Playing position Name Michael Oliver Years Team Role Football player | 1978–1983 Falkirk Position Defender 1983–1984 Cowdenbeath Current team Scotland | |
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Date of birth (1957-11-16) 16 November 1957 (age 58) Place of birth Kirkintilloch, Scotland | ||
Michael Oliver (born 16 November 1957) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager.
Career
Oliver had successful spells at QOS and Albion Rovers, winning the Division 2 championship. After retiring as a player, Oliver was appointed manager of Albion Rovers in 1991. He also worked as assistant manager to Gordon Dalziel at Ayr United, where he was building a growing reputation as a coach and especially in developing young players. Oliver then moved to be general manager at Clydebank.
Since leaving the latter of those positions, Oliver has build up a great reputation in the area of player identification and has worked as a scout for Dundee United, Wigan Athletic and Birmingham City. Oliver was hired by the Scottish Football Association after Craig Levein was appointed as national team manager. Levein explained at the time of Oliver's appointment that he wanted to inform his players about all of their opponents, which necessitated the hiring of a full-time scout.