Stephen McManus

Stephen McManus

Personal information
Full name	Stephen McManus
Date of birth	(1982-09-10) 10 September 1982
Place of birth	Lanark, Scotland
Height	6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Playing position	Centre Back
Club information
Current club	Motherwell
Number	6
Youth career
1997–2003	Celtic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
2003–2010	Celtic	150	(17)
2010	→ Middlesbrough (loan)	16	(1)
2010–2013	Middlesbrough	48	(1)
2012	→ Bristol City (loan)	6	(0)
2012–2013	→ Bristol City (loan)	11	(1)
2013–	Motherwell	22	(2)
National team‡
2006–2010	Scotland	26	(2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 00:19, 26 January 2014 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 30 October 2010

Stephen McManus (born 10 September 1982) is a Scottish footballer who currently plays as a centre back for Scottish Premiership club Motherwell.

McManus was club captain of Celtic from 2007 until his move to Middlesbrough in 2010. McManus was a product of Celtic's youth academy and had risen through the ranks to become first team captain ahead of the 2007-08 season. Hall of Famer and former Scotland captain Colin Hendry described him as "the last of an ancient breed",^[1] in the sense that his no-nonsense defending style is rare in modern football.

Club career

Celtic

Born in Lanark, McManus came through the ranks at Celtic and signed a professional contract on the same day as fellow defender John Kennedy. He made his debut for the first team, under Martin O'Neill, in the 2003/04 season against Hibernian, and finished that season with 5 league appearances as Celtic won the league.^[2] He later established himself as first choice central defender at Celtic during Gordon Strachan's managerial reign.

Early in McManus' Celtic career to help with pre-match nerves he would scream his high school motto before going on the pitch. This ritual would stick with McManus throughout his career, he can be heard screaming “Spes Unica” before all matches to help him and his teammates get motivated.

In the 2005/06 season, McManus scored eight goals (7 of which came in the League). He was made captain for the first league game of the 2006/07 season, in the match against Kilmarnock due to regular club captain Neil Lennon being suspended. Since that game he repeatedly deputised as Celtic captain throughout the 2006/07 season. After Lennon left Celtic to join Nottingham Forest, McManus was announced as Celtic's new captain on 31 July 2007 and signed a four-year contract. He said:

"To be given the captaincy of Celtic is a tremendous honour. It is undoubtedly one of the highlights of my career so far. I'm proud to follow in the footsteps of so many great Celtic captains from the past and I hope that I will be able to achieve as much success as they have over the years."^[3]

On 3 October 2007, McManus scored to put Celtic a goal up against Milan at Celtic Park in the group stages of the UEFA Champions League. The match ended 2–1 in Celtic's favour with Kaká equalising for Milan before Scott McDonald scored a late winner for Celtic.

McManus lifted his first trophy as Celtic skipper on 22 May 2008, when Celtic won the 2007–08 SPL Championship following a 1–0 win over Dundee United at Tannadice Park on the last day of the season. Before the beginning of the 2008–09 SPL Championship it was announced that McManus would wear the No.4 shirt, previously worn by Adam Virgo, after Virgo left the club in July 2008.^[4]

McManus fell out of favour under new manager Tony Mowbray, however, making only 14 appearances in the first part of the 2009–10 season.^[5]

Middlesbrough

McManus was loaned by Celtic to Middlesbrough for the second half of the 2009–10 season.^[5] This meant that McManus linked up again with Gordon Strachan, who signed four other Celtic players during the January 2010 transfer window.^[5] McManus received the man of the match award in his Middlesbrough debut against Ipswich Town. He scored his first goal for the club in a 2–0 win over Plymouth Argyle on 5 April 2010.^[6]

On 13 July 2010 McManus completed a £1.5 million move to the Teesside club signing a 3-year contract.^[7][8] McManus scored his second goal for Middlesbrough against Leicester City on 2 April 2011, his goal coming in the 94th minute to level the game at 3–3.^[9] At the end of the 2012–13 season, McManus was not offered a new contract and left the club.

Bristol City

McManus signed for Bristol City on loan until the end of the season on 14 February 2012 and made his debut at home in the 2–2 draw against Crystal Palace the same day. He was recalled on 28 March, due to injury worries to Matthew Bates and Seb Hines following the match against Bristol City (McManus did not play against Boro).^[10] He then returned to Bristol City for a second loan spell the following season.^[11] His first and only goal for the club came in a 4–2 win over Peterborough United on 29 December 2012.^[12]

Motherwell

On 15 July 2013 McManus signed a one year deal with SPL side Motherwell.^[13] McManus made has competitive debut for Motherwell in a home Europa League match against Russian side Kuban Krasnodar. Motherwell lost the match 0–2. His first goal for the club came in a 1–0 win over Hibernian on 3 November 2013.^[14]

International career

McManus earned his first cap at international level for Scotland on 11 October 2006, coming on as a substitute in the 2–0 defeat to Ukraine at the Olympic Stadium in Kiev. His first start in the dark blue of Scotland was against Georgia in the first match of the Alex McLeish era, which resulted in a 2–1 win for Scotland as Craig Beattie hit a dramatic late winner. McManus scored his first goal for Scotland in a 3–1 win against Lithuania on 8 September 2007, acrobatically turning a Shaun Maloney cross into the net to put Scotland 2–1 up.

He captained Scotland for the first time on 26 March 2008 in a friendly match against Croatia at Hampden Park in absence of regular captain Barry Ferguson and was the vice-captain of Scotland under George Burley. He said being selected captain of Scotland and Celtic were great honours. The game finished 1–1 with Kenny Miller scoring for Scotland and Niko Kranjčar for Croatia.

On 10 September 2008, McManus was sent off for a deliberate handball in a FIFA World Cup qualifier against Iceland at Laugardalsvöllur in Reykjavík. He used his right hand to tip the crossed ball over the crossbar to stop approaching Icelandic striker Heiðar Helguson from scoring a certain goal,^{[citation needed]} with Scotland were leading 2–0. The penalty kick was dispatched to make the score 2–1, which was the final score. On 7 September 2010 McManus scored a dramatic 97th minute winning header for Scotland in their 2–1 victory over Liechtenstein.

International goals

Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	8 September 2007	Glasgow, Scotland	Lithuania	2–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying
2.	7 September 2010	Glasgow, Scotland	Liechtenstein	2–1	2–1	UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying

Career statistics

As of 26 January 2014^[15]

Honours

Celtic

• Scottish Premier League (3): 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08
• Scottish Cup (2): 2005, 2007
• Scottish League Cup (2): 2006, 2009

Personal life

McManus was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. He attended Holy Cross RC Secondary School in Hamilton, the school which international and former club team mate Paul Hartley also attended. McManus and Paul Hartley used to have a competition at training to see who could name the most teachers and the loser picked up all the balls.

He is a close personal friend of Blackpool player Barry Ferguson and former Middlesbrough team mate Kris Boyd.^{[citation needed]}

His nickname is "Mick" because he shares his surname with 1970s professional wrestler Mick McManus.^[1]

Also known as 'Tam', after the big Scottish comedian of the late 50's.

References

External links

• Stephen McManus profile at Motherwell FC official website
• Stephen McManus career stats at Soccerbase
• Stephen McManus at scottishfa.co.uk