Somerset Park
Somerset Park is a football stadium located in Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It has been the home of Ayr United since they were founded in 1910. Prior to that, it was the home ground of Ayr. Ayr commissioned Somerset Park in 1888 to replace Beresford Park. Ayr needed an alternative venue for a friendly match against Aston Villa because Beresford Park was being used for the Ayr Cattle Show at the time; the Beresford Park clubhouse and grandstand were reassembled at Somerset Park. Ayr entered the Scottish Football League in 1897, but failed to challenge for promotion to the First Division. Ayr Parkhouse, who played at Beresford Park, subsequently joined the league, but were stuck in the Second Division; the two clubs decided to merge in 1910 to form Ayr United and the new club adopted Somerset Park as its primary home, although Beresford Park was used during the First World War. Ayr United bought Somerset Park for £2,500 in 1920. Four years the direction of the pitch was changed when the club built a new Main Stand.
A roof was built in 1933 over the railway end terrace, split into male and female sections. The ground's record attendance of 25,225 was set on 13 September 1969 in a match against Rangers. Floodlights were installed a year later. Somerset Park was late in doing this because the ground is in the flight path of the nearby Prestwick Airport; the Somerset Road end terrace was covered in 1971. A new wing was added to the Main Stand in 1989, increasing the seating capacity to 1,450 in an overall capacity of 12,128. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Ayr United were owned by Bill Barr, whose Barr Construction company built new stands for several clubs, including Kilmarnock, Hibernian, St Mirren and Airdrie. Despite this work on other Scottish grounds, Somerset Park was not developed, which meant that Ayr United could not be promoted to the Scottish Premier League. Barr had plans for an out-of-town stadium rejected by the Scottish Executive, he passed control of the club to Donald Cameron and his family.
In November 2006, Ayr United publicised plans to sell Somerset Park to housing developer Barratt Homes and move to a new purpose built stadium in the Heathfield area of Ayr. The new ground was planned to consist of a single stand of 3,650 seats, with the potential to add another 3,000-seat stand and a 1,000-capacity terrace, giving a total potential capacity of 7,650. South Ayrshire Council gave outline planning permission in January 2008. Barratt Homes pulled out of the deal to purchase Somerset Park in August 2008, with the developer claiming that the planning rules were "unworkable"; the credit crunch, which depressed housing values affected the proposal's viability. The Main Stand roof was damaged by Hurricane Bawbag in December 2011, forcing Ayr United to postpone a First Division match against Ross County. In 2018, it was confirmed that under current league requirements, Ayr United would be allowed to play matches at Somerset Park with minimal improvements to its facilities should they gain promotion to the SPFL Premiership, as the more stringent seating capacity regulations had been removed some years earlier.
Ayr railway station is 20 minutes walk from Somerset Park. Newton-on-Ayr railway station is closer to the ground; the A77 road is the main route towards Ayr. To reach Somerset Park, take the A719 road into town, passing Ayr Racecourse. There is a small car park next to Somerset Park and nearby street parking is available; the current Main Stand built in 1920 and designed by Glaswegian architect, Archibald Leitch, famous for his work designing Hampden Park, Stamford Bridge, White Hart Lane, Goodison Park, Ibrox Stadium, Selhurst Park, Highbury Stadium and Craven Cottage, at the cost of £8,000. The capacity of the main stand following its construction was 2,592. In 1989, an extension to the main stand was added to contain an extra 600 seats and contains a disabled section; the current seating capacity of Somerset Park is 1,597. In late 2012, the club were once again forced into further work upon the Main Stand, removing the remaining concrete asbestos tiles on the roof and upgrading the kitchen facilities.
