A forward by position, he began his playing career at Aberdeen as a teenager, before moving to Germany in 1997 to play for Borussia Dortmund. After a spell in the Netherlands with FC Twente (as well as loans from Dortmund to FC Utrecht and Vitesse Arnhem), he returned to Aberdeen in 2003, retiring a year later due to injury.
After his retirement as a player Booth became a coach, working with the Scotland youth teams. After a year as manager of Stenhousemuir he moved into women's football, becoming manager of Glasgow City. Booth left this position in June 2021 to become manager of FA WSL club Birmingham City, but was sacked five months later. He was appointed by Lewes in May 2022.
Club career
Aberdeen
Born in Aberdeen, Booth started his career at his hometown club Aberdeen, making his debut in 1990 aged 18 and emerging into the team alongside fellow youth graduate Eoin Jess.[4][5]
Booth moved on loan to Dutch club FC Utrecht in 1998, seeking more playing time to secure his place in the Scotland squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.[15][11] A year later he moved to another Eredivisie side, Vitesse Arnhem, again on loan,[11] and contributed to a strong season where the club only missed out on Champions League qualification by a goal difference of two.
He thereafter left Borussia Dortmund permanently, returning to the Netherlands to sign with FC Twente for a fee equivalent to £400,000. He played there for four years and picked up a winner's medal when Twente won the KNVB Cup in 2001 after a penalty shoot-out (in which he scored) in the final.[11] In the following season he had to fight for his place, and was close to returning to Scotland to play under former manager Alex Smith;[16] he also made his last appearances in continental competition in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup.[17]
Booth rejoined Aberdeen in the summer of 2003.[12][4] He was the club's top scorer in the 2003–04 season,[4] but was hit by injury. He retired from playing at the end of his contract in 2004, aged 32.[18] Over his two spells he made 229 appearances in all competitions for Aberdeen, scoring 70 goals.
International career
Booth won 22 caps for Scotland, scoring six goals, and was a member of Scotland's Euro 1996 and 1998 World Cup squads.[15] He had previously played for the Under-21 team, and set a goalscoring record for the team.[19]
Commentator
After retiring from football, Booth began a career in broadcasting. He worked as a match co-commentator and pundit for Setanta Sports until its UK broadcasting operation went into administration. He has also worked for STV, BBC Radio Scotland and ESPN. Booth scaled back these commitments when he was appointed as a national youth team coach by the Scottish Football Association.[20]
He was appointed manager of Scottish League One club Stenhousemuir in February 2014.[22] On 1 February 2015 he was relieved of his duties with the club sitting just above the relegation positions in League One.[23]
The club won the (summer seasonal) League Championship in 2015,[26]2016[27] and 2017[28] — taking their run of consecutive titles to 11 — and also lifted the Scottish Women's Cup in November 2015[29] to clinch a fourth treble in a row, although defeats to main challengers Hibernian in the two cup finals of both 2016 and 2017 brought the treble sequences to an end.[30][31][32][33]
Glasgow City won the SWPL again in 2018,[34] but they did not win either domestic cup and were heavily beaten by FC Barcelona Femení in the Champions League; media observers suggested Booth may have reached the limit of what he could achieve at the club, with little hope of making an impact in Europe given the superior resources of the fully professional clubs from the leading nations, and any interruption to dominance in Scotland being viewed as failure.[35]
In the 2019–20 UEFA Women's Champions League Booth led Glasgow City to the quarter-final, their joint-best finish in Europe, before they succumbed to a heavy 9–1 defeat to eventual finalists Wolfsburg.[36]
Booth left Glasgow City in June 2021, having won six consecutive league championships with the club.[37]
On 24 October 2024, Booth was appointed head coach of Aberdeen Women in the SWPL, leaving a post as assistant to Leanne Ross at Glasgow City he had taken up three months earlier.[41] He replaced Colin Bell at Aberdeen, while Leanne Crichton was appointed to the Glasgow City role a week later.[42]
Career statistics
Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[43][44][45]