Steven George MacLean (born 23 August 1982) is a Scottish professional football coach and former player who was most recently the interim head coach of Scottish Championship club Queen's Park.
MacLean played as a forward for Rangers, Scunthorpe United, Sheffield Wednesday, Cardiff City, Plymouth Argyle, Aberdeen, Oxford United, Yeovil Town, Cheltenham Town, St Johnstone, Heart of Midlothian and Raith Rovers. He also represented the Scotland national under-21 football team.
MacLean retired from playing in 2020 and became a coach with St Johnstone. He was their manager for six months during 2023.
Club career Rangers Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, MacLean started out his football career at Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale, where he spent six years at the academy. When MacLean was a teenager, he was given a choice to join either Manchester City and Rangers, but chose the latter. MacLean progressed through the academy.
In the 2002–03 season, MacLean was called up to the Rangers first team and made his professional football debut, coming on as a 66th-minute substitute, in a 2–1 win against Partick Thistle on 22 December 2002. He made three more appearances for the club, all of them were coming on from the substitute bench. MacLean appeared as an unused substitute in the Scottish Cup final, as Rangers won 1–0 against Dundee to win the tournament. Despite receiving a medal, he felt like a fraud for not playing in the final. On 24 December 2003, MacLean signed a one-year contract extension with Rangers.
Upon returning to his parent club, however, Rangers manager Alex McLeish deemed that he was not "a first team prospect" and placed him on the transfer list. MacLean previously stated that he would leave Rangers if there’s no first team place for him next season.
Scunthorpe United (loan) Ahead of the 2003–04 season, MacLean was linked with a move to England, with clubs, such as, Barnsley and Scunthorpe United all interested in signing him. In the end, he joined Third Division outfit Scunthorpe United.
MacLean made his debut for the Irons, coming on as a 72nd-minute substitute, in a 2–1 loss against Bristol Rovers in the opening game of the season. On 30 August 2003, he scored his first goal for Scunthorpe United, in a 2–1 win against Torquay United. MacLean’s goalscoring form began to improve when he scored seven goals throughout September, including a hat–trick against Cheltenham Town on 30 September 2003. MacLean quickly became a first team regular at the Irons that saw him linked with other English clubs, but he ended up staying at the club for the rest of the 2003–04 season. By the end of 2003, MacLean scored nine more goals, including two hat–tricks against Huddersfield Town and Cambridge United.
However, he suffered a four months goal drought and had to wait until on 6 March 2004 to score goal again with a brace, in a 3–0 win against Yeovil Town. This was followed up by scoring on 9 March 2004 and 13 March 2004 against York City and Hull City respectively. MacLean later scored four more goals for Scunthorpe United later in the 2003–04 season. In the last game of the season, he started the match, in a 1–0 loss against Darlington, as the Irons avoided relegation. At the end of the 2003–04 season, MacLean went on to make fifty–two appearances and scoring twenty–five times while on loan spell at the club.
This earned him a nomination for Division Three’s Player of the Year. He also won Scunthorpe United’s Player of the Year for his performance.
Sheffield Wednesday On 7 July 2004, MacLean joined Football League One club Sheffield Wednesday for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £125,000, and signed a three-year deal. He previously agreed to a move to Bristol City before joining the Owls.
MacLean made his debut for the Owls, starting the whole game, in a 3–0 loss against Colchester United in the opening game of the season. A week later on 14 August 2004, he scored his first goal for the club, in a 4–2 win against Torquay United. This was followed up by scoring two goals by the end of August against Huddersfield Town and Tranmere Rovers. Since joining Sheffield Wednesday, he quickly made an impact for the Owls, just as his former Scunthorpe United manager Brian Laws predicted. By the end of November, MacLean added five more goals for the club. He scored on 11 December 2004, 18 December 2004 and 26 December 2004 against Brentford, Doncaster Rovers (scoring a hat-trick that saw him achieved Sheffield Wednesday's first away hat-trick for 32 years) and Walsall. The first two months of 2005 saw MacLean add six more goals for the Owls. However, he suffered a foot injury and was substituted in the 62nd minute, as the club won 2–0 against Doncaster Rovers on 6 March 2005. After a scan, it was announced that MacLean would be out for the rest of the 2004–05 season. In the League 1 Play-off Final against Hartlepool United, he returned from his injury, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute, and scored a crucial penalty under pressure to level the scores at 2–2 and played the rest of the game, as Sheffield Wednesday on to defeat their opponents after extra time to send the Owls promoted to the Championship. MacLean said the club’s promotion was one of his best career there. In his first season, he made forty–one appearances and scoring twenty goals in all competitions, becoming the first Sheffield Wednesday player to hit the 20 goal mark in one season since Mark Bright in 1994. For his performance, MacLean was named the Owls’ Player of the Year.
However, at the start of the 2005–06 season, MacLean sustained a broken leg on the eve of the club's Championship campaign in August 2005. After being out for the rest of 2005, he didn’t make his return in the latter part of the season on 11 February 2006 against Crystal Palace. Following his return from his injury, MacLean returned to score two penalties for Sheffield Wednesday, first at home to rival club Sheffield United in a 2–1 defeat and then against league champions Reading, which earned the Owls a 1–1 draw. At the end of the 2005–06 season, he went on to make six appearances and scoring two times in all competitions.
