Full name Austin MacPhee Years Team Name Austin MacPhee | Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 1997-1999 Forfar Athletic F.C. | |
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Date of birth (1979-10-11) 11 October 1979 (age 36) Current team Northern Ireland national football team | ||
Place of birth Kirkcaldy, Scotland | ||
Austin macphee interview sept 20
Austin MacPhee (born 11 October 1979) is a Scottish football player and coach who is currently assistant head coach of Scottish Premiership team Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and also an assistant coach with the Northern Ireland national team.
Contents
- Austin macphee interview sept 20
- Playing career
- Cupar Hearts
- Cowdenbeath
- St Mirren
- Mexico and World Cup 2014
- Northern Ireland
- Heart of Midlothian
- Entrepreneur
- AMsoccer
- References
Playing career
MacPhee was a youth team player with Forfar Athletic, but didn't progress to the first team. He moved to the United States aged 20 and spent three years playing college soccer for UNC Wilmington Seahawks. He then had one year with Romanian club Dacia Unirea Brăila and three years in Japan with FC Kariya, where he ended his playing career.
Cupar Hearts
In his first season as a head coach, MacPhee guided Cupar Hearts to Fife Amateur Cup victory for the first time in 112 years and to the Scottish Amateur Cup Final at Hampden Park. He resigned after one season in charge to take an assistant coach job with Cowdenbeath.
Cowdenbeath
Head Coach Danny Lennon hired MacPhee after seeing his coaching ability on the UEFA A Licence and noting his success at Cupar Hearts. During his time as part of Lennon’s backroom staff the Club achieved back-to-back promotions moving from Division II to the Championship.
St Mirren
When Lennon joined St Mirren in 2011 MacPhee also departed from Cowdenbeath but only teamed up again with Lennon in 2012 due to increasing growth of his business, AMsportstours. As part of Lennon’s back room staff the Club achieved their highest Premiership finish in 2012 of 8th, followed by winning their first trophy in 27 years in 2013 (the Scottish League Cup) then repeating their 8th-place finish in 2014.
MacPhee helped secure the signing of Esmaël Gonçalves on loan from Rio Ave. Goncalves scored after 8 minutes of his debut, in a 3-2 victory over Celtic at Hampden Park. MacPhee was credited with the tactical plan behind the victory in post match comments by Manager Danny Lennon and team captain Steven Thompson. Goncalves went on to score 10 goals in three months, including a goal in the final victory over Hearts.
Mexico and World Cup 2014
MacPhee was recruited as part of the backroom staff of the Mexico National Team for the 2014 World Cup and was responsible for opposition analysis as Mexico recruited both he and Atletico Madrid analyst Antonio Perez for Brazil 2014. MacPhee had impressed the Mexican Technical Staff during an interview for a Head Coach job in the Mexican Championship in early 2014, a job he was offered prior to a Club takeover.
Northern Ireland
MacPhee resigned from his post at St Mirren in March 2014 to become an assistant coach with the Northern Ireland National Team after being head hunted by Head Coach Michael O'Neill. MacPhee joined the squad for the first time for their game in Montevideo, Uruguay in May 2014 as they prepared for their Euro 2016 qualifying campaign. In his first qualifying campaign working with Northern Ireland, the team made a historic start winning their first three games and going on to maintain their form with excellent performances against Finland, Romania and Hungary. Following their 3–1 home win against Greece, Northern Ireland secured qualification for the European Championships for the first time in history. After the match Head Coach Michael O'Neill praised the efforts of MacPhee and his "obsessive attention to detail" on BBC Radio 5 Live.
Northern Ireland went on to secure a draw in Helsinki which secured them as group winners for the first time in national history as they became the first team in history to win a group having being ranked in pot five. Following Northern Ireland defeating Slovenia 1-0 in Belfast the team created history by going 10 games undefeated, former Manchester United keeper Roy Carroll and Head Coach Michael O'Neill both praised MacPhee's work with the players as they prepare for Euro 2016.
Northern Ireland were drawn in a group with Germany, Poland and Ukraine for their first appearance at a major finals and progressed to the knock-out stages after a historic 2-0 win over Ukraine in Lyon. MacPhee received increased media attention at this time due to being the "only Scot at the Euros" after all home nations qualified bar Scotland. Northern Ireland were eliminated 1-0 in round of 16 following an own goal from a Gareth Bale cross. The team returned to Belfast to a heroes reception and a crowd of 20,000 at the Titanic Quarter in the city
Heart of Midlothian
On 6 December 2016 MacPhee agreed to take over as new assistant coach to Ian Cathro at Heart of Midlothian. The club announced that MacPhee would continue to work with Northern Ireland.
Entrepreneur
MacPhee is the founder and managing director of sports tours company AMsportstours. He has won a number of awards for entrepreneurship including the Shell and RBS Awards. He has also been a guest speaker on entrepreneurship and business at high-profile events including the Scottish Business Awards and was nominated for the IOD Emerging Director of the Year Award.
AMsoccer
MacPhee founded the charity AMsoccer which provides football coaching to over 500 players. The organisation has had national acclaim winning the "Legacy Award" and producing up to 50 players for professional academies and the Scottish Performance Schools. The most notable graduate from the AMsoccer Curriculum was Louis Appere who was invited into AS Roma Academy prior to signing with Dundee United.