Stuart Balmer
Scottish footballer (born 1969)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Stuart Murray Balmer (born 20 September 1969 in Falkirk) is a Scottish professional footballer, who played as a defender.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Stuart Murray Balmer[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 20 September 1969 | ||
| Place of birth | Falkirk, Scotland | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)[1] | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| ?–1987 | Celtic | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1987–1990 | Celtic | 0 | (0) |
| 1990–1998 | Charlton Athletic | 227 | (8) |
| 1998–2001 | Wigan Athletic | 101 | (3) |
| 2001–2003 | Oldham Athletic | 36 | (6) |
| 2002 | → Scunthorpe United (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 2002–2004 | Boston United | 47 | (3) |
| 2004–2005 | Clyde | 13 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | Hamilton Academical | 15 | (1) |
| 2006–2008 | St Mirren | 0 | (0) |
| Total | 445 | (21) | |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2017 | Forfar Athletic (interim manager) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Playing career
Balmer was a young player at Celtic, having progressed from the Celtic Boys Club, in the late 1980s.[2] Having never made a competitive first team appearance at Parkhead, he was sold to Charlton Athletic in August 1990 for a fee of £120,000.[3] He has the distinction of being the first outfield player in the English league to be allocated the squad number 1; Charlton in the early 1990s allocated their squad numbers alphabetically, hence Balmer (and not a goalkeeper as is typical) wore the number 1 shirt for the season.[4][5]
After eight years at Charlton, Balmer moved to Wigan in September 1998 for £200,000.[3] In three seasons there, Balmer made over 100 appearances before going on to play for several lower league English sides.[3] Whilst at Wigan he also played in the final as they won the 1998–99 Football League Trophy.[6]
In July 2004, Balmer returned to Scotland as player/assistant-manager to Billy Reid at Clyde[7] and then followed him when he moved to Hamilton Academical a year later.[8] Balmer scored one goal for Hamilton, ironically in a game against former club Clyde.[9]
Coaching career
In January 2011, Balmer joined the coaching staff at Ross County as assistant to manager Willie McStay.[10] McStay was sacked as manager a month later, but Balmer remained on the coaching staff under Jimmy Calderwood who was appointed to manage the side until the end of the season.[10] Ross County only narrowly avoided relegation and Calderwood left at the end of the season.[10] Balmer was re-appointed assistant manager by Derek Adams on his appointment as manager in June 2011,[10] and that following season the management team helped Ross County win the Scottish First Division championship and promotion to the Scottish Premier League.[11] In a further readjustment of the coaching staff at Victoria Park in November 2012, Balmer took on the duties of coaching the Under-20 side.,[12] before leaving the club completely in May 2013.[13]
Balmer joined Airdrie in November 2013 as assistant to their recently appointed manager, Gary Bollan[14] and subsequently followed Gary, as his assistant, to Forfar in December 2015.[15] After Bollan was sacked by Forfar in September 2017, Balmer took charge of the side on an interim basis.[16]
