1009 Shaun Maloney

Biography

Scottish attacking midfielder Maloney signed for the Tigers in August 2016 to lend attacking flair to City’s Championship title shot.  He played a useful support role during his first season and was used as impact substitute at the start of the subsequent Premier League season, scoring a vital goal in City’s second win of the season at Swansea.  In June 2017 he turned down the offer of a one year contract extension to stay at the Tigers, preferring a move into coaching.

Shaun Richard Maloney was born in Malaysia to Scottish parents, his father was a helicopter pilot and instructor working in the Far East.  After being raised in Aberdeen from the age of 5, Shaun forged an impressive senior career as a youngster at Celtic, joining the club in 1999 and debuting in April 2001 in a Scottish Premier League match against Auld Firm rivals Rangers. He made his Champions League debut six months later against FC Porto and after a debut League goal against Dundee in September 2001, he really announced his arrival when scoring four times in the Scottish League Cup against Stirling Albion. By 2003 he was a regular first team presence at Celtic, winning two SPL title medals and was appearing as an extra time substitute in the May 2003 UEFA Cup Final that Celtic lost 2-3 to FC Porto, a match played in Seville, Spain.

A cruciate knee ligament injury suffered in February 2004 saw Maloney miss over a year of football and returned at the end of the 2004/05 season. A return to form in the 2005/06 season saw Maloney play regularly and net 16 goals in all competitions including goals in six consecutive matches during February and March 2006. Shaun won SPL and Scottish League Cup winners medals that season, which represented the pinnacle of his time at Parkhead. After another half season in the Celtic first team Maloney left the club in January 2007 having scored 37 times in 138 senior appearances.

In January 2007 Maloney headed south to join Aston Villa, a knock-down £1 million fee securing his signature six months before his contract with Celtic expired. He spent a season and a half at Villa Park, debuting in the Premier League against Reading in February 2007 and scoring his first Villa goal two months later against Manchester City. His 2007/08 season at Aston Villa started well with three goals in his first two appearances, but he struggled to hold down a first team place and in August 2008 he returned to Celtic in return for a £4 million fee, having scored seven times in 33 senior appearances for Villa.

He was restored as a first team regular at Celtic and spent three more years at Parkhead, a spell that saw the Bhoys thrice finish Scottish Premier League runners-up. Maloney won a Scottish FA Cup final winners medal in April 2011, scoring a goal as Celtic tonked Aberdeen 4-0, but by the 2011 close season he was on the move again having added a further 15 goals in 76 senior appearances for Celtic. In August 2011 he joined English Premier League Wigan Athletic for a £850,000 fee, and after an injury-hit 2011/12 season he was a first team regular in the 2012/13 season as Wigan battled against relegation while also reaching the FA Cup Final – Maloney contributed a semi-final goal against Championship side Millwall and started the Final at Wembley against Manchester City, which Wigan improbably won 1-0 to garner Maloney his only winners medal in the English game. After a season and a half in the Championship with Wigan Maloney left the DW Stadium in January 2015 having made 91 senior appearances and scored 15 goals.

In January 2015 he headed to the United States and signed for Major Soccer League side Chicago Fire, but he returned to England just eight months later after three goals in 14 appearances to sign for the Tigers.

Maloney left Hull City in the 2017 close season, after an offer of a playing contract at Aberdeen foundered due to injury concerns he joined the coaching team at Celtic in August 2017.  In September 2018 he left Celtic to take up a coaching role with the Belgium national team, working alongside his former Wigan teammate Roberto Martinez. After helping Belgium reach the quarter final stage of the delayed Euro 2020 Finals in the summer of 2021, Maloney was appointed first team manager at Edinburgh-based SPL side Hibernian in December 2021. Despite reaching the Scottish Cup semi-final, which was lost to Edinburgh rivals Hearts, Maloney was dismissed in April 2022 after only four months in charge at Easter Road.

In January 2023 Maloney rekindled his relationship with Wigan Athletic when he was appointed first team manager at the Championship strugglers, following Kolo Toure’s short tenure in charge. He battled against financial mismanagement and points deductions to keep the Latics afloat but the scale of task soon proved too much and Maloney’s Wigan side dropped out of the Championship in May 2023. Despite this relegation and another points deduction at the start of the 2023/24 season, Maloney was retained by Wigan to mastermind a recovery season in League 1.

Maloney earned 20 under-21 caps for Scotland and made his senior international debut in October 2005 against Belarus. He went on to win 47 international caps for Scotland and scored seven goals, his final cap coming against France in June 2016 while in the final weeks of his time at Hull City.

Details

NationalityScotland
Date/Place of Birth: 24 January 1983, Miri (Malaysia)
Hull City First Game29 August 2015, Preston North End H (Championship), 32 years, 271 days old
Hull City Final Game: 14 May 2017, Crystal Palace A (Premier League), 34 years, 110 days old

Clubs

Celtic (2000-2007), Aston Villa (2007-2008), Celtic (2008-2011), Wigan Athletic (2011-2015), Chicago Fire (2015), Hull City (2015-2017)

Hull City Record

Career: 37 apps, 2 goals

Shaun Maloney
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2015/168 (12)11 (0)02 (0)0----
2016/172 (7)10 (1)03 (1)0----

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