Paul Sturrock

Paul Whitehead Sturrock (born 10 October 1956) is a Scottish former football coach and former player.

In 1972, he joined Vale of Atholl of the Perthshire Amateur First Division (where he returned as coach in his latter days with Dundee United), and in the 1972–73 season he scored approximately 100 goals.

He then moved on to Bankfoot Athletic, and in the 1973–74 season he scored 53 goals as they finished 2nd in the Scottish Junior Fa First Division.

As a player, Sturrock spent his entire senior career with Dundee United, making more than five hundred appearances between 1974 and 1989.

He had trials with Morton and St Johnstone, but was signed for Dundee United by then manager Jim McLean on 1 July 1974.

Sturrock made his debut in the European Cup Winners' Cup match v Juil Petrosani of Romania on 18 September 1974 and his league debut on 28 December 1974 as a substitute against Motherwell.

In his first season at Tannadice he made nine League appearances and came on from the substitutes' bench for three more and in the process he scored six goals.

Over the course of his playing career from 1974 to 1989, he made 385 league appearances for the club and scored 109 goals.

When considering all competitions, he amassed a total of 171 goals in 576 games, which places him as the second-highest goal scorer in Dundee United's history.

Following his playing career, Sturrock remained at Tannadice for the next five years in a coaching role.

His first goal for Dundee United was one of two he scored in a 2–2 draw with Rangers at Tannadice on 5 April 1975.

Dundee United finished fourth in the League that year.

In the following season, he made 18 League appearances, eight as sub, and scored three times.

He was also played as a substitute in two of the three Scottish Cup ties and was on from the start in five out of six League Cup games and scored once.

He also started in three of the four UEFA Cup games netting one in that competition, too.

1976–77 not only saw Dundee United consolidate their Premier League position but throughout the campaign Sturrock was an ever-present, playing in all 36 League games and scoring 15 times.

Adding that total to one each in the Scottish Cup and League Cup he was top scorer at the Club that year.

He played in United's only Scottish Cup tie, a 4–1 defeat at St Mirren.

He also appeared four times plus once as sub out of the six League Cup ties.

In a short-lived Anglo Scottish Cup campaign he was brought on as sub in one leg of the tie against Aberdeen.

He won the Scottish Football League title with United in 1982–83 and the Scottish League Cup twice, in 1979 and 1980.

He was named the SFWA Footballer of the Year in 1982.

At international level, Sturrock played twenty times for Scotland and appeared at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups.

In 1982–83, Dundee United won the Scottish League Championship, losing only four League games during the season.

Sturrock contributed to this success with eight goals in his 28 appearances.

He also set up Ralph Milne for his fourth-minute opener against Dundee in the final League game.

The Scottish Cup that year had been yet another early exit at the hands of St Mirren.

Sturrock scored seven in the nine games he turned out in on the way to a League Cup quarter-final exit.

He also played in seven of the eight games and scored once in a UEFA Cup run that ended with an exit in Prague.

His playing career came to an end in 1989, with his final goal for United occurring on 8 April 1989 in a 2-1 victory against local rivals Dundee.

Sturrock's managerial career began with St Johnstone in 1993, where he went on to win the Scottish First Division title in 1996–97 before returning to Dundee United as manager.

After twenty years of continuous service, he eventually departed the club in 1993.

Since 2000, Sturrock has worked as a manager in English football, initially with Plymouth Argyle where he helped the club to win two promotions before moving on to a brief spell with Southampton.

He has subsequently also managed Sheffield Wednesday, Swindon Town and Southend United as well as returning to Plymouth for a second spell.

Sturrock announced in July 2008 that he was suffering from a mild form of Parkinson's disease.

His son, Blair, was also a professional footballer.

Sturrock was born in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, and grew up in Pitlochry, Perthshire, where he was educated at the local primary and secondary schools and played for amateur side Grandtully Vale.

He became Yeovil Town manager in April 2015, but left the club eight months later.

According to an analysis by the Financial Times he was among the country's best ever managers, even though he has mostly managed clubs at Championship level and below.

He is known by fans as Luggy (from the Scots language word lugs, Eng: ears).