However, at the start of the 2006–07 season, MacLean sustained another injury setback on 12 August 2006 after scoring in a 1–1 draw against Burnley. After the match, it was announced that he would be out for four weeks. But on 23 September 2006, MacLean made a comeback, coming on as a 62nd-minute substitute, in a defeat to Derby County. He later added five more goals by the end of the year. In a FA Cup match against Manchester City on 2 January 2007, MacLean scored an equalising goal, just minute after the opposition team took the lead, in a 1–1 draw to earn a replay. He later scored six more goals, including scoring the winning goals against Southend United and Coventry City. MacLean finished the 2006–07 season with 13 goals from 22 first team starts and 22 substitute appearances, making him the club's joint top goal scorer for the season with Deon Burton and showing signs of returning to the form in which he played with in the 2004–05 season.
Cardiff City On 22 June 2007, it was announced that MacLean had signed for Sheffield Wednesday's Championship rivals Cardiff City, after failing to agree a new contract at Hillsborough. The move was a surprise to many Owls fans as MacLean was rumoured to have declared his willingness and desire to remain at the club. Speculation arose during the prolonged contract-talks with Wednesday that MacLean was demanding a significant pay-rise from that of his previous contract. It is possible that another stumbling block which prevented Sheffield Wednesday renewing MacLean's contract, was a clause in his contract which would grant former club Rangers £50,000 if he re-signed.
MacLean began the season as Cardiff's leading striker after Robbie Fowler was deemed not fit enough to play in some of the team's opening games. Famous for having never missed a penalty in his career, he came to Cardiff to miss one on his debut, leaving his new club to lose 1–0 to Stoke City in the first game of the season. He scored his first goal for the Bluebirds in the next game away to Queens Park Rangers, as Cardiff won 2–0. However, with Fowler soon returning and the arrival of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, MacLean found himself relegated to the bench. Things continued to get worse for him as he suffered ruptured ankle ligaments in a reserve match against Plymouth Argyle, which was expected to rule him out until December. However, he made an early return coming on as a substitute in a 1–0 loss to Southampton on 21 October 2007. After his return, he made mostly late substitute appearances, with just three starts for Cardiff City – in a 2–0 defeat against Charlton Athletic, a 2–2 draw with Watford, and a 3–1 win against Chasetown in the FA Cup.
Plymouth Argyle After finding himself out of favour at Cardiff City, MacLean signed a three-and-a-half-year deal with Plymouth Argyle on 18 January 2008, reuniting with former Sheffield Wednesday manager Paul Sturrock. The fee of £500,000 was a record signing for the Pilgrims.
He made his debut for the club the next day, starting the whole game, in a 1–1 draw against Southampton. Three weeks later on 12 February 2008, MacLean scored his first Plymouth Argyle goal in the sixth minute against Barnsley in a 3–0 win at Home Park. A month later, he scored two more goals for the club, coming against Colchester United and Coventry City. After the match, MacLean reflected on his target, saying: "If I score, I score; if I don't, I don't - I'll not beat myself up. I want to score goals but, at the end of the day, if I can contribute and develop the team in other ways, and we can win games...at the end of the day, it's all about the team." At the end of the 2007–08 season, he went on to make seventeen appearances and scoring three times in all competitions.
At the start of the 2008–09 season, MacLean soon lose his place in the first team, with Paul Gallagher and Rory Fallon preferred as Plymouth Argyle’s first choice forwards. But on 25 October 2008, he made his first return to the first team, coming on as a 71st-minute substitute, in a 3–1 loss against Ipswich Town. This was followed up by scoring his first goal of the season, in a 1–0 win against his former club, Sheffield Wednesday. On 13 December 2008, MacLean scored his second goal of the season, in a 1–1 draw against Queens Park Rangers. However, he failed to get into the team and an attitude problem combined with a lack of goals angered the fans.
At the start of the 2009–10 season, MacLean was recalled to Plymouth Argyle’s first team and appeared four times for the Pilgrims, but he continued to fail to score goals. In October 2009, Maclean was informed by Plymouth manager Sturrock that he was free to look for a new club.
Ahead of the 2010–11 season, MacLean was called up to the first team under the new management of Peter Reid. In the opening game of the 2010–11 season, he made his first league appearance for Plymouth Argyle in almost a year and set up a goal for Luke Summerfield, in a 1–0 win against Southampton. On 5 October 2010, MacLean scored his first goal of the season, in a 2–0 win against Cheltenham Town in the EFL Trophy. However, he, once again, fell out of favour in the first team. At the end of the season, MacLean made nine appearances and scoring once in all competitions. Following this, he was released by Plymouth Argyle.
Aberdeen (loan) In the summer of 2009, MacLean was linked with a move return to Scotland, with Aberdeen interested in signing him, but the move never happened. On 28 December 2009, he joined Scottish Premier League side Hearts on trial. However, MacLean swiftly left again as Vladimir Romanov refused to finance a move. After a month of speculation, MacLean finally signed for Aberdeen on loan until the end of the 2009–10 season on 1 February 2010, alongside Jim Paterson.