Stuart McLaren is a Scottish-Australian football player and coach, who is currently assistant coach for the Northern Ireland national women's team. As a player Queensland Roar signed McLaren on a short-term contract in early November 2005. He was signed due to Josh McCloughlan's injury, playing as a defender as he did when he was a former player-coach with the Brisbane Strikers in the NSL in Australia. He was then signed as a permanent player and regularly played in the starting eleven, occasionally captaining the Queensland Roar. McLaren left Australia in early 2011 returning to the United Kingdom to be nearer his place of birth with his family. In June 2011, he was appointed as head of Football at the world renowned Loughborough University in England. Following a very successful stint in British University Sport, McLaren began his journey in mens professional football when he was appointed manager of Stirling Albion in November 2014, where he experienced relegation from Scottish League One at the end of the 2014–15 season. He left Stirling Albion by mutual consent in September 2016, following a 4–0 defeat by Elgin City. In October 2018, McLaren was appointed by the Scottish Football Association to be a national youth team coach, with responsibility for the Scotland U16 team. McLaren was appointed interim manager of the Scotland women's national football team in January 2021 where he remained in the role until the appointment of permanent manager Pedro Martinez Losa at the end of 2021. In January 2022, one of the legacy football clubs from Glasgow, Scotland called on him. Celtic announced McLaren had joined them as their under-18s manager. He is here to share all that experience and knowledge with aspiring coaches and to offer strength and support to people already in the industry.