Mick McDermott

Mick McDermott
Personal information
Full name Michael McDermott
Date of birth (1974-02-07) 7 February 1974
Place of birth Belfast, Northern Ireland[1]
Position Defender[2]
Team information
Current team
 Ghana (assistant coach)
Youth career
Cliftonville
Distillery
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1995 Rhode Island Rams[3] 68 (8)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–1998 Connecticut Wolves 36 (0)
1999–2000 Raleigh Capital Express 29 (0)
2001 Long Island Rough Riders 21 (0)
Total 96 (0)
International career
1992 Northern Ireland U18 3 (0)
Managerial career
2017 Esteghlal (interim)
2019–2023 Glentoran
2024–2025 Cobh Ramblers
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Michael McDermott (born 1974) is a UEFA 'Pro' Licensed Northern Irish professional football manager and former player who is assistant coach of the Ghana national team.

Playing career

Born in Belfast, McDermott attended Belfast Boys' Model School and played for Cliftonville and Distillery at youth levels.[4]

He won a soccer scholarship at the University of Rhode Island in the United States and later played in the USL Second Division.[5][6][7][8]

McDermott was capped three times for the Northern Ireland national under-18 team.[9]

Coaching career

McDermott has held various coaching roles at senior Club and National team level; Al Ain FC (UAE), Esteghlal FC (Iran), Al Nasr FC (UAE), Glentoran FC (N.Ireland), Cobh Ramblers FC (Rep.Ireland), Iran National Team, Qatar National Team and currently Ghana National Team. He has participated in FIFA World Cup 2018 and 2026, AFC Asian Cup 2019, UEFA Conference League qualifiers 2020, 2021, 2023.

Iran national team and Esteghlal

McDermott was previously the fitness coach of the Iran national team during their successful 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign.[10][11] Prior to his second spell with the national team, on 2 July 2017 he was appointed as the assistant manager of Esteghlal.[12] On 30 October 2017, after a brief spell as interim manager, McDermott terminated his contract by mutual agreement.[13]

After leaving Esteghlal, he returned to the national team to work alongside Carlos Queiroz as an assistant coach for the 2018 FIFA World Cup and the 2019 AFC Asian Cup where they were knocked out in the semi-finals by Japan. When Queiroz became the head coach of Colombia in February 2019, it was announced that McDermott would join him.[14][15]

Glentoran

On 31 March 2019, McDermott took the job of Glentoran manager. Interim manager Gary Smyth, who could no longer fulfil the role due to a lack of necessary UEFA coaching qualifications, returned to his former role as assistant.[16] In his first full season, McDermott managed the club to victory in the Irish Cup final, defeating Ballymena United 2–1 at Windsor Park and thus securing a place in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League preliminary round.[17]

McDermott strengthened the squad ahead of the 2020–21 season, signing former Northern Ireland international Luke McCullough as well as Gibraltar goalkeeper Dayle Coleing and Burundi midfielder Gaël Bigirimana.[18][19] McDermott's side defeated Faroese team HB 1–0 in the preliminary round, before being knocked out in a 5–1 defeat away to Scottish side Motherwell.[20][21] He was replaced by assistant manager Rodney McAree as manager on 17 January 2023 after a poor run of form.[22]

Cobh Ramblers

After spending time as the assistant manager of the Qatar national team, McDermott was named manager of League of Ireland First Division club Cobh Ramblers on 4 December 2024.[23] On 19 May 2025, he guided his side to a 2–0 win over Rockmount at Turners Cross to win the Munster Senior Cup.[24] On 20 October 2025, it was announced that McDermott had departed the club, just days before the promotion play-offs began, having finished second in the league.[25][26]

Ghana national team

Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, McDermott was hired as one of the coaching staff for the Ghana national team under newly appointed manager Carlos Queiroz.[27]

Personal life

McDermott married to Karla in 1996, who was a fellow student at University of Rhode Island and a U.S. citizen. As of 2019, the couple had two sons and two daughters.[28][29]

Managerial statistics

As of match played 17 October 2025
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team From To Record
PWDLGFGAGDWin %
Esteghlal (caretaker) 21 September 2017 2 October 2017 110021+1100.00
Glentoran 31 March 2019 17 January 2023 158923234294152+142058.23
Cobh Ramblers 4 December 2024 20 October 2025 42266108345+38061.90
Total 2011193844379198+181059.20

