Gavin Gunning

On 27 February, he assisted one of John Sutton's two goals, as Motherwell beat Celtic 2–0 at Fir Park, Gunning started the Scottish Cup final against Celtic and struck a terrific long-range shot in the 35th minute which bounced off the crossbar; Celtic went on to win the match 3–0.

At the end of the season, he returned to Blackburn Rovers.

Gavin Jude Gunning (born 26 January 1991) is an Irish former footballer who is interim head coach at club Swindon Town.

He has represented the Republic of Ireland at under-21 and youth team levels.

Gunning was born in Dublin on 26 January 1991 and attended St Benildus College in the Kilmacud area of the city.

As a youth, he played Gaelic football for Naomh Ólaf and Kilmacud Crokes and association football for Ballyogan Celtic, St. Joseph Boys and Crumlin United.

He played Gaelic football and association football in his youth, before moving to England in February 2006 after being signed by Blackburn Rovers from Crumlin United.

He never played a first-team game for Blackburn, though did have loan spells at Tranmere Rovers, Rotherham United, Bury, and Motherwell.

Gunning joined Blackburn Rovers from Crumlin United in January 2006, at the age of 15; it was reported as a "major coup" for Blackburn manager Mark Hughes as league champions Chelsea had also expressed an interest.

After featuring in the academy and reserve teams, Gunning was described as "one of the most promising prospects from Blackburn Rovers' Academy" and in 2008, signed a two-year professional contract.

He was given the number 29 shirt by Rovers manager Sam Allardyce for the 2009–10 season, having been given number 42 the previous season, though it was thought to be likely that he would be sent out on loan.

On 6 August 2009, he moved to Tranmere Rovers on a one-month loan.

He made his first team debut two days later, in a 2–0 defeat at Yeovil Town.

He went on to make a total of six League One appearances whilst at Prenton Park.

In the second leg of the 2009–10 League Two Play-offs against Aldershot Town, Gunning set up a goal for Adam le Fondre, as Rotherham won 3–0 on aggregate.

Gunning was in the starting line-up in the play-offs finals at Wembley Stadium, however, Rotherham were defeated 3–2 by Dagenham & Redbridge.

On 22 January 2010, Gunning started his second loan spell during that season when he joined League Two club Rotherham United on an initial one-month emergency loan.

After making two appearances, his loan was extended until the end of the season.

In November 2010, Gunning joined League Two side Bury on loan until 11 December 2010, before the deal was extended until the end of January 2011.

He played just twice during his stay at Gigg Lane.

He transferred to Dundee United in August 2011 and went on to be named on the PFA Scotland Team of the Year for 2011–12.

On 28 January 2011, Gunning joined Scottish Premier League club Motherwell on loan until the end of the 2010–11 season.

He made his debut for the club on 2 February, coming on as a substitute for Steven Hammell in a 1–0 defeat to Kilmarnock.

Ahead of the 2011–12 season, Gunning was linked with a return to Motherwell and a move to Aberdeen, both as loan deals.

He then went on trial at Scunthorpe United.

After playing in a friendly match against Rotherham United, manager Alan Knill said he was satisfied with Gunning's performance, but thought that he, along with other players on trial with the club, needed to do more to get a contract.

After playing for Scunthorpe in another friendly, Knill said he was hoping to get Gunning signed on a permanent contract.

"'It was put in my head every day just how good I was. So I started smelling myself. Some days, my attitude was so bad I wouldn't even turn up for training. I got to a point where I was being paid a lot of money at a young age and just couldn't deal with it. I'd been away from home from the age of 14. That was tough. But at no point did someone grab hold of me. That was the disappointing thing. They'd given me a big contract at a young age so maybe they should have done more.'"

Having reportedly already rejected a move to Dundee United in July, as part of a swap deal involving David Goodwillie moving to Blackburn, manager Peter Houston then said that the club were hopeful of completing the signing of Gunning.

On 12 August 2011, Gunning joined Dundee United on a three-year contract.

Upon signing, he said he was very excited to be joining the club and he revealed he'd had other options in England and Scotland.

He made his debut for the club in a 5–1 defeat to Celtic on 13 August, coming on as a substitute for Willo Flood in the 78th minute.

He scored his first goal for the club against St Johnstone on 27 August, his goal levelling the score at 3–3.

He left the club in June 2014 and subsequently joined Birmingham City, though missed the 2014–15 season due to injury.

He joined Oldham Athletic for a brief stay in August 2015, before returning to Dundee United three months later.

He left United in April 2016, and signed a short-term deal with Greenock Morton five months later.

He joined Grimsby Town in January 2017, and then moved on to Port Vale six months later.

He switched to Forest Green Rovers in January 2018 and then moved into non-League football with Billericay Town in July 2019.

He left Billericay for Solihull Moors in September 2019, before moving on to Gloucester City in March 2020 and then Chesterfield ten months later.

He began coaching at Swindon Town in July 2022 and was appointed interim head coach in January 2023, May 2023, and January 2024.