Magilton named new Cliftonville manager

Jim Magilton spent 11 months as sporting director at Dundalk in 2021

Jim Magilton has been named the new manager of Irish Premiership club Cliftonville, with former boss Gerard Lyttle as his assistant.

The 54-year-old, who won 52 Northern Ireland caps, has previously worked at Ipswich, the Irish FA, Dundalk and Melbourne Victory.

Lyttle was previously Cliftonville manager from 2015 to 2017.

Cliftonville finished fourth in the Irish Premiership last season and missed out on European football after losing to Glentoran in the play-off final.

Magilton is the third new appointment across Northern Ireland's top flight this week after Rodney McAree re-joined Dungannon Swifts after leaving Glentoran, while Warren Feeney took over the hot seat at the Oval.

'An honour to be Cliftonville manager'

As a player, Magilton made his debut as a 15-year-old for Lisburn Distillery and earned a move to Liverpool before a playing career with Oxford United, Southampton and Ipswich Town.

He then spent three years as Ipswich manager, time with Queens Park Rangers, a year as Michael O'Neill's assistant at Shamrock Rovers, a stint with Melbourne Victory in Australia before joining the Irish FA as elite performance director in 2013, a role he would hold for seven years.

Magilton will be the Reds' first full-time manager and said it was "an honour to be appointed manager of a great club with such proud traditions".

"I'm very excited about the job and really looking forward to working with such a talented squad of players.

"A new manager coming in will always cast a fresh pair of eyes over things, but Paddy McLaughlin did a wonderful job at Cliftonville and I want to build on the successes that he had.

"It's such a competitive league and I want our fans to enjoy the brand of football that we will play. I want them to be proud of their team and I want them to play a role in helping us be successful.

"I may be new to the place but one thing I do know about the club is that a united Cliftonville is a strong Cliftonville, so having the manager, players, fans and everyone else behind the scenes all united and all pulling in the same direction from top to bottom can make us a real force in this league."

More to follow.