Jackie McNamara

Jackie McNamara (born 24 October 1973) is a Scottish professional football agent, and former player, manager and executive.

He won 33 international caps playing for Scotland, and filled a variety of defensive roles in his career.

McNamara joined Dunfermline Athletic from Gairdoch United on 17 September 1991.

McNamara began his playing career with Dunfermline Athletic before joining Celtic in 1995.

During ten years at the club he won the Scottish Premier League title four times and the Scottish Cup and Scottish League Cup three times each.

He then played in England with Wolverhampton Wanderers before returning to Scotland, finishing his career with spells at Aberdeen, Falkirk and Partick Thistle.

In international football, McNamara played for Scotland at under-21 and B international levels, and made 33 full international appearances.

McNamara moved to Celtic for a £600,000 fee on 3 October 1995.

He made an impressive start to his Celtic career, being named PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year in 1996.

McNamara won his first trophy with the club in the 1997–98 season when Celtic won the Scottish Premier Division, preventing arch-rivals Rangers from winning ten-in-a-row, which would have seen them eclipse Celtic's record of nine-in-a-row.

He was a member of the Scotland squad that played at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

He was recognised for his performances this season by his fellow players when being named the PFA Scotland Players' Player of the Year in 1998 and finished runner-up to Craig Burley for the SFWA award.

He featured regularly in the Celtic first eleven until the arrival of Martin O'Neill in the 2000–01 season saw him become more of a fringe player, although he did score the opening goal in the 2001 Scottish Cup Final, a 3–0 win over Hibernian at Hampden Park.

He was suspended for their 3–0 victory over Kilmarnock at Hampden Park in the 2001 Scottish League Cup Final.

McNamara re-established himself in the team in 2003–04 and was awarded the SFWA Footballer of the Year in 2004, beating off competition from his teammates Henrik Larsson and Chris Sutton.

The following year McNamara was named captain when Paul Lambert was injured.

McNamara proved himself a consistent and reliable performer on the field, playing almost every game in the league in the 2004–05 season.

To reward his loyalty to the club over a ten-year period, Celtic played a testimonial match against the Republic of Ireland.

At the end of the 2004–05 season Martin O'Neill left as manager and Celtic brought in Gordon Strachan as his replacement.

McNamara's contract was also due to expire at the end of the 2004–05 season.

Strachan assured McNamara that he wanted him at the club but Celtic were slow to offer a new contract, waiting until the close season to do so.

By that time McNamara had already accepted an offer from Wolverhampton Wanderers as he had assumed Celtic no longer wanted his services.

As he went on record saying he still wanted to play for the club, he was told he was still needed by the club by its manager, and he was offered the contract he wanted while still in a position to accept it, the incident has caused much speculation amongst supporters and the media as to who was to blame for his departure from Celtic.

The club accused McNamara of being unreasonable and of moving for monetary reasons.

They also blamed his agent for not encouraging negotiations and setting unhelpful deadlines.

McNamara had gone on record as saying he wanted to end his career with Celtic and seemed to be bemused when no new contract was forthcoming.

After he had accepted the Wolves offer, McNamara felt that Celtic showed a lack of respect to him in their comments to the media and he accused them of harming his reputation for their own benefit.

It also emerged that in his new contract at Wolves, he was earning the same wages as his previous contract with Celtic.

McNamara agreed with manager Glenn Hoddle that he would join Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2005 on a free transfer.

After a promising start to his Wolves career, the player sustained a cruciate knee ligament injury in the home match with Leicester City in September 2005.

He came back in the penultimate game of the 2005–06 season at home to Brighton & Hove Albion.

McNamara was a regular fixture in the 2006–07 Wolves team who finished 5th in the Football League Championship, reaching the play-offs.

McNamara joined Aberdeen from Wolves on a two-year contract in May 2007, but he left Pittodrie before the end of the season, with manager Jimmy Calderwood citing "travelling and injuries" as the reasons for his departure.

Three weeks later, it was revealed that McNamara would join Falkirk for the 2008–09 season.

McNamara moved into management with Partick Thistle in April 2011, before his appointment at Dundee United in January 2013.

He was sacked by Dundee United in September 2015, and two months later took over as manager of York City.

He then worked as chief executive at York City.

He is currently working with Dunfermline Athletic as a consultant.

McNamara was born at Glasgow Royal Maternity Hospital in Glasgow and is the son of Jackie McNamara Sr.., a former professional footballer, and Linda Houston.

He played youth football for Cumbernauld Colts and Falkirk-based Gairdoch United.