| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paul Anthony Hegarty | ||
| Date of birth | (1954-07-25)25 July 1954 (age 71) | ||
| Place of birth | Edinburgh, Scotland | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Tynecastle Boys Club | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1972–1974 | Hamilton Academical | 67 | (17) |
| 1974–1990 | Dundee United | 493 | (52) |
| 1990 | St. Johnstone | 14 | (1) |
| 1990–1992 | Forfar Athletic | 40 | (1) |
| Total | 628 | (76) | |
| International career | |||
| 1978 | Scottish League XI[1] | 1 | (0) |
| 1979–1983 | Scotland | 8 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1990–1992 | Forfar Athletic | ||
| 1999 | Aberdeen | ||
| 2002–2003 | Dundee United | ||
| 2008–2009 | Livingston | ||
| 2015–2016 | Montrose | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Paul Anthony Hegarty (born 25 July 1954) is a Scottishfootball player and manager. He was captain ofDundee United during their most successful era in the 1970s and 1980s, winning theScottish league championship in 1983 and theScottish League Cup twice. Hegarty won eight full international caps forScotland. He has managedForfar Athletic,Aberdeen, Dundee United,Livingston andMontrose.
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Hegarty's senior career began as astriker withHamilton Accies in 1972.
In November 1974,Dundee United managerJim McLean signed him for a fee of £27,500. Two years later, McLean transformed Hegarty's career when he experimented by pairing him withDave 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 centraldefender. As club captain, Hegarty led United to their first ever major trophy, theScottish League Cup in1979, which they retained the following year.
In1982–83, Hegarty was an ever-present as United captured theScottish League title.[2] Hegarty temporarily played as agoalkeeper during a match againstMorton that season, afterHamish McAlpine was injured.[2] He also featured in many notable victories in European competition, albeit injury restricted his participation in United's run to the1987 UEFA Cup Final.
In recognition of his contribution to Dundee United, the club allowed him to leave on a free transfer in January 1990.
He briefly played forSt. Johnstone, helping them to promotion.
Hegarty represented his country between 1979 and 1983, captaining the side againstNorthern Ireland in his eighth and final appearance forScotland. He is widely regarded as one of the best central halves to have never been a regular for Scotland. He also turned out for theunder-21 side as a permitted over-age player and represented theScottish League.[1]
Hegarty's first coaching role was withForfar Athletic as player/manager. The team were relegated in1992 and Hegarty left shortly afterwards.
He then had coaching roles with Dundee United (leavingTannadice in 1995),Hearts andAberdeen. Following the dismissal ofAlex Miller in January 1999, he was appointed Aberdeen manager on an interim basis. 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. This became a manager role in October 2002 after chairmanEddie Thompson was unable to prise first-choiceIan McCall fromFalkirk.[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]
Hegarty continued to work in coaching, having been on the staff of bothLivingston[7] and thenDunfermline.[8] While at Dunfermline, Hegarty was approached byInverness CT to be part of the management with former Dundee United colleagueMaurice Malpas,[9] although the move never materialised. He was eventually appointed as assistant to Malpas atMotherwell on 25 May 2006,[10] although later replaced byScott Leitch when Malpas was sacked in June 2007.[11]
In March 2008, Hegarty became one of new Scotland managerGeorge Burley's scouts for the World Cup qualifying group.[12] In December 2008 he was appointed as the manager ofLivingston afterRoberto Landi was sacked.[13] Livingston had severe financial problems, however, and Hegarty left the post a few months later. He left his position with the Scotland national team in November 2009.[14]
Hegarty returned to Dundee United in February 2010.[15] Following the resignation of managerPeter Houston in January 2013, Hegarty was named as the club's caretaker manager. While he was due to take charge of an SPL match against Motherwell, the match was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch, andJackie McNamara was named as the club's manager before the next match came around.[16] Hegarty left the club soon afterwards.[17]
Hegarty returned to management in February 2015 when he was appointed manager ofMontrose, then placed last inScottish League Two.[18] He couldn't prevent the side from finishing last at the end of the2014–15 season which was the first season that a new play-off system with a non-Scottish Professional Football League from both theHighland Football League andLowland Football League. The club won the first two-legged final againstBrora Rangers of theHighland 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 teammateJohn 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]
Hegarty's elder brotherKevin played forDunfermline Athletic as did his nephew (Kevin's son),Ryan.[22][23] His sonChris came through theDundee academy and had a 13-year playing career with teams across the north-east of Scotland, includingPeterhead,Arbroath,Forfar Athletic and two spells withMontrose, the latter of which saw Chris end his career having been signed by his father.[24]
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Scotland | League | Scottish Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1972–73 | Hamilton Academical | Scottish Division Two | 81 | 22 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 81 | 22 | |||
| 1973–74 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||||||||
| 1974–75 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||||||||
| Dundee United | Scottish Division One | 17 | 4 | 2 | 0 | - | - | 19 | 4 | |||
| 1975–76 | Premier Division | 33 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 43 | 11 | |
| 1976–77 | 36 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | - | 43 | 9 | |||
| 1977–78 | 36 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 50 | 9 | ||
| 1978–79 | 36 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 5 | ||
| 1979–80 | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 40 | 2 | ||
| 1980–81 | 33 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 11 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 55 | 10 | ||
| 1981–82 | 36 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 56 | 4 | ||
| 1982–83 | 36 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 55 | 5 | ||
| 1983–84 | 36 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 57 | 5 | ||
| 1984–85 | 33 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 50 | 5 | ||
| 1985–86 | 36 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 52 | 6 | ||
| 1986–87 | 23 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 38 | 5 | ||
| 1987–88 | 41 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 57 | 2 | ||
| 1988–89 | 29 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 41 | 1 | ||
| 1989–90 | 31 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 41 | 0 | ||
| St Johnstone | Scottish First Division | 14 | 1 | N/A | N/A | - | 14 | 1 | ||||
| 1990–91 | Forfar Athletic | 40 | 1 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 40 | 1 | ||||
| 1991–92 | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||||||||
| Career total | 654 | 76 | 63 | 7 | 87 | 12 | 69 | 12 | 873 | 107 | ||
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| 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 | |||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
