Anton McElhone Kicks Off a New Chapter with Beşiktaş JK
- McElhone joins former Rangers manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst at the Süper Lig club
Anton McElhone has kicked off a new chapter in his long and varied football career by joining Turkish giants Beşiktaş JK as Assistant Coach – Performance.
The Istanbul-based club confirmed this week that the 43-year-old Scot will be handed a leading role in manager Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s senior technical team.
Ironically, van Bronckhorst was manager of Rangers while McElhone was working at arch-rivals Celtic as a key member of Ange Postecoglou’s trusted backroom staff.
Now the pair will team up as Beşiktaş looks to end Süper Lig rivals Galatasaray’s title domination over the past few years.
Football Careers client Anton has worked alongside a host of leading coaches and managers in an impressive and successful 20-year career in player development. The list includes high-profile names such as Mauricio Pochettino, Harry Redknapp, André Villas-Boas, Tony Mowbray, and John Collins.
After starting as a youth coach at Queen’s Park and Hibernian, he spent ten years at Tottenham Hotspur before joining Brad Friedel’s coaching staff at New England Revolution in the US.
Returning to the UK in 2018, Anton became David Hopkin’s assistant at Bradford City and Morton before joining Postecoglou’s backroom team at Celtic as Head of Sports Science.
McElhone takes up his new post in Türkiye after a spell as Head of Academy at Queen’s Park. The Glasgow club said:
“The club wishes to place on record its thanks to Anton for his efforts during his short spell with the Spiders and wish him all the best for the future.”