Bruce Rioch
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| Bruce Rioch | ||
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| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Bruce David Rioch | |
| Date of birth | September 6, 1947 | |
| Place of birth | Aldershot, England | |
| Playing position | Head coach | |
| Club information | ||
| Current club | AaB | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1964.1969 1969-1974 1974-1976 1976-1977 1977-1979 Dec 1978 Mar 1979 1979-1980 1980-1984 |
Luton Town Aston Villa Derby County Everton Derby County → Birmingham City (loan) → Sheffield United (loan) Seattle Sounders Torquay United |
149 (47) 154 (34) 106 (34) 30 (3) 41 (4) 3 (0) 8 (1) 46 (4) 71 (6) |
| National team | ||
| 1975-1978 | Scotland | 24 (6) |
| Teams managed | ||
| 1982-1984 1985 1986-1990 1990-1992 1992-1995 1995-1996 1996-1997 1998-2000 2000-2001 2005-2007 2008-present |
Torquay United F.C. Seattle Middlesbrough Millwall Bolton Wanderers Arsenal Queens Park Rangers (assistant) Norwich City Wigan Athletic OB AaB |
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1 Senior club appearances and goals |
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Bruce David Rioch (born September 6, 1947 in Aldershot) currently is manager of football club Aalborg Boldspilklub in the Danish Superliga. A former player himself, he represented the Scotland national football team in 24 matches, becoming the first Scottish (by virtue of his father's birthplace) captain to be born in England. His son Gregor was also a professional footballer and is now Coventry City's academy manager.
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[edit] Playing career
Having moved to Luton at the age of 14, Rioch joined his local side, Luton Town, turning professional in September 1964. He made his first team debut later that month, and his league debut in November 1964 in a 1–0 defeat at home to Southend United. He spent a couple years establishing himself and was a regular member of the Luton team, scoring 24 goals, that won the Fourth Division title in 1968. He moved to Aston Villa in July 1969 for a fee of £100,000, then a record fee paid by a Second Division side. He won a League Cup runners' up medal in 1971, Villa losing 2–0 to Tottenham Hotspur.
He moved to Derby County in February 1974, winning a League Championship medal. He joined Everton in December 1976, but returned to Derby County in September 1977. After a dispute with the Derby manager, Tommy Docherty, Rioch had brief loan spells with Birmingham City in December 1978 and with Sheffield United in March 1979. He then left the Baseball Ground to play for NASL side Seattle Sounders. While playing with Seattle Sounders in 1980 he was named to the NASL First Team All-Stars. He returned to England in October 1980 when he joined Torquay United as player-coach, working at first under Mike Green and then under Frank O'Farrell.
[edit] Managerial career
[edit] Torquay United
In July 1982, Rioch became player-manager of Torquay United, but left after a training ground incident with Colin Anderson in January 1984. In February 1985, After 13 months out of the game he was appointed manager of F.C. Seattle, but resigned in September 1985 to return to England.
[edit] Middlesbrough
He was appointed as manager of Middlesbrough in February 1986 and his first success in management came in 1987 when he guided Middlesbrough to runners-up spot in the Third Division and promotion to the Second Division at the end of a season which had started with them locked out of Ayresome Park by the official receiver and on the verge of bankruptcy. A year later they won a second successive promotion, this time as winners of the Second Division promotion/First Division relegation playoffs. Middlesbrough showed great promise in the first half ot 1988–89, but fell away badly and were relegated on the last day of the season (despite having not occupied a relegation place prior to that). He was sacked the following March as the Teessiders hovered just above the Second Division drop zone but on the brink of their first ever Wembley final in the Zenith Data Systems Cup.
Rioch is held in the highest esteem by fans of Middlesbrough as, following liquidation, he took a threadbare squad of local players and turned them into a team the town could be proud of. Many fans believe that, had it not been for Rioch, Middlesbrough would have struggled to survive.
Whenever Rioch returned to Middlesbrough as the opposition manager the 'Boro fans would frequently chant the songs that they had when Rioch was manager as a mark of respect for his services.
[edit] Millwall
Rioch made a quick return to management the following month with Millwall and guided them to a playoff place in the 1990–91 Second Division campaign, but left in March 1992.
[edit] Bolton Wanderers
Rioch's next stop was at Bolton Wanderers, becoming manager in May 1992. In his first season, they finished runners-up in Division Two and won promotion to Division One. Two seasons later they were League Cup losing finalists to Liverpool and beat Reading 4–3 in extra time in the Division One playoff final after being 2–0 down at half time.
The playoff final victory was Rioch's last game as Bolton manager. A few weeks later he accepted the Arsenal manager's job and was replaced at Bolton by Roy McFarland.
Rioch is considered to be one of the best Bolton managers of all time by the clubs supporters.
[edit] Arsenal
In 1995–96, his only season at Arsenal, Rioch guided Arsenal to a UEFA Cup place, finishing fifth in the Premiership. It was achieved on the last day of the season at the expense of Everton, Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur. Arsenal also reached the League Cup semi-finals but lost on away goals to Aston Villa, and were knocked out of the FA Cup in the Third Round by First Division side Sheffield United.
Just before the beginning of the 1996–97 season, Rioch was sacked after a dispute with the club's board of directors over transfer funds. His enduring legacy at the club was the signing of Dennis Bergkamp, whom Rioch had signed from Internazionale in the summer of 1995; Bergkamp would go on to become one of the club's greatest players. However, this was overshadowed by him playing Ian Wright on the left wing, and the subsequent fall out led to Wright putting in a transfer request after being dropped.
[edit] Queens Park Rangers
After leaving Arsenal, he worked as assistant manager under Stewart Houston (his former assistant at Arsenal) at Queens Park Rangers but left along with Houston after just over a year at Loftus Road.
[edit] Norwich City
In May 1998, Rioch was appointed manager of Norwich City in Division One. He resigned after less than two seasons at the helm after failing to get the Canaries anywhere near the promotion and playoff places that the club had long been hoping for. He cited a perceived lack of ambition at the club as the main reason for his decision to resign (he correctly predicted that the club's star player Craig Bellamy would inevitably be sold), however he also acknowledged that the club's uncertain financial position meant that the transfer funds available to him were limited.
[edit] Wigan Athletic
Rioch made a swift return to management with Wigan Athletic for the 2000–01 season. He won the Manager of the Month award for November 2000,[1] but left the club the following February as they occupied the Division Two playoff zone.[2] The club said that Rioch had resigned, but he insisted he was sacked.
[edit] Odense
Rioch was intent on returning to management, and was linked with the Derby County manager's job after John Gregory was sacked at the end of the 2002–03 season. But it was four years before he made his return to management. He was appointed as head coach of Danish Superliga side Odense Boldklub in June 2005. He led Odense to a 3rd place in the Danish Superliga in his first season in charge, but decided to leave the club on 12 March 2007 due to his wife's illness, as the official explanation. The media, however, stated that the actual cause was a dispute between Rioch and the management of OB.
[edit] Aalborg - AaB
Rumours was as of 4 June 2008 that Rioch would become head coach of Danish champions Aalborg BK (AaB) after former head coach Erik Hamrén moved to Rosenborg BK. On June 11 this was confirmed. [3] His first big priority was to try to qualify AaB for the Champions League where they will entered the competition in the second qualifying round. He successfully guided them into the group stage after defeating FBK Kaunas.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Bruce Rioch management career stats at Soccerbase
- Profile at the League Managers Association
- Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
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