In 1971, Ayr United F. C. erected a roof to cover the Somerset Road End terrace at the cost £12,000. To celebrate the construction of the new roof, Ayr United invited English club Sunderland to play a friendly match - the result was a 1-1 draw. Following the storms of late 2011, the roof had to be rebuilt; the North Terrace is an open terrace, for both home and away supporters, with a segregation fence erected in 1980. There is a hospitality suite standing on the north terrace that opened in 1996 and is named the "Ally MacLeod Hospitality Suite sponsored by the Ayrshire Post ", which replaced the traditional score board in its place; each box is named after a club great from either the 1960s, 1970's or 1980's, they are: Quinton'Cutty' Young, Stan Quinn, Henry Templeton, Davie Stewart and John'Spud' Murphy. The Railway End which now houses only away supporters, is a covered terrace opened in September 1933, following a £230 donation from the supporters club and £120 from the ladies supporters club.
In 2012, the club re-roofed the Railway End, despite not being instructed to at the time. Somerset Park first had floodlights installed in 1970, when supporters raised £12,201:14s:11d towards the £18,000, required; the first floodlight game at Somerset Park was a Second XI match against Partick Thistle although they were not opened until 18 November 1970, when Ayr United beat Newcastle United 2-0 in a ceremonial match for the occasion. In 2011, the original lights had to be replaced, which caused a Chal
Rugby Park
Rugby Park is a football stadium situated in the Scottish town of Kilmarnock. It was first used in 1899 and is the home of Kilmarnock FC, it underwent a major redevelopment in 1994–95, becoming an all-seater stadium with a capacity of 17,889. In addition to its main duty of hosting home matches for Kilmarnock it has been the venue for two Scottish international matches, it can be used for concerts, with Elton John playing to 15,000 in a first for the venue. In 2002, the club constructed a 4-star hotel complex next to the ground. Kilmarnock played at three other sites in their early years, before the club moved to Rugby Park in December 1877; this was not the precise site of the present stadium. The grounds were shared by cricket and rugby teams – sports which Kilmarnock had played – and the connection with rugby gave the ground its name. Rugby Park hosted its first international match in March 1894. By this time, the pitch had been moved to its current position; the ground was rebuilt and inaugurated with a match against then-champions Celtic on 26 August 1899, when Kilmarnock fought back from a 2–0 deficit to secure a draw.
It was their first match in the top tier of Scottish football, having won the Second Division the previous season. The ground was constructed with a running track around its edge, a pavilion and a stand along the west side; this layout meant. The pavilion and stand were linked in 1914, which produced 1,900 seats in a total capacity of 20,000. In 1935 a cover was added to part of the south terrace; this terracing was dubbed the Johnnie Walker stand, due to the company having an advert on the roof. During the Second World War, the British Army installed large oil storage tanks on the pitch; the club was not compensated. Floodlights were installed and first used in an October 1953 friendly match against Manchester United. A roof was added to the east terrace in 1959, the West Stand was renovated during the 1960–61 season. Rugby Park set its record attendance in March 1962, when 35,995 fans saw Kilmarnock lose 4–2 to Rangers in the 1961–62 Scottish Cup; this was a successful era for the club, as they finished runners-up in the league four times and won the league championship in 1964–65.
Safety regulations cut the capacity of Rugby Park to 17,528 by the 1980s, but this figure was troubled as the club fell to the Second Division. The Taylor Report, published in January 1990, recommended that British stadiums should become all-seater. Around the same time, a new board of directors took control of Kilmarnock; the new board proposed to move the club to an out-of-town site besides the A77 road as part of a wider development, but this was rejected by planning restrictions. The board decided to redevelop Rugby Park; the last game before reconstruction was played on 7 May 1994, when Kilmarnock beat Rangers 1–0. During the 1994–95 season the capacity was reduced as three new stands were constructed, their completion brought the capacity of the stadium to 18,128. The work was completed in just 348 days, as the new stands were first opened for a game against Rangers on 20 April. Kilmarnock opened the new Rugby Park on 6 August 1995, in a friendly match against English league champions Blackburn Rovers.
