Gardner_Speirs
Gardner Speirs
Scottish footballer and manager
Walter Gardner Speirs (born 14 April 1963) is a Scottish football manager and former player.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Walter Gardner Speirs[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1963-04-14) 14 April 1963 (age 60) | ||
| Place of birth | Airdrie, Scotland | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Queen's Park (Head of Youth Development) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1980 | St Mirren B.C. | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1980–1989 | St Mirren | 90 | (16) |
| 1988 | → Kilmarnock (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 1989 | → Dunfermline Athletic (loan) | 4 | (0) |
| 1989 | Hartlepool United | 1 | (0) |
| 1990 | Airdrieonians | 9 | (1) |
| 1990–1991 | Bathgate Thistle | ||
| 1991–1992 | East Stirlingshire | 19 | (2) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1996–1998 | Clyde | ||
| 2002 | Aberdeen (caretaker) | ||
| 2005–2006 | Ross County (caretaker) | ||
| 2008–2013 | Queen's Park | ||
| 2021–2022 | Queen's Park (caretaker) | ||
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Playing
During his playing career, Speirs played for St Mirren, Kilmarnock (on loan), Dunfermline Athletic (on loan), Hartlepool United, Airdrieonians, Bathgate Thistle and East Stirlingshire.[2]
Managerial
He was on the coaching staff at Clyde, and from 1996 to 1998 held the position of Manager. Subsequently, he joined the coaching staff at Aberdeen, eventually taking the role of assistant manager and in December 2002 was briefly named caretaker manager following the resignation of Ebbe Skovdahl.[3] He worked as caretaker manager of Ross County in October 2005 until the end of the 2005–06 season.[4] He became assistant manager of Partick Thistle in May 2007.[5]
He became manager at Queen's Park after taking over from Billy Stark in 2008. Speirs extended his contract at the end of the 2009–10 season for a further two years,[6] subsequently signing another extension on 27 January 2012 through until 2014. [7] He left Queen's Park by mutual consent in December 2013.[8]
Spiers briefly joined the Rangers Academy as a youth coach in March 2015.[9] On 28 August 2015, Gardner joined Lowland League side East Kilbride as assistant manager.[10] He left that position in March 2016.[citation needed]
Having performed the role of Head of Youth Development for Queen's Park for a few years, Speirs was named as caretaker manager of the club on 31 December 2021, following the departure of Laurie Ellis.[11]
- As of 17 May 2022[update]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Clyde |  |
1996 | 1998 | |||||
| Aberdeen (caretaker) | |
2002 | 2002 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 000.00 |
| Ross County (caretaker) | |
October 2005 | June 2006 | 28 | 11 | 10 | 7 | 039.29 |
| Queen's Park | |
January 2008 | December 2013 | 258 | 92 | 54 | 112 | 035.66 |
| Queen's Park (caretaker) | |
December 2021 | June 2022 | 22 | 7 | 11 | 4 | 031.82 |
- "Gardner Speirs". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
- "GARDNER SPEIRS". Post War English & Scottish Football League A – Z Player's Database. Retrieved 1 December 2007.
- "Dons appoint Speirs". BBC Sport. BBC. 5 December 2002. Retrieved 1 December 2007.
- "County stick with interim Speirs". BBC Sport. BBC. 9 March 2006. Retrieved 1 December 2007.
- "McCall outlines new Partick plans". BBC Sport. BBC. 30 May 2007. Retrieved 1 December 2007.
- "Manager Gardner Speirs extends Queen's Park contract". BBC Sport. BBC. 20 May 2010. Retrieved 21 May 2010.
- "Queen's Park: Gardner Speirs leaves by mutual consent". BBC Sport. BBC. 21 December 2013. Retrieved 21 December 2013.
- Dickinson, Andrew (19 March 2015). "Rangers hire three new coaches in academy shake-up". The Scotsman. Retrieved 6 January 2016.
- Thomson, Paul (2 September 2015). "East Kilbride assistant Gardner Speirs delighted to be back in the game". Daily Record.
- "Queen's Park FC - Laurie Ellis". Queen's Park Football Club. 31 December 2021. Retrieved 31 December 2021.