Donald Park

Scottish footballer and coach

Donald Park (born 19 July 1953) is a Scottish football player and coach.

A product of the Scottish Highland Football League, Park was educated at Lochaber High School in the Highlands of North West Scotland. Donald Park joined Highland League club Caledonian as a 16 year old in 1969. He was good friends with George Campbell, who became a professional footballer for Aberdeen FC. As a youth Park also played shinty. Park was capped several times at amateur international level by Scotland whilst with both Inverness Caledonian FC and Hearts FC. Park turned professional when he signed for Heart of Midlothian in 1972. He spent six seasons at Tynecastle, initially as a winger then latterly as a central midfielder. In September 1978 he was transferred to Partick Thistle, in a swap deal involving Denis McQuade, and he played an important role for the Maryhill Magyars as they perennially fought relegation from the Premier Division. When the Glasgow side suffered demotion, Park returned to Hearts in May 1983. He ended his career with short spells at Brechin City and Meadowbank Thistle.

While he was a player at Meadowbank, Park moved into coaching and he was eventually appointed manager of the club in 1992. He left after a year, and then spent a short time as joint manager of Arbroath with George Mackie in 1994, before joining Hibs as a coach in July of that year. He served as a youth coach under managers Alex Miller and Alex McLeish, and became the interim manager when McLeish left for Rangers in 2001. When Franck Sauzée was appointed as McLeish's successor, Park was promoted to the position of the assistant manager. Park was credited with the development of young players including Derek Riordan, Kenny Miller, Ian Murray, Tam McManus and Garry O'Connor. Park served in this role for 18 months before being appointed as Head of Coach Education by the SFA. He was appointed coach of the Scotland under 19 team in August 2017, a position he held until May 2018.