Alan Shearer hit a hat-trick as the home team lost 5–0. On 12 May 1998 Rugby Park hosted the last Ayrshire Cup final, as Kilmarnock fought back from 0–2 to beat Ayr United 4–2. In the summer of 1999, league regulations meant that Kilmarnock had to install undersoil heating at the ground. On 26 August of that year, Kilmarnock celebrated one hundred years at Rugby Park with a victory over KR Reykjavik in the 1999–2000 UEFA Cup; some work has since been done to increase the revenue created by the ground. In June 2002 the Park Hotel was opened adjacent to the stadium; the hotel was built on the site of Kilmarnock’s training pitch. The hotel has a conference centre, a café bar and a restaurant. In November 2004 and new sports bar was opened in the West Stand, sponsored by Foster's Lager. An artificial surface was installed in the summer of 2014. Despite becoming a modern, all-seater stadium, a number of features in the design of the stands give it a unique look. All stands bar the West Stand have little beneath them, as the tea bars and toilets are located under the lowest possible point towards the pitch.
The rest of the area underneath is open tarmac, with the steel framework exposed. Moreover, the turnstiles for the three newer stands are built into a perimeter wall rather than the stadium itself, there are large open air spaces before the stands themselves. Other stadiums have a similar design – for example Tynecastle’s Roseburn Stand, although there is considerable less space there. One advantage is that since the public smoking ban has come into force it has been possible for fans to stand in the open areas at half-time for a cigarette; the East Stand is distinctive in appearance as it does not cover the full length of the pitch, tapering before ending around 15yds before the extremity of the pitch. This is because the ground behind the stand is residential, can not be built on. However, the gap is not as large as a similar truncation at Fir Park, for example, is filled by flags. Scotland have played two games at Rugby Park; the match against Georgia was the first rugby union international match featuring a tier 1 nation to be pl
David Fernández Miramontes
David Fernández Miramontes is a Spanish retired footballer who played as a striker, is a scout for English club Manchester City. He spent most of his career in Scottish football, he had a successful spell with Livingston. Born in A Coruña, Fernández began his career with hometown club Deportivo de La Coruña. In 1995, he helped the reserves promote to Segunda División B was promoted to the first team by manager John Toshack, making his competitive debut in a UEFA Cup Winners' Cup tie against APOEL FC in Cyprus, on 14 September. Fernández finished his first season with Depor with 26 official matches and four goals, three of those coming within less than one month: against Real Sociedad, Atlético Madrid and Real Zaragoza, he was unable to break through to a regular starting place, being loaned twice to Segunda División clubs, starting with Sevilla FC in the first part of 1997–98. In the 2000 off-season, former FC Barcelona and Scotland player Steve Archibald was negotiating a deal to take control of Scottish First Division side Airdrieonians.
Using his contacts in Spain he enticed a number of players from there to try their luck in Scotland, with Fernández among those accepting his offer. Due to financial problems relating to the takeover, the Spanish imports all had to be released in March 2001, but as one of those whose performances for Airdrie had impressed, he was signed up by another club in that level, who were on the verge of promotion to the Premier League. In the 2001–02 season, Fernández featured prominently as the Livi Lions finished in third place and subsequently qualified to the UEFA Cup, his form prompted Celtic manager Martin O'Neill to spend £1 million to sign the player for the Glasgow giants, on a four-year contract. Despite this investment, Fernández struggled to establish himself at Celtic because his thoughtful style of play did not fit in with the direct approach of O'Neill's team, he scored his first and only goal for the team against FK Sūduva Marijampolė in the UEFA Cup, on 3 October 2002. After a first season spent exclusively on the bench, his future looked to lie away from Celtic, he was loaned back to Livingston for 2003–04, where he was part of the side that won the League Cup after beating Hibernian 2–0.
