| Bruce Rioch |
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PLAYING CAREER He played for Luton Town , Aston Villa , Everton and Derby County , where he won a League Championship medal. After a dispute with the Derby manager, Tommy Docherty , Rioch started a brief loan spell with a struggling Second Division Sheffield United in March 1979. However, despite having an immediate impact, he left for America to play in the NASL . He also won 24 caps for Scotland . MANAGERIAL CAREER Middlesbrough After retiring as a player, he moved into management, first with Torquay United . His first success in management came in 1987 when he guided Middlesbrough to runners-up spot in the Third Division and promotion to the Second Division at the end of the season which had started with them locked out of Ayresome Park by the official receiver and on the verge of Bankruptcy . A year later they won a second successive promotion, this time as winners of the Second Division promotion/First Division relegation playoffs. But Middlesbrough found it difficult to adjust to the pace of top flight football and spent all season fighting a relegation battle which was lost on the last day of the season. He was sacked the following March as the Teessiders hovered just above the Second Division drop zone. Rioch made a quick return to management with Millwall and guided them to a playoff place in the 1990-91 Second Division campaign, but left after they failed to gain promotion. Bolton Wanderers Rioch's next stop was at Bolton Wanderers . In his first season, 1992-93, they finished runners-up in Division Two and won promotion to Division One. Two seasons later they were League Cup losing finalists and beat Reading 4-3 in extra time in the Division One playoff final after being 2-0 down at half time. The playoff final victory was Rioch's last game as Bolton manager. A few weeks later he accepted the Arsenal manager's job. Arsenal In 1995-96 , his only season at Arsenal, Rioch guided Arsenal to a UEFA Cup place, finishing fifth in the Premiership. It was achieved on the last day of the season at the expense of Everton , Blackburn Rovers and Tottenham Hotspur . Arsenal also reached the League Cup semi-finals but lost on away goals to Aston Villa , and were knocked out of the FA Cup in the Third Round by First Division Sheffield United . Just before the beginning of the 1996-97 season, Rioch was sacked after a dispute with the club's board of directors over transfer funds. His enduring legacy at the club was the signing of Dennis Bergkamp , whom Rioch had signed from Internazionale in the summer of 1995; Bergkamp would go on to become one of the club's greatest players. Queens Park Rangers After leaving Arsenal, he worked as assistant manager under Stewart Houston (his former assistant at Arsenal) at Queens Park Rangers but left along with Houston after just over a year at Loftus Road . Norwich City In May 1998, Rioch was appointed manager of Norwich City in Division One. He resigned after just two years at the helm after failing to get the Canaries anywhere near the promotion and playoff places that the club had long been hoping for. Wigan Athletic Rioch made a swift return to management with Wigan Athletic for the 2000-01 season, but he left the club in February as they occupied the Division Two playoff zone. The club said that Rioch had resigned, but he insisted he was sacked. Odense Rioch was intent on returning to management, and was linked with the Derby County manager's job after John Gregory was sacked at the end of the 2002-03 season. But it was four years before he made his return to management. Since June 2005 he has been chief coach of Danish First Division side Odense .
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