William Dodds (born 5 February 1969) is a Scottish former football coach and player.
His playing career started with English club Chelsea and the rest of his career was spent in Scotland with Partick Thistle, Dundee, St Johnstone, Aberdeen, Dundee United and Rangers. Dodds made 26 appearances for Scotland, scoring seven goals.
He has had coaching spells at Queen of the South, Dundee, Ross County and Inverness Caledonian Thistle. After a spell as their assistant manager, Inverness appointed Dodds as their manager in 2021. He guided them to the 2023 Scottish Cup final, but was sacked later that year.
Club career Early career Born in New Cumnock, Dodds began his career with English club Chelsea in 1986. He made his senior debut on loan to Partick Thistle in 1987–88. After making only three appearances for Chelsea, he was transferred to Dundee in 1989. He scored 68 league goals in 174 appearances for Dundee, winning a Scottish First Division title in the 1991–92 season and scoring a hat-trick in the 1990 Scottish Challenge Cup Final.
St Johnstone Dodds moved to St Johnstone, for a club record £400,000 transfer fee in January 1994 but moved to Aberdeen within six months.
Aberdeen Dodds was Aberdeen's record signing at £800,000. During his time at Pittodrie, he scored important goals to prevent relegation in 1994–95 and was part of the side that won the 1995–96 Scottish League Cup, scoring as The Dons beat his former club Dundee in the November 1995 final having also netted both goals in the semi-final victory the previous month. Dodds remained at Aberdeen until September 1998, when manager Alex Miller used him – along with £700,000 – in a swap deal to bring Robbie Winters to Pittodrie Stadium from Dundee United.
Dundee United Dodds enjoyed something of a rebirth when Aberdeen offered him and cash for Winters. Restored to playing as a striker, Dodds' full debut for United saw a hat-trick against former club St Johnstone. During his time at Tannadice, he scored 25 goals in 45 league appearances.
Rangers In December 1999, less than fifteen months after joining United, 30-year-old Dodds was signed for Rangers (the club he supported in childhood) by manager Dick Advocaat for £1.3m, following injuries to forwards Michael Mols and Jonatan Johansson. Dodds proved an instant success at Ibrox, scoring goals domestically and in European competition. Dodds was part of the squad that won a League and Scottish Cup double in 2000, and a cup double in 2002. He has described his time with Rangers as "the pinnacle of my career". First-team opportunities dried up later in his stay, leading to his departure in January 2003.
Final playing spell With few first team opportunities under new Rangers manager Alex McLeish, Dodds returned to Dundee United in January 2003 as he was swapped for Steven Thompson. On Dodds' second debut for United, he scored the first equaliser in a 2–2 draw at home to Kilmarnock.
During 2005, Dodds signed a new contract at Dundee United that would see him work with manager Gordon Chisholm as both player and first team coach. Now playing more in midfield or as a sweeper as his pace began to slow, Dodds helped United avoid relegation that year. When Chisholm was sacked as manager in January 2006, Dodds took over as caretaker manager for one match, a 2–1 win against Falkirk in the Premier League. When Craig Brewster took over as manager the following week, Dodds left the club. He then signed for Second Division club Partick Thistle as a player later that month, but left after making three appearances.
International career Dodds gained his first Scotland cap on 5 October 1996 against Latvia while playing for Aberdeen, coming on as a 59th-minute substitute in the 1998 FIFA World Cup Qualifier win in Riga. He was in the starting line-up for the following fixture against Estonia in Tallinn four days later, but a scheduling dispute meant the home team did not adhere to a quickly-rearranged afternoon kick-off time, and the match was abandoned at kick-off with no caps awarded to the Scotland players; the fixture was re-arranged for the following February, but Dodds was not selected.
His form at Dundee United attracted the attentions of Scotland coach Craig Brown, who restored Dodds to the Scotland squad after a twelve-month absence. During his time with United, he featured in ten competitive international matches, including the UEFA Euro 2000 play-off matches against England, scoring four times during the qualifying, with his first two goals for Scotland coming against Estonia at Tynecastle Park, and a long-range winning goal away to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He continued to be selected whilst at Rangers, with his 26th and final cap coming in September 2001 against Belgium, a match which Scotland lost 2-0 meaning they would not qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He scored three times in the group taking his goals total to seven, all in competitive matches.
Coaching career Assistant Gordon Chisholm appointed Dodds as strikers' coach at Queen of the South. Queens made it to the 2008 Scottish Cup Final, which they lost 3–2 to Rangers. This led to the club's first appearance in a UEFA organised competition, the 2008–09 UEFA Cup.