Upon his return to Celtic Park, Fernández was confined to reserve team football and, in August 2005, he was released from his link but remained in Scotland, signing a three-year deal with Dundee United. However, in April 2006, following a change in management at the club, he was informed by new manager Craig Brewster that he would be allowed to leave the club at the end of the season. On 18 August 2006, Fernández agreed a severance package with United and promptly signed a two-year contract with Kilmarnock. On 29 October, after a mistimed tackled by Celtic defender Gary Caldwell, he suffered a serious cruciate ligament injury, going on to miss the remainder of the campaign. Fernández was released by Kilmarnock when his contract expired in May 2010; the 34-year-old subsequently returned to A Coruña. In summer 2012, Fernández was appointed scout at Premier League side Manchester City. Deportivo Supercopa de España: 1995Airdrieonians Scottish Challenge Cup: 2000–01Celtic UEFA Cup: Runner-up 2002–03 Scottish League Cup: Runner-up 2002–03Livingston Scottish League Cup: 2003–04Kilmarnock Scottish League Cup: Runner-up 2006–07 David Fernández at BDFutbol Deportivo archives David Fernández at Soccerbase
Auchinleck Talbot F.C.
Auchinleck Talbot Football Club is a Scottish football club based in Auchinleck, near Kilmarnock, Ayrshire. Members of the Scottish Junior Football Association, they compete in the West of Scotland Super League Premier Division; the club have won the Scottish Junior Cup on a record twelve occasions. They play in biggest rivals Cumnock Juniors. Auchinleck Talbot was formed in 1909 and take their name from the 2nd Baron Talbot de Malahide, Richard Wogan Talbot, a landowner who donated the site of their Beechwood Park home. Beechwood Park opened in 1909 with a charity match between The Old Players and The Merchants. Talbot made their team debut the same year when they defeat the juvenile side Highhouse Rangers 4–0. Weeks they lost their first competitive game at Cronberry Eglinton in the league, their first win came in September 1909 when they defeated Patna Doon Athletic in their first Scottish Junior Cup tie. The early and middle history of the club is characterised by periods of fluctuating fortune related to the economic conditions in this coal mining district of rural Ayrshire.
Talbot folded in 1916 due to financial problems and the First World War but made a comeback four years ushering in a successful period for the club. The Ayrshire Cup was won in 1920 by defeating Irvine Meadow 3–0 at Rugby Park; that same year they set a club goalscoring record in the Scottish Junior Cup, defeating Craigbank 11–0 at home, a scoreline surpassed in 2008 when defeating Nairn St. Ninian, 13–1; the South Ayrshire League was won for the first time in 1921 and the following year, a terrace was raised at Beechwood Park to accommodate larger crowds ahead of a Junior Cup quarter-final tie against the eventual winners, a Jimmy McGrory inspired St Roch's. Talbot made their first foray to the semi-finals of this tournament in 1924, losing 1–0 to Baillieston at Love Street. In the 1928–29 season however, the club were forced into abeyance due to financial difficulties. Restarting the next year, Talbot suffered a lean decade through the 1930s until a second Ayrshire Cup victory arrived in 1939.
The club closed down for the duration of World War II but on resuming after hostilities, they enjoyed another successful spell, winning five trophies in 1947–48 including the first of twelve West of Scotland Cups before lifting the Scottish Junior Cup for the first time in 1949. The 3–2 victory over Petershill at Hampden Park was watched by a record crowd of 68,837 and it remains the third highest attendance at a Junior Cup final. Talbot's first defence of the trophy drew a record crowd to Beechwood Park when 10,000 people saw Irvine Meadow knock the holders out in the 3rd round; the ground was expanded for the occasion with thousands of tons of mining spoil added to build up the terracing and the "bing" was a feature of the park for a number of years. By the end of the 1950s, the clubs fortunes were again on the wane and the 60s was a down-at-heel decade of little success, with a constant battle being fought against vandalism at the ground; this culminated in the pavilion being burned down in 1972.
