Martin Canning (born 3 December 1981) is a Scottish football player and coach. He is currently assistant head coach at Millwall.
During his playing career, Canning played as a central defender for Ross County, Peterhead, Gretna, Hibernian and Hamilton Academical.
Playing career
Canning became Gretna's record signing in January 2006 after joining from Ross County in a £60,000 deal. He made 46 appearances for Gretna, scoring once against Livingston, and helped them to promotion to the Scottish Premier League in the 2006–07 season. He was cup tied for their run to the 2006 Scottish Cup Final.
His contract with Gretna was terminated by mutual consent on 31 January 2008 due to the ensuing financial crisis at Gretna. Canning had to waive money he was due by Gretna to ensure that he was released from his contract and he was subsequently named in a creditors list published by Gretna's administrator in April 2008.
In February 2008, Canning signed a 16-month contract on 16 February 2008 with Hibernian after impressing in two reserve games while on trial. Canning made 12 league appearances for Hibs, but was released on 1 September 2008 to make way for new signing Souleymane Bamba. Canning then signed for Hamilton Academical on the same day.
Canning started coaching Hamilton's under-17 team, while continuing his playing career, in the 2012–13 season. He signed a new one-year contract with Hamilton in May 2013. A year later, he was part of the Accies team which won promotion to the Scottish Premiership, via a play-off win over his previous club Hibernian. Canning maintained his playing registration after being appointed Hamilton manager in 2015. Despite only making three first team appearances in the 2015–16 season due to injury, he extended his playing contract by another year in May 2016.
Coaching career Canning became interim player-manager of Hamilton Academical in January 2015, after Alex Neil left to join Norwich City. He was appointed manager on a permanent basis later that month, despite having lost all three matches as caretaker manager.
Hamilton finished 11th in the 2016–17 Scottish Premiership, then avoided relegation by winning a play-off against Dundee United. Hamilton again avoided relegation in 2017/18 by finishing in 10th place. Canning left Hamilton in January 2019 by mutual consent.
Since departing Hamilton, Canning has been at Real Betis, Celtic, Leicester City, Preston North End, Aberdeen and Sunderland to assist with coaching.
In August 2019, Canning took on the role as Head of Coaching at North Kelvin United on an interim basis. In November 2019, he was appointed permanently.
Canning was appointed assistant manager of Stoke City in September 2022. He left Stoke in December 2023.
In December 2024, Canning was appointed assistant head coach of Championship side Millwall, once again supporting the newly appointed Alex Neil.
Career statistics
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational CupLeague CupOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsRoss County1999–2000Scottish Second Division60000020202000–01Scottish First Division61000000612001–02Scottish First Division70000000702002–03Scottish First Division2520030203022003–04Scottish First Division1500000001502004–05Scottish First Division3343020414252005–06Scottish First Division192102020242Total1119407010113210Peterhead (loan)2001–02Scottish Third Division210000000210Gretna2005–06Scottish Second Division60000000602006–07Scottish First Division3412000303912007–08Scottish Premier League1000000010Total411200030461Hibernian2007–08Scottish Premier League1100000001102008–09Scottish Premier League1000001020Total120000030130Hamilton Academical2008–09Scottish Premier League3012000003212009–10Scottish Premier League3712010004012010–11Scottish Premier League2302010002602011–12Scottish First Division3212010103612012–13Scottish First Division3313020003812013–14Scottish Championship3411030404212014–15Scottish Premiership2331030002732015–16Scottish Premiership3000000030Total2158130110502448Career total4001819018019145619
Managerial statistics
+ Managerial record by team and tenure TeamNatFromToRecord Hamilton Academical (caretaker)9 January 201523 January 2015Hamilton Academical 23 January 201529 January 2019Sunderland (caretaker) 26 August 202230 August 2022Total
Honours Scottish Premiership Manager of the Month: November 2017
References
External links
Hamilton Academical Manager - Martin Canning Details Fitbastats