Former West Brom, Rangers, and Ipswich Town man touted for manager's job at top-flight club

Former West Brom defender Gareth McAuley has been touted as a potential managerial contender for a job in the top-flight of Northern Ireland.

The 44-year-old spent a large part of his career at the Hawthorns, making 227 appearances for the Baggies which is a large chunk of the 532 club games he played as a footballer. He's been retired since 2019, and for almost the last four-years, he's worked with the age grade teams of Northern Ireland.

He's been manager of Northern Ireland's under-19s team for the last year-and-a-half, but now he is being spoken about by the BBC as a potential candidate for the vacant Larne job. Earlier this week, Tiernan Lynch left his role at Inver Park to take up the job at Derry City.

The job at Larne is an attractive one as they have been the reigning NIFL Premiership champions for the last three seasons. They became the first side from Northern Ireland to qualify for the group stages of a European competition this summer.

Larne find themselves in the lowly position of ninth, a whole 14-points off league leaders Linfield but they do have a game in hand. They have so far lost all three of their UEFA Conference League matches but have games scheduled Olimpija, Dinamo-Minsk, and Gent to come before Christmas.

McAuley is just starting out in his managerial career but this could be an exciting opportunity for him. He started in the leagues in Northern Ireland, playing for Crusaders and Coleraine before he was brought to England by Lincoln City. McAuley spent two years at Sincil Bank before moving on to Leicester City, where there he spent two years.

Ipswich Town signed him in 2008 and he went on to make 127 appearances for the Tractor Boys. West Brom signed McAuley in 2011 and he spent seven-years as a player at the Hawthorns with each campaign spent in the English top-flight. His playing career finished with a brief playing stint at Rangers in which he made 10 appearances.