Jackie McNamara

This article is about the former Celtic and Scotland player, born 1973. For his father, who played for Celtic, Hibs and Morton, see Jackie McNamara, Sr..

Jackie McNamara

Personal information
Full name	Jackie McNamara
Date of birth	24 October 1973 (1973-10-24)
Place of birth	Glasgow, Scotland
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position	Right back/Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club	Partick Thistle (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1991–1995	Dunfermline Athletic	59	(3)
1995–2005	Celtic	255	(10)
2005–2007	Wolverhampton Wanderers	29	(0)
2007–2008	Aberdeen	17	(0)
2008–2010	Falkirk	42	(0)
2010	→Partick Thistle (loan)	4	(0)
2010–2011	Partick Thistle	15	(0)
National team‡
1996–2005	Scotland	33	(0)
Teams managed
2011-	Partick Thistle
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 26 December 2010. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 March 2010

Jackie McNamara (born 24 October 1973) is a Scottish football player and manager who currently manages Partick Thistle. He is a former Scottish international and has filled a variety of defensive roles in his career and captained Celtic under the management of Martin O'Neill.

Club career

Dunfermline Athletic

The son of former Celtic and Hibernian player Jackie McNamara, Sr., he started his career at Dunfermline Athletic as an attacking right wing-back.

Celtic

McNamara moved to Celtic for £650,000 in 1995. He marked an impressive start to his Celtic career, being named Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year in 1996. He won his first trophy with the club in the 1997–1998 season when Celtic won the Scottish Premier Division, preventing arch-rivals Rangers from winning 10-in-a-row, which would have seen them eclipse Celtic's record of 9-in-a-row. 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.

However, McNamara became a consistent player for Celtic during the later part of O'Neill's tenure, being awarded the Football Writers Player of the Year in 2004. The following year McNamara was named captain when then-captain Paul Lambert was injured and missed much of the season. 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 10-year period, Celtic played a testimonial match against the Republic of Ireland. The match ended 1–0 to Ireland, with Robbie Keane scoring. 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.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

However McNamara had agreed with then manager Glenn Hoddle that he would join Wolverhampton Wanderers in the summer of 2005 on a free transfer under the Bosman ruling.

After a promising start to his Wolves career, McNamara 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 and Hove Albion.

Aberdeen

McNamara joined Aberdeen from Wolves on a two-year contract in 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.

Falkirk

McNamara signed a two year contract at Falkirk in May 2008.

Partick Thistle

McNamara signed a one month loan deal with Partick Thistle in February 2010, making him available to debut the following day against Dundee if selected. The terms of the deal allowed it to be extended beyond its initial period, but McNamara suffered a leg break during a match against Ayr United, prematurely ending his 2009–10 season.

McNamara subsequently signed a one year contract with Partick for the 2010-11 season.

International career

McNamara has 33 caps for Scotland and played at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Managerial career

Partick Thistle appointed McNamara caretaker manager on 15 April 2011, after Ian McCall left his job. He was then appointed manager on a one-year rolling contract a month later.

Honours

Celtic

• Scottish Premier League: 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004

• Scottish Cup: 1995, 2001, 2004

• Scottish League Cup: 1998, 2000, 2001

High School

Jackie attended Holy Rood High School, Edinburgh.

External links

• Jackie McNamara career stats at Soccerbase
• London Hearts Supporters' Club profile

Sporting positions
Preceded by Paul Lambert	Celtic F.C. captain 2005	Succeeded by Neil Lennon