David Hopkin

David Isaac Hopkin (born 21 August 1970) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who was most recently the manager of Ayr United.

For the British barrister, magistrate, and boxing administrator, see David Hopkin (magistrate).

David Hopkin
Personal information
Full name David Isaac Hopkin[1]
Date of birth (1970-08-21) 21 August 1970
Place of birth Greenock, Scotland
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
Port Glasgow Rangers B.C.
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1992 Greenock Morton 48 (4)
1992–1995 Chelsea 40 (1)
1995–1997 Crystal Palace 83 (21)
1997–2000 Leeds United 73 (6)
2000–2001 Bradford City 21 (0)
2001–2002 Crystal Palace 39 (4)
2002–2003 Greenock Morton 11 (1)
Total 291 (39)
International career
1997–1999 Scotland 7 (2)
Managerial career
2015–2018 Livingston
2018–2019 Bradford City
2019–2020 Greenock Morton
2021 Ayr United
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

As a player he was a midfielder from 1989 until 2003, notably in the English Premier League including spells with Chelsea, Leeds United and Bradford City. He also played in the Football League for Crystal Palace. He started and finished his career in his native Scotland with Greenock Morton. He earned seven caps for Scotland, scoring two goals.

Since retiring as a player he has worked as a coach at Greenock Morton and Livingston, becoming head coach of Livingston in 2015. Hopkin guided Livingston to successive promotions in 2017 and 2018, but opted to leave the club in May 2018. He then had short spells as manager of, successively, Bradford City, Greenock Morton and Ayr United.

Club career

Hopkin started his career at Morton before moving to Premier League side Chelsea in 1992. He did not play many games for Chelsea and was later sold to Crystal Palace in 1995 for £850,000 just after their relegation from the Premier League.[2]

At Selhurst Park he wrote himself into Palace folklore by scoring a 90th-minute winner in the 1997 First Division play-off final against Sheffield United, to put Palace back into the Premier League. He also scored a key goal in the semi-final against Wolverhampton Wanderers.[3] After two years with Palace, Hopkin moved on to Leeds United and then to their local rivals Bradford City.

He later went on to play for Crystal Palace again before returning to Scotland with his hometown club Greenock Morton in a player/coaching role[4] – however he had to retire in 2003 due to a recurring ankle injury.[5] During his second playing spell at Morton he scored twice, once in the League Cup against St Mirren[6] and once in the league against Gretna.[7]

International career

Hopkin won seven caps for the Scotland national team, scoring twice in a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Belarus.[8][9]

Coaching career

Morton coach

Hopkin and Derek Collins had a brief spell as joint caretaker managers at Greenock Morton, when they occupied the dugout for a match against Albion Rovers in the 2002–03 season. Hopkin became part of the coaching staff at junior league club Maryhill, before returning to Cappielow as the manager of Morton's reserve side alongside Jonatan Johansson.[10]

After Allan Moore was sacked as manager of Morton, Hopkin again took interim charge of the first team assisted by Derek Anderson.[11] As well as continuing as manager of the Development squad, he became assistant manager to the newly appointed boss Kenny Shiels. Hopkin took Shiels' place as the club's match-day interviewee after Shiels became unable to do so on medical advice.[12] Hopkin resigned as assistant manager of Morton in April 2014.[13]

Livingston

Hopkin left his post as reserve team manager to become assistant head coach at Livingston to Mark Burchill.[14][15] Hopkin took temporary charge of the Livingston first team after Burchill left the club in December 2015.[16] After three games, Livingston appointed Hopkin as head coach until the end of the 2015–16 season.[17] However, he could not prevent the team's relegation from the Scottish Championship.