Chisholm selected Dodds to be his assistant manager when he was appointed manager of Dundee in March 2010. In October 2010, as Dundee entered administration, Chisholm and Dodds were made redundant as the administrator Bryan Jackson set about the task of saving the club from liquidation. Dodds subsequently objected to the company voluntary arrangement (CVA) that took Dundee out of administration in 2011.
On 9 September 2014, Dodds become assistant manager to Jim McIntyre at Ross County. He left the club on 25 September 2017 when both he and McIntyre were sacked. When McIntyre was appointed Dundee manager in October 2018, Dodds was linked with the assistant position there. This move did not proceed as Dundee fans objected to Dodds due to his vote against the CVA, and Jimmy Boyle was appointed assistant instead.
Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager Dodds joined Inverness Caledonian Thistle as an assistant to interim manager Neil McCann during the latter part of the 2020–21 season after John Robertson went on compassionate leave. At the end of that season Inverness appointed Dodds as their new head coach, with Robertson becoming their sporting director. In his first full season as manager, Dodds guided Inverness to the Premiership playoff final, but they lost 6–2 on aggregate to St Johnstone despite going on a 11 game winless streak between December and March. In his second season they reached the 2023 Scottish Cup final, which they lost 3–1 to Celtic although their final appearance only happened after fellow Championship side Queens Park fielded an ineligible player. Dodds and his assistant Barry Wilson were sacked on 17 September 2023, with the team bottom of the Championship at the time and have just one point from five league games and being knocked out of the Challenge Cup and the League Cup.
Rangers On 24 February 2025, Dodds was appointed as an assistant manager at Scottish Premiership side Rangers. He worked under interim head coach and former Rangers teammate Barry Ferguson.
Kilmarnock Dodds was appointed assistant manager of Kilmarnock on 6 January 2026, working with Neil McCann.
Career statistics Club + Appearances and goals by club, season and competitionClubSeasonLeagueNational CupLeague CupContinentalOtherTotalDivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsChelsea1986–87Football League First Division1000000010201988–89Football League First Division200000001030Total300000002050Partick Thistle (loan)1987–88Scottish First Division309 00309Dundee1989–90Scottish Premier Division3013 0030131990–91Scottish First Division3715 00 37151991–92Scottish First Division4219 00 42191992–93Scottish Premier Division411600 00 41161993–94Scottish Premier Division245 00 245Total174680000000017468St Johnstone1993–94Scottish Premier Division20600000000206Aberdeen1994–95Scottish Premier Division3515 0035151995–96Scottish Premier Division317 003171996–97Scottish Premier Division311421240035191997–98Scottish Premier Division341010320038121998–99Scottish Premier League6000230083Total137463179000014756Dundee United1998–99Scottish Premier League3016710000 37171999-00Scottish Premier League159003100 1810Total4525713100005527Rangers1999-00Scottish Premier League18103500000021152000–01Scottish Premier League3091021830041132001–02Scottish Premier League112341010001662002–03Scottish Premier League600000000060Total6521793193008434Dundee United2002–03Scottish Premier League142101000001622003–04Scottish Premier League33101010000035102004–05Scottish Premier League21200400000252Total6814206000007614Partick Thistle2005–06Scottish Second Division201000000030Career total544189201119119320594214
International + Appearances and goals by national team and yearNational teamYearAppsGoalsScotland199610199730199823199991200060200153Total267
Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Dodds goal.
+ List of international goals scored by Billy DoddsNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 10 October 1998 Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh, Scotland 1–1 3–2 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying2 3–23 14 October 1998 Pittodrie Stadium, Aberdeen, Scotland 2–0 2–1 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying4 4 September 1999 Olimpijski Stadion, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina 2–1 2–1 UEFA Euro 2000 qualifying5 24 March 2001 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland 1–0 2–2 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification6 2–07 28 March 2001 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland 3–0 4–0 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification
Managerial record
+ Managerial record by team and tenureTeamNatFromToRecord Dundee United (caretaker) 10 January 200616 January 2006Inverness Caledonian Thistle1 June 202117 September 2023 Career Total —
Honours Player Dundee Scottish Challenge Cup: 1990–91 Scottish First Division: 1991–92
Aberdeen Scottish League Cup: 1995–96
Rangers Scottish Premier League: 1999–2000 Scottish Cup: 1999–2000 Scottish League Cup: 2001–02
Manager Inverness CT Scottish Cup: Runner-up: 2022–23
See also List of footballers in Scotland by number of league appearances (500+)
Notes
References
External links
Club profile at Sporting-Heroes.net International profile at Sporting-Heroes.net Profile at Dundee United FC Historical Archive Profile at AFC Heritage Trust