Around this time, Talbot suffered their record defeat, a humiliating 11–0 reverse at the hands of arch local rivals Cumnock Juniors. From the depths of despair however, a new resolve emerged. A public meeting on the future of the club infused Talbot with new blood; the clubhouse was rebuilt and onfield performances improved under a new manager, Jimsie Kirkland. Willie Knox, a former Raith Rovers and Forfar wing half, was appointed as manager in 1977 and an unprecedented era of success for the club began; the Ayrshire League was won in Knox's first season and in 1979, Talbot's hegemony over the West of Scotland Cup began with the first of nine victories in eleven years. The Scottish Junior Cup proved elusive with two successive semi-final losses in 1983 and'84 before Talbot defeated Pollok 3–2 in the Junior Cup Centenary final of 1986, coming back from 2–0 down after fifteen minutes of the game; the club followed up with Junior Cup final victories against Kilbirnie Ladeside in 1987, Petershill in 1988, becoming the first and so far, only club to win the tournament three times in a row.
Talbot added a further two Junior Cup wins under Knox in 1991 and'92 and when he stepped down as manager in 1993, the number of trophies accumulated under his 16-year tenure stood at 43. Talbot made their seventh Junior Cup final appearance in 2002 under the management of Tam McDonald, a player in the 1980s three-in-a-row side, but lost on the big day for the first time to Linlithgow Rose. Tommy Sloan had joined the club from Kilwinning Rangers as a player–coach under McDonald in 2003 and he stepped up to the managers role that year, assisted firstly by Iain Jardine by Allan McLuckie. Sloan has led the club to a further seven Scottish finals, his first victory in 2006 against Bathgate Thistle comprised one half of a Super League and Junior Cup double, a feat to be repeated in 2015. After escaping relegation on the final day in his first season, Sloan has established Talbot as the preeminent force in the West Super League with the club winning four successive league titles from 2012–13 onwards, five in total.
Off the field, Beechwood Park has been improved in recent years. A building sub-committee formed in 1989 oversaw the purchase of the Main Stand extension from Hamilton Accies old Douglas Park ground for £30,000 in the 1990s and the 460 seat structure was opened around 10 years later; the building committee was subsumed into a larger Beechwood Regeneration Committee in 2013 who continue to upgrade facilities. The club have been accredited with the Scottish Football Association "Standard" Quality Mark award since 2012. Talbot's record in the Scottish Junior Cup is th
Scottish Challenge Cup
The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup known as the Scottish League Challenge Cup or Scottish Challenge Cup, known as the Irn Bru Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an association football knock-out cup competition run by the Scottish Professional Football League. It was established by the SPFL's predecessor, the Scottish Football League and was contested by the 28 or 30 SFL/SPFL teams below the top level in the Scottish football league system. Teams below SPFL level were added in 2011–12, guest teams from outside Scotland in 2016–17. For the 2018–19 edition there are 58 teams: 30 from the SPFL; the competition was first held during the 1990–91 season as the B&Q Centenary Cup to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the SFL. It was continued due to its popularity; the first winner of the tournament was Dundee. Falkirk are the most successful team in the tournament, with four wins, most in 2012; the most recent winner was Ross County. The Challenge Cup is a knock-out tournament.
Within a regionalised format, clubs are paired at random and the first club drawn listed as the home team. The winner of each match progresses to the next round and the loser is eliminated from the tournament; every match, including the final, is a one-legged tie that lasts 90 minutes plus any additional stoppage time. If no clear winner has been determined after 90 minutes of normal time, 30 minutes of extra time is played. If the score is still level after extra time the winner is decided by a penalty shoot-out. Beginning with the 2016–17 season, the competition has been expanded to 54 entrants. All Scottish Professional Football League clubs will participate, with the thirty clubs from the Championship, League One and League Two now joined by Under-20 teams from the twelve Premiership clubs. Participating by invitation will be four teams each from the Highland and Lowland Leagues and eight entrants from outside Scottish football – two each from the NIFL Premiership in Northern Ireland, the National League, League of Ireland and the Welsh Premier League in Wales.
