during the latter part of the 2020–21 season afterJohn Robertson went on compassionate leave.^[25] At the end of that season Inverness appointed Dodds as their new head coach, with Robertson becoming their sporting director.^[26] In his first full season as manager, Dodds guided Inverness to thePremiership playoff final, but they lost 6–2 on aggregate toSt Johnstone despite going on a 11 game winless streak between December and March.^[27] In his second season they reached the2023 Scottish Cup final, which they lost 3–1 toCeltic although their final appearance only happened after fellowChampionship sideQueens Park fielded an ineligible player.^[28] Dodds and his assistant Barry Wilson were sacked on 17 September 2023, with the team bottom of theChampionship at the time and have just one point from five league games and being knocked out of theChallenge Cup and theLeague Cup.^[29]

On 24 February 2025, Dodds was appointed as an assistant manager atScottish Premiership sideRangers. Dodds worked under interim Head Coach and former Rangers team mateBarry Ferguson.^[30]

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dodds goal.

List of international goals scored by Billy Dodds

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	10 October 1998	Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh, Scotland	Estonia	1–1	3–2	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
2				3–2
3	14 October 1998	Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland	Faroe Islands	2–0	2–1	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
4	4 September 1999	Olimpijski Stadion, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying
5	24 March 2001	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland	Belgium	1–0	2–2	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
6				2–0
7	28 March 2001	Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland	San Marino	3–0	4–0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification

As of match played 16 September 2023

Managerial record by team and tenure

Team	Nat	From	To	Record								Ref
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Dundee United (caretaker)		10 January 2006	16 January 2006	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1	100.00	[32]
Inverness Caledonian Thistle		1 June 2021	17 September 2023	110	43	31	36	158	135	+23	039.09	[33]
Career Total				111	44	31	36	159	136	+23	039.64	—

Dundee

• Scottish Challenge Cup:1990–91
• Scottish First Division:1991–92

Aberdeen

• Scottish League Cup:1995–96

Rangers

• Scottish Premier League:1999–2000
• Scottish Cup:1999–2000^[34]
• Scottish League Cup:2001–02^[35]

Inverness CT

• Scottish Cup: Runner-up:2022–23^[36]

• List of footballers in Scotland by number of league appearances (500+)

• Billy Dodds at Soccerbase
• Billy Dodds at theScottish Football Association
• Club profile atSporting-Heroes.net
• International profile atSporting-Heroes.net
• Profile at Dundee United FC Historical Archive
• Profile atAFC Heritage Trust

• 1969 births
• Living people
• Footballers from East Ayrshire
• Scottish men's footballers
• Chelsea F.C. players
• Partick Thistle F.C. players
• Dundee F.C. players
• St Johnstone F.C. players
• Aberdeen F.C. players
• Dundee United F.C. players
• Rangers F.C. players
• Rangers F.C. non-playing staff
• Scotland men's international footballers
• Scotland men's B international footballers
• English Football League players
• Scottish Football League players
• Scottish Premier League players
• Dundee United F.C. non-playing staff
• Dundee F.C. non-playing staff
• Men's association football forwards
• Scottish radio personalities
• Scottish football managers
• Inverness Caledonian Thistle F.C. managers
• Scottish Professional Football League managers
• People from New Cumnock

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from July 2017
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use British English from January 2014
• Use dmy dates from January 2022