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Gareth McAuley

Preceded by
Succeeded by
2011

Name: Gareth McAuley
Born: 5 December 1979, Larne
Height: 6.03 ft
Weight: 13.00 st
Position: Defender

Representative Honours: Northern Ireland: Full Caps (2005-date), 1 B Cap (2003), 4 Under-18 Schools Caps (1998).
Club Honours: (with Coleraine) Irish Cup Winner 2002/03, Runner-Up 2003/04; (with Lincoln) Football League Two Play-Off Runner-Up 2004/05.
Awards: NI International Personality of the Year 2011.

Club Career:
Clubs.............. --Seasons-- --Fee-- --League-- FA Cup FL Cup Europe -Other-

Linfield........... 96/97-99/00 ..Youth ..0 (0)/ 0
Ballyclare Comrades 99/00......... Loan ..7 (0)/ 0
Crusaders.......... 00/01-01/02 ..,..... 60 (2)/ 3 2(1)/0 6(0)/0 ....... 5(0)/0
Coleraine.......... 02/03-03/04 ..,..... 65 (-)/ 4 ............. 5(0)/1 26(-)/2
Linclon City....... 04/05-05/06 ...£10k. 65 (7)/ 8 2(0)/0 3(0)/0 ....... 7(0)/2
Leicester City..... 06/07-07/08....Free .70 (4)/ 5 3(0)/1 7(0)/0
Ipswich Town ...... 08/09-10/11 £1,000k 114 (1)/ 7 5(0)/0 7(0)/1
West Bromwich Alb. .11/12-17/18 ...Free 199 (4)/15 15(1)0 8(0)/2 



Biography:
A player long-admired by Sammy McIlroy, Gareth McAuley made his ‘senior’ international debut in a ‘B’ match against Future Scotland in May 2003. Although the game ended in a 2-1 defeat, it is notable for the fact Northern Ireland scored through Steve Jones – the only goal scored by a ‘senior’ player during the infamous drought.

Usually a centre-back during his Irish League days with Crusaders and Coleraine (for whom he played in two Irish Cup Finals), McAuley became more familiar as a full-back, right or left, after moving to the Football League. A move across the water was first mooted when Sammy McIlroy offered him a trial at Stockport in June 2004, but it was Lincoln that claimed his signature for an undisclosed fee that August.

He quickly started making waves in League Two attracting interest from some larger clubs on the way to helping Lincoln to successive Play-Off qualifications in 2005 and 2006. He was awarded his first Full international cap for a depleted Northern Ireland side in the gala friendly against Germany to celebrate the Irish FA’s 125th Anniversary in June 2005. The following March he started his first international against Estonia at a snowy Windsor Park.

McAuley took his cap tally to five during the 2006 summer tour of the USA, making him Lincoln’s most capped player. On returning from the US, with his two-year deal at Sincil Bank expired, McAuley opted to make a Bosman free-transfer to Championship Leicester City. At the Walkers Stadium he played briefly under Nigel Worthington who was caretaker-manager at the tail-end of the 2006/07 season prior to his appointment as Northern Ireland manager.
.
Following Leicester's relegation to League One in 2008 McAuley opted to remain in the Championship, joining Ipswich Town for a fee believed to be around £1,000,000. He was immediately installed as first-team captain by Tractor Boys' manager, Jim Magilton.

McAuley scored his first international goal on his fourteenth appearance against San Marino in February 2009. He captained the team for the first time against Slovenia in March 2011.

In May 2011 McAuley rejected a new contract at Ipswich as he sought a club playing a higher level. He rejected an offer from Rangers in order to join English Premier League side, West Brom. As a sixteen-year-old he had turned down a move to Spurs to concentrate on his studies - at the age of 31 it had been a long journey back! The step up in class didn't phase McAuley at all as he was voted as West Brom's Players' Player of the Year and Supporters' Player of the Year in 2013.

....

Appointed to Northern Ireland's U17/U19 coaching staff in February 2021. In August 2023 he was appointed Under-19 manager.

Irish FA Bio
Leicester City Bio
Wikipedia


Northern Ireland Cap Details:
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
04/06/2005
15/11/2005
01/03/2006
21/05/2006
26/05/2006
17/10/2007
17/11/2007
21/11/2007
06/02/2008
26/03/2008
20/08/2008
11/10/2008
15/10/2008
11/02/2008
28/03/2009
01/04/2009
12/08/2009
05/09/2009
09/09/2009
14/10/2009
26/05/2010
30/05/2010
03/09/2010
08/10/2010
12/10/2010
09/02/2011
25/03/2011
29/03/2011
24/05/2011
27/05/2011
10/08/2011
02/09/2011
06/09/2011
07/10/2011
11/10/2011
29/02/2012
15/08/2012
07/09/2012
11/09/2012
14/11/2012
06/02/2013
26/03/2013
14/08/2013
06/09/2013
10/09/2013
11/10/2013
05/03/2014
07/09/2014
11/10/2014
14/10/2014
14/11/2014
29/03/2015
13/06/2015
04/09/2015
Germany
Portugal
Estonia
Uruguay
Romania
Sweden
Denmark
Spain
Bulgaria
Georgia
Scotland
Slovenia
San Marino
San Marino
Poland
Slovenia
Israel
Poland
Slovakia
Czech Rep.
Turkey
Chile
Slovenia
Italy
Faroe Islands
Scotland
Serbia
Slovenia
Rep Ireland
Wales
Faroe Isles
Serbia
Estonia
Estonia
Italy
Norway
Finland
Russia
Luxembourg
Azerbaijan
Malta
Israel
Russia
Portugal
Luxembourg
Azerbaijan
Cyprus
Hungary
Faroe Isles
Greece
Romania
Finland
Romania
Faroe Isles
H
H
H
N
N
A
H
A
H
H
A
A
H
A
H
H
H
A
H
A
N
A
A
H
A
N
A
H
A
N
H
H
A
H
A
H
H
A
H
H
A
H
H
H
A
A
A
A
H
A
A
H
H
A
L
D
W
L
L
D
W
L
L
W
D
L
W
W
W
W
D
D
L
D
L
L
W
D
D
L
L
D
L
L
W
L
L
L
L
L
D
L
D
D
D
L
W
L
L
L
D
W
W
W
L
W
D
W
1-4
1-1
1-0
0-1
0-2
1-1
2-1
0-1
0-1
4-1
0-0
0-2
4-0
3-0
3-2
1-0
1-1
1-1
0-2
0-0
0-2
0-1
1-0
0-0
1-1
0-3
1-2
0-0
0-5
0-2
4-0
0-1
1-4
1-2
0-3
0-3
3-3
0-2
1-1
1-1
0-0
0-2
1-0
2-4
2-3
0-2
0-0
2-1
2-0
2-0
0-2
2-1
0-0
3-1
FR 
FR 
FR 
FR 
FR 
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
FR
FR 
FR
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
FR 
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
FR 
FR 
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
CNC
ECQ
ECQ
CNC
CNC
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
FR
FR
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
FR
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
WCQ
FR 
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
ECQ
sub 
sub 
-
sub 
-
 -
 -
 -
-
sub
-
-
-
1.goal 
 -
 -
sub 
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 -
 -
-
-
 -
 -
 -
 -
1.goal 
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 -
 -
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
1.goal
1.goal
-
sent-off
-
1.goal
-
-
-
-
2.goals

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Northern Ireland B Cap Details:
01
20/05/2003
Scotland
A
L
1-2
FR 
-
-

Pictures courtesy of Redneck Rich and Chopper1 from the OWC forum.

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