Teams are seeded to enter the competition over any of the first four rounds, after which eight teams will remain to contest the quarter-finals. The final is played at a neutral venue; the competition was created in the 1990–91 season to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Scottish Football League in 1890. It continued due to its popularity; this was reflected in high attendances at matches in the rounds of the tournament including a full capacity crowd of 11,500 at Fir Park in the first final. The cup was sponsored by DIY retail company B&Q and named the B&Q Centenary Cup for the first year and continued as the B&Q Cup for four seasons afterwards; the competition was run for three seasons without a sponsor due to the league covering the tournament costs and prize money, but was unsustainable and resulted in it being cancelled for one season in 1998–99 before being re-established in 1999 with a new sponsor. Although it is not as popular as competitions like the Scottish Cup, it provides smaller clubs with a realistic opportunity of winning a trophy due to the absence of top-tier clubs from the tournament.
When Stenhousemuir won the final in 1995 it was regarded as the club's greatest achievement in its 111-year history. Attendances at matches in the earlier rounds of the tournament are not dissimilar to average home attendances in league competition but as the competition reaches the latter stages they increase; the number of competitors has varied in relation to the number of clubs with Scottish Football League membership. The first tournament featured the 28 clubs in the First and Second Divisions which reduced to 26 until 1994 when the league was expanded and restructured into three divisions. In the 2010–11 competition the two highest ranked clubs from the Highland Football League with a Scottish Football Association licence were invited to compete, in order to bring the number of competitors to 32. Before the change in 2010, several clubs received a random bye in the first round in order to out the number of fixtures; the Challenge Cup continued under the auspices of the Scottish Professional Football League after the Scottish Football League merged with the Scottish Premier League in 2013.
One change at this time was that the two invitational places were split, with only one place filled by a Highland League club and the other place going to the winner of a preliminary round tie between clubs from the East of Scotland League and the South of Scotland League. This was simplified in the 2014–15 season, with the two additional places going to the Highland League champion and the Lowland League champion. From 2016–17 the competition has been further expanded with the addition of Scottish Premiership Under-20 teams, additional places for the Highland and Lowland Leagues, which now have four representatives each, two teams each from Northern Ireland and Wales. Two teams from the League of Ireland were included in the competition for the 2017–18 season. In the 2017–18 edition of the cup, Inverness Caledonian Thistle manager John Robertson became the first manager to win the cup twice with the
Dean Shiels
Dean Andrew Shiels is a professional footballer, who plays as an attacking midfielder for Coleraine. Shiels has played for Hibernian, Doncaster Rovers, Rangers, Dundalk, FC Edmonton and Dunfermline Athletic, he has played in 14 full international matches for Northern Ireland. His father is Kenny Shiels, his manager at Kilmarnock. Shiels started his professional career at Arsenal, but made no first team appearances for the club before signing for Hibernian in 2004. In early 2006, Shiels had an operation to remove his right eye, blind since a domestic accident when he was eight years old; the damaged eye was causing headaches and it was agreed that surgery was the best solution. In November 2008, St Mirren apologised to Shiels after one of their supporters verbally abused him regarding his disability during a match at Love Street. Hearts criticised their supporters after they taunted Shiels about his disability during an Edinburgh derby match. Shiels returned to action after his eye operation in 2006.
