Aston Villa set-piece coach lands shock international role – just months after leaving Steve Clarke's Scotland

Aston Villa set-piece coach Austin MacPhee has landed a new role in the Portugal national team.

It is understood that the 45-year-old specialist will combine his new job as the assistant coach with his current position at Villa Park.

The news emerged a few months after MacPhee left his role in Scotland for personal reasons following almost three years in action.

Formerly a youth team player, he had a long coaching career in various clubs such as Cowdenbeath, St Mirren, Hearts and Midtjylland.

Now, the Scotsman will be part of Portugal’s technical team, which will prepare the squad for the forthcoming 2026 World Cup.

Portugal’s statement said: ‘National coach Roberto Martinez has chosen the Scottish set-piece specialist to join his staff and replace Anthony Barry.

The 45-year-old Scotsman will combine his new position with his current role of set-piece coach

‘Austin MacPhee will work with Martínez in March, when Portugal face Denmark in the Nations League quarter-finals.

He was appointed as Villa’s specialised set-piece coach in August 2021, under Dean Smith, but played a significant part in the team’s recent successful results with Unai Emery.

MacPhee was also part of the Northern Ireland technical team, leading the team alongside Michael O’Neill to the last 16 of the Euro 2016.

He left the team to join Scotland, where he developed a strong relationship with head coach Steve Clarke.

At that time, he was already known as a set-piece expert, bringing interest from various national teams. 

Previously, MacPhee spoke with Mail Sport to share his thoughts on his move.

He said: ‘Steve knew two things probably. Scotland weren’t very good at set-pieces and I was a set-piece coach.

‘Steve knew I had a specialisation for this in my career. It’s a natural evolution of the game. And he knew that Scotland were struggling in this area. 

Last year, MacPheeleft his role with Scotland for personal reasons after almost three years

 ‘So, they thought that if they were going to add somebody to the staff, let’s add somebody with a specific skill set.’

Last year, the duo was spotted exchanging views, while many thought these were made out of frustration during Scotland’s disappointing 5-1 defeat to Germany.

However, after the Euro 2024 game, Clarke brushed away the speculations, saying he no longer remembers their conversation and that they are ‘fine’.

‘Yeah we’re fine. I don’t even remember it. We’re fine,’ said the Scotland boss.