Hopkin led the "Livi Lions" to the Scottish League One title and promotion back to the second tier after only one season, secured on 8 April 2017 with four games to play. In their first season back in the Championship, Livingston finished second in the division and reached the Premiership promotion/relegation playoff final.[18] Livingston won the two-legged final against Partick Thistle, securing a second successive promotion.[19] Hopkin opted to leave Livingston in May 2018, at the end of his contract.[19]

Bradford City

Bradford City appointed Hopkin as their manager on 4 September 2018.[20] Hopkin resigned on 25 February 2019, the team having won only seven of his 35 games in charge.[21]

Morton

Hopkin was appointed manager of Scottish Championship club Greenock Morton in May 2019.[22] He resigned in December 2020 after the club appeared to be in financial trouble .[23]

Ayr United

Hopkin became manager of Ayr United in March 2021.[24] He left this position six months later.[25]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Scotland[8][9] 199742
199930
Total72
Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first.[8][9]
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.7 September 1997Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen Belarus2–04–11998 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.4–1

Managerial statistics
As of 7 September 2021[26]
Team From To Record
GWDLWin %
Livingston December 2015 May 2018 118 63 21 34 053.39
Bradford City September 2018 February 2019 35 7 11 17 020.00
Greenock Morton May 2019 December 2020 48 17 12 19 035.42
Ayr United March 2021 September 2021 20 5 8 7 025.00
Total 221 92 52 77 041.63

Honours

Managerial

Livingston

References
  1. "David Hopkin". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
  2. Ridley, Ian (13 August 1995). "Club-by-club guide: The prospects, the players to watch, the arrivals and departures". The Independent. London.
  3. "Football: Hopkin strike cuts Wolves to the quick". The Independent. 14 May 1997. Retrieved 13 January 2018.
  4. "Hopkin begins coaching at Morton". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 28 August 2002. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
  5. "Morton sack McPherson". BBC Sport. 14 November 2002. Retrieved 28 February 2010.
  6. "Morton 2–3 St Mirren". BBC Sport. 7 September 2002. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  7. "Morton 2–2 Gretna". BBC Sport. 26 October 2002. Retrieved 16 February 2010.
  8. David Hopkin at the Scottish Football Association
  9. Brown, Alan; Tossani, Gabriele (19 September 2019). "Scotland – International Matches 1996-2001". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 14 February 2020.
  10. Mitchell, Jonathan (5 June 2012). "Hopkin signs up at Ton". Greenock Telegraph. Retrieved 5 June 2012.
  11. "1st team update". Greenock Morton F.C. 23 November 2013. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
  12. "Morton boss Kenny Shiels stops interviews on medical advice". BBC Sport. 9 January 2014. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  13. Mitchell, Jonathan (23 April 2014). "Hopkin steps down as Morton assistant boss". Greenock Telegraph. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  14. "David Hopkin joins coaching staff". Livingston F.C. 20 January 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2015.
  15. McGlade, Neil (21 January 2015). "David Hopkin is new Livingston assistant manager". Edinburgh Evening News. Retrieved 26 January 2015.
  16. "Hopkins takes temporary charge". livingstonfc.co.uk. Livingston FC. 22 December 2015. Retrieved 23 December 2015.
  17. "David Hopkin appointed Livingston head coach until end of season". BBC Sport. 5 January 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
  18. McLauchlin, Brian (16 May 2018). "'Can we beat Thistle? Why not?' – Livingston boss David Hopkin". BBC Sport. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
  19. "Livingston start new manager search after David Hopkin departs". BBC Sport. 31 May 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  20. "David Hopkin: Bradford City appoint ex-Livingston boss as new head coach". BBC Sport. 4 September 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  21. "David Hopkin: Bradford City manager resigns from role at League One club". BBC Sport. 25 February 2019. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
  22. "David Hopkin returns to Morton as manager". BBC Sport. 15 May 2019. Retrieved 15 May 2019.
  23. "Greenock Morton: David Hopkin quits in 'selfless act' to save money". BBC Sport. 10 December 2020. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  24. "David Hopkin named Ayr United manager day after Morton appoint Gus MacPherson". BBC Sport. 11 March 2021. Retrieved 11 March 2021.
  25. "Ayr United: David Hopkin leaves as manager after six months". BBC Sport. 9 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  26. "David Hopkin". Soccerbase. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
  27. "Livingston 2–1 Alloa Athletic". Livingston F.C. 8 April 2017. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
  28. McLauchlin, Brian (20 May 2018). "Partick Thistle 0–1 Livingston". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 September 2018.
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