Honours

Managerial

Glentoran

Cobh Ramblers

Individual

References

  1. ↑ Steven Goff (24 October 2011). "Iran national team's coaching staff has strong ties to American soccer". The Washington Post. Washington, D.C. ISSN 0190-8286. OCLC 1330888409.
  2. ↑ "1998 Umbro Select All-Star Classic Rosters & Schedule". Socceramerica.com.
  3. ↑ Rhode Island Records (PDF), CSTV, p. 13, archived from the original (PDF) on 31 March 2019
  4. ↑ "Belfast man Michael McDermott aiming to help Iran shock Portugal and Cristiano Ronaldo". Irishnews.com. 25 June 2018.
  5. ↑ "The US soccer database from beginning to now - Michael McDermott". Socceroutsider.com. Retrieved 22 May 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  6. ↑ "For Wolves, Pressure is on". Articles.courant.com.
  7. ↑ "Match Result". Archived from the original on 20 December 2004. Retrieved 20 January 2012.
  8. ↑ "Soccer Banter - Mick McDermott". Archived from the original on 5 March 2016.
  9. 1 2 "Mick McDermott Accepts Men's Soccer Assistant Position". Archived from the original on 18 December 2019.
  10. ↑ "Soccer Banter - Mick McDermott". Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 15 August 2011.
  11. ↑ "Mick McDormott quits as Iran's fitness coach - Tehran Times". Retrieved 23 July 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  12. ↑ "میک مک‌ درموت علاوه بر بدنساز، دستیار منصوریان هم شد" [A part from being a fitness coach, Mick McDermott will be Mansourian's assistant as well]. Tarafdari.com (in Persian).
  13. ↑ "قرارداد میک مک درموت با استقلال فسخ شد" [Mick McDermott's contract was terminated]. Tarafdari.com (in Persian). 30 October 2017. Retrieved 30 October 2017.
  14. ↑ "Carlos Queiroz ya está en Bogotá". Diariodelcesar.com. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  15. ↑ "میلیونر ایرانی در ایرلند باشگاه می خرد". Varzesh3.com. Retrieved 7 July 2022.
  16. ↑ "Mick McDermott Appointed Head Coach | Glentoran FC". Glentoran.com. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
  17. ↑ "Irish Cup final: Glens edge Sky Blues to win Windsor decider". BBC Sport. 31 July 2020. Retrieved 31 July 2020.
  18. ↑ "Glentoran announce three new signings including Northern Ireland defender Luke McCullough". Belfast Live. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  19. ↑ "Welcome Dayle and Gael". Glentoran F.C. 11 August 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2020.
  20. ↑ "Glentoran 1-0 HB Torshavn". Glentoran FC. 21 August 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  21. ↑ "Motherwell 5-1 Glentoran". BBC Sport. 27 August 2020. Retrieved 4 June 2021.
  22. ↑ "Mick McDermott: Glentoran manager is replaced in role by assistant Rodney McAree". BBC Sport. 17 January 2023.
  23. ↑ "Michael McDermott Appointed Head Coach of Cobh Ramblers FC - Cobh Ramblers Football Club". cobhramblers.ie. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  24. 1 2 "Cobh Ramblers win Munster Senior Cup with comfortable victory over Rockmount". www.echolive.ie. Retrieved 5 October 2025.
  25. ↑ "Ramblers rocked as McDermott departs ahead of play-off". 20 October 2025 – via www.rte.ie.
  26. ↑ Fallon, John (20 October 2025). "Cobh Ramblers confirm abrupt departure of manager at crucial point of the season". Irish Examiner.
  27. ↑ https://x.com/officialnifl/status/2062113136837046751?s=46
  28. ↑ "Glentoran manager's wife told to leave NI amid visa crisis". Belfastlive.co.uk. 23 September 2019.
  29. ↑ "Glentoran FC manager Mick McDermott's wife tells of visa 'nightmare'". Irishnews.com. 23 September 2019.
  30. ↑ "As it happened: McDaid the hero as Glentoran lift the Irish Cup" – via www.bbc.com.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.