Kenny McDowall


Kenneth McDowall is a Scottish football coach and former player.

Playing career

During his playing career, McDowall played for Partick Thistle and St Mirren; he was top scorer for formative club Partick in 1983–84 when playing as a striker after replacing his friend Mo Johnston who had left the Jags for England a year earlier, and after transferring to St Mirren soon afterwards he featured in the 1987 Scottish Cup Final as the Buddies defeated Dundee United 1–0. Later converting to a midfielder, he made a total of 291 appearances for St Mirren before retiring due to injury in 1993, and was rewarded with a testimonial in 1996 after twelve years service at the Paisley club, including the last three as coach and assistant manager.

Coaching career

After his playing career, he went into coaching and was appointed youth and reserve coach at Celtic in 1997.
After ten years at Celtic, McDowall switched to Glasgow rivals Rangers, working alongside manager Walter Smith and assistant manager Ally McCoist. At the end of the 2010–11 season and with Smith's departure, McDowall went from being first team coach to assistant manager under McCoist. After McCoist was placed on gardening leave on 21 December 2014, McDowall was given control of the first team until the end of the 2014–15 season. His first game in charge of Rangers was a 4–0 defeat against Hibernian at Easter Road. On 19 January, McDowall stated his intention to resign. Rangers said that he would work a 12-month notice period before leaving the club. McDowall left Rangers in March 2015, soon after a new board of directors had taken control.

Managerial statistics