Gary Maley (born 3 August 1982) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player, who was most recently the goalkeeping coach at Livingston. He played as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership side Livingston.[2]
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | 3 August 1982 | ||
| Place of birth | Scotland | ||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| ?–2016 | Broxburn Athletic | ||
| 2016–2022 | Livingston | 2 | (0) |
| 2018 | → Cowdenbeath (loan) | 1 | (0) |
| 2021 | → Queen of the South (loan) | ||
| 2021 | → Queen of the South (loan) | ||
| 2022 | → Clyde (loan)[1] | 1 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:04, 8 December 2021 (UTC) | |||
Club career
editMaley's early playing career saw him play at Broxburn Athletic alongside David Martindale and Scott Pittman.
An engineer by trade, Maley only signed his first contract in 2016, as backup to Livingston goalkeeper Liam Kelly.[3] He spent a loan spell with Cowdenbeath in 2018, making 1 league appearance for them.[citation needed]
In 2020, Maley went viral after Livingston set up a Twitter poll asking the public whether his contract should be extended. Club manager David Martindale had initially pledged to donate £1 to the John O'Byrne Foundation for every vote cast, with Maley also donating two months' wages, but with the poll eventually reaching 180,000 votes,[2] Martindale instead limited his donation to £1,000.[3]
Maley had two short emergency loan spells at Queen of the South in 2021.[4]
After another loan spell with Clyde in early 2022,[1] Maley made his debut for Livingston in May, six years after signing for the club, as a substitute in a match against Dundee. At the age of 39 years, 285 days old, Maley became the oldest player to make his debut in the Scottish Premiership (or Scottish Premier League) since at least 1998.[5][6]
Coaching career
editMaley retired as a player at the end of the 2021–22 season and was appointed First Team Goalkeeping Coach at Livingston.[7]
He left the club in May 2024.[8]
References
edit- ^ a b "Gary Maley joins Clyde on emergency loan". Livingston Football Club. 5 March 2022.
- ^ a b "The people have spoken - Gary Maley stays!". Livingston FC. 27 May 2020. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
- ^ "Gary Maley Checks Back In". qosfc.com. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ @SPLstats (15 May 2022). "At the age of 39 years and 285 days, Gary Maley is the oldest player to make his Scottish top flight debut since at least 1998 (my age data prior to then is incomplete)" (Tweet). Retrieved 17 May 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ Boyle, Callum (15 May 2022). "Goalkeeper finally makes debut for Livingston, six years after joining". JOE. Retrieved 16 May 2022.
- ^ "David Martindale hails 'great signing' as Gary Maley joins Livi coaching staff". The National.
- ^ "Gary Maley moves on". www.livingstonfc.co.uk. 29 May 2024.