He re-established himself in Hibs' first team squad in the 2006–07 season, scoring in the team's first two league matches. He scored his first hat-trick for Hibs on 12 January 2008 in a 3–0 win over Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup, but Shiels struggled to establish himself as a Hibs first-team regular throughout his time at Easter Road. Shiels, whose contract with Hibernian was due to expire in the summer of 2009, signed for Doncaster Rovers on 2 February 2009, he was transferred for a fee of around £50,000. He made his Rovers debut on 21 February 2009, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 3–1 defeat at Swansea City, his first goal for the club came in the last home match of the 2008–09 season, when he scored the first goal in a 2–0 victory over Crystal Palace. Shiels scored six goals in 42 games during the 2009–10 season. However, during the 2010–11 season Shiels lost his place in the Doncaster starting line-up, he was loaned to Kilmarnock in July 2011 and his contract was mutually terminated in January 2012.
Shiels signed a six-month loan deal with Kilmarnock, managed by his father Kenny Shiels, in July 2011. Shiels made his first appearance for Kilmarnock on 30 July 2011, in a goalless draw against Motherwell at Rugby Park, coming on as a 74th-minute substitute. Shiels scored his first goal for Kilmarnock in a 2–1 away defeat to Inverness CT, he scored a penalty in a 1–0 win over Hearts, after Marius Zaliukas fouled Paul Heffernan. Shiels signed for Kilmarnock on a permanent basis in January 2012. Shiels scored the only goal of the Scottish League Cup semi-final against Ayrshire derby rivals Ayr United on 28 January, he scored the winning goal in a game against Rangers at Ibrox on 18 February, in Rangers' first game after entering administration. On 18 March, he played in the 2012 Scottish League Cup Final, which Kilmarnock won after beating Celtic 1–0. Shiels was shortlisted for the SPFA Players' Player of the Year award, along with Jon Daly, Steven Davis and Charlie Mulgrew. Shiels rejected the offer of a new contract with Kilmarnock and left the club at the end of the season.
Shiels signed for Rangers on 31 July 2012. Kilmarnock's chairman Michael Johnson believed. Shiels vowed to help the club win a trophy that season and claimed he had turned down other clubs around Europe and could have played in the Champions League, he scored a goal, as well as, setting up two goals in his first appearance, in a Scottish League Cup tie against East Fife on 7 August. A week after he sustained an injury during a match which ruled him out for weeks, On 2 September 2012, Shiels scored his first league goal, as well as setting up a goal, in a 5–1 win over Elgin City. After scoring two goals in three games, Shiels scored against the Scottish Premier League side Motherwell, in a Scottish League Cup tie. In the Scottish Cup, Shiels scored twice and earns a hat-trick assist, as Rangers thrashed Alloa Athletic 7–0 on 3 November 2012. During the 2012–13 season he missed five months of the season due to a medial knee ligament injury. On the opening game of the 2013 -- 14 season, Shiels scored.
Shiels sustained another knee injury in October 2013. Two months after his return, Shiels scored a brace, in a 2–0 win over East Fife on 11 January 2014. Shiel's lack of playing time led to transfer speculation with moves linked to Partick Thistle and returning to Hibernian after the rumoured cost-cutting, due to take place at the club. On 8 February 2014, Shiels scored a hat-trick in the Scottish Cup, as Rangers won 4–0 against Dunfermline Athletic. On 10 June 2016, Shiels left Rangers, he had made 43 appearances for Rangers in his final season with the club, as they won promotion to the Scottish Premiership. On 25 August 2016, Shiels signed for Dundalk in the League of Ireland Premier Division citing the "lure of European football" as one of the things that attracted him to the club; the move reunited him with his former teammate from his youth career at Stephen O'Donnell. Shiels made his debut the following day in a 1-0 win over Wexford Youths, coming on as a substitute in the 73rd minute, he scored his first goal for the club in a 5-0 FAI Cup Third Round win against Crumlin United on 30 August.
He left the club at the end of the 2016 season. In February 2017, Shiels signed for FC Edmonton of the North American Soccer League, he was released on 10 July 2017. After his release from the NASL, Shiels returned to Scotland with Championship club Dunfermline Athletic. In November 2017, two players from Falkirk, Dunfermline's local rivals, were charged with'excessive misconduct' for taunting Shiels over hi
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