Stuart McLaren

Stuart McLaren (born 28 August 1975) is a Scottish-Australian football player and coach, who is assistant coach for the Northern Ireland national women's team.

Biography

Queensland Roar coach Miron Bleiberg signed McLaren on a short-term contract in early November 2005. He was signed due to Josh McCloughlan's injury, playing as a defender as he did when he was a former player-coach with the Brisbane Strikers in the NSL. He was then signed as a permanent player and regularly played in the starting eleven, occasionally captaining the Queensland Roar.

McLaren left Australia in early 2011 returning to the United Kingdom to be nearer his place of birth with his family. In June 2011, he was appointed as head coach at Loughborough University. McLaren was appointed manager of Stirling Albion in November 2014, but the Binos were relegated from Scottish League One at the end of the 2014–15 season. He left Stirling Albion by mutual consent in September 2016, following a 4–0 defeat by Elgin City.

In October 2018, McLaren was appointed by the Scottish Football Association to be a national youth team coach, with responsibility for the Scotland U16 team.

McLaren was appointed interim manager of the Scotland women's national football team in January 2021. He remained in the role until the appointment of permanent manager Pedro Martinez Losa, and left the SFA at the end of 2021.

In January 2022, Celtic announced McLaren had joined them as their under-18s manager. He remained at the club until his departure in December 2023.