Bristol Rovers are delighted to announce the appointment of Mark McGhee as their new manager.
The experienced Scotsman, who has managed at the highest level, will join Rovers on a two-and-a-half year contract as the club seek to secure stability.
Chairman Nick Higgs said: "We are delighted to bring Mark to the club.
"We were very impressed with the quality of candidates for the position, but he was a cut above, he interviewed extremely well, and has a fantastic pedigree.
"Mark has a great track record, and has managed at the highest level in this country and in Scotland.
"His approach is very professional and he impressed us with his plans to take Rovers forward and get the club up where it belongs.
"We are all now looking forward to the rest of the season with Mark in charge."
McGhee began his managerial career as player/manager at Reading in 1991. He officially retired as a player in 1993, and guided Reading to promoting from Division Two the following season.
His team continued to progress and he was head hunted by Premiership Leicester City. In December 1994 he joined the Foxes, but the Midlands club were already involved in a relegation battle, and he was unable to save them.
In December 1995 he moved to Wolverhampton Wanderers and in the 1996/97 season Wolves finished amongst the play off places, but eventually lost out to Crystal Palace in the semi-final tie.
During the 1997/98 season McGhee had his best FA Cup run to date, being beaten by Arsenal in the semi-final.
McGhee parted company with Wolves in November 1998, and after time working as a scout under Gordon Strachan at Coventry, he took the job as Millwall manager in December 2000.
He led the club to the Division Two title in his first season in charge, and reached the Division One play offs the following season - this time losing out to Birmingham City in the semi-final.
The Scot left the New Den in October 2003, and joined Brighton less than two weeks later.
In his first season there he helped the Seagulls regain promotion to the Championship, after beating Bristol City in the final.
His next managerial role took him north of the border, back to his native Scotland. In June 2007 he was appointed the new manager of Motherwell.
McGhee transformed Motherwell from a team that just avoided relegation to finishing 3rd in his first season in charge, which meant that Motherwell qualified for the UEFA Cup.
This was the first time in 13 years that Motherwell had qualified for European competition.
In June 2009, he became manager of Aberdeen, where he remained until November 2010.
As a player McGhee played up front for a number of clubs, including, Newcastle United, Aberdeen, Hamburg, and Celtic, before he was forced to retire through injury.
He also played four times for Scotland, but his greatest playing moment came in 1983 when he was in the Aberdeen side that defeated Real Madrid 2-1 to lift the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup in Gothenburg.
