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 against Swansea City. 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 five, Shaun forged an impressive senior career as a youngster at Glasgow Celtic after cutting his teeth with Aberdeen-based youth team Albion Boys Club. He joined Celtic as a trainee in July 1999 and debuted in an April 2001 Scottish Premiership match against Auld Firm rivals Rangers, the first five seasons at Celtic Park that Shaun won a league title winners’ medal. He made his Champions League debut in October 2001 against FC Porto and after a debut League goal against Dundee in September 2001, he really announced his arrival in November 2001 when scoring four times the Scottish League Cup against Stirling Albion. By the start of the 2003/04 season he was a regular first team presence at Celtic, winning title medals and 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 sidelined for eight months and he only returned to first team action in April 2005, his only appearance for Celtic in the 2004/05 season. A return to form in the 2005/06 season saw Maloney play regularly and net sixteen 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 and scored against Dunfermline Athletic in the League Cup final victory, which represented the pinnacle of his time at Parkhead. After another half season in the Celtic first team that was hampered by injuries, Maloney left the club in January 2007 having scored 37 times in 131 senior appearances.
In January 2007 Maloney headed south to join English Premier League side 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 Premiership runners-up. Injuries meant that Maloney missed much of the 2009/10 season and also missed out on a Scottish FA Cup final winners medal in April 2011, having scored in the semi-final against Aberdeen. At the end of August 2011 he was on the move again having added a further 15 goals in 77 senior appearances for Celtic.
In August 2011 he joined English Premier League side Wigan Athletic for a £850,000 fee, an injury-hit 2011/12 season saw Shaun make his Latics debut in September 2011 against Everton and score his first goal for the club in March 2012 against Liverpool. 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 an April 2013 semi-final goal against Championship side Millwall and started the May 2013 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 Maloney left Wigan Athletic in January 2015 having scored fifteen goals in 91 senior appearances.
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 17 appearances to sign for the Tigers.
Maloney left Hull City in the 2017 close season, the offer of a playing contract at Aberdeen foundered due to injury concerns and in August 2017 he joined the coaching team at Celtic. 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, played in the summer of 2021, Maloney was appointed first team manager at Edinburgh-based Scottish Premiership side Hibernian in December 2021. Despite reaching the Scottish Cup semi-final, which was lost to Edinburgh rivals Heart of Midlothian, Maloney was dismissed in April 2022 after only four months and 19 matches 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 One and his side achieved a creditable top half finish. In March 2025 a poor run of form led the Wigan board to dispense with Maloney’s services – he led the Latics for 115 matches.
In June 2025 Maloney returned to Celtic once again when he was appointed Professional Player Pathway Manager, a role that assisted young players into the first team picture and oversaw loans to other clubs. In October 2025 he moved to the assistant manager role, working alongside temporary manager Martin O’Neill after Brendan Rodgers resigned from the Celtic top job.
Maloney was involved in the Scotland international setup as a teenager, making his first appearance for Scotland’s Under-21 side in August 2001 against Croatia. He scored his first goal for the Under-21s against Israel in September 2002 and by the last of his 21 appearances against Austria in August 2005 he had scored six goals. In April 2005 he played for Scotland B, also against Austria. MAloney made his senior debut for Scotland in October 2005 against Belarus and scored his first senior international goal in June 2007 against the Faroe Islands. His injuries meant he was in and out of the Scotland side for the next eleven years and he scored further goals against Macedonia in September 2013, Poland in October 2014, Ireland in November 2014, a brace against Gibraltar in March 2015 and his final goal against Gibraltar in October 2015. By the time he won his final cap against France in June 2016 he had amassed seven goals in 47 international caps for Scotland, the last six caps and one goal earned during his time at Hull City.
Details
Nationality: Scotland
Date/Place of Birth: 24 January 1983, Miri (Malaysia)
Hull City First Game: 29 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| Season | LGE App | LGE Gls | FAC App | FAC Gls | FLC App | FLC Gls | EUR App | EUR Gls | OTH App | OTH Gls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015/16 | 8 (12) | 1 | 1 (0) | 0 | 2 (0) | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 2016/17 | 2 (7) | 1 | 0 (1) | 0 | 3 (1) | 0 | – | – | – | – |