A former forward, McGhee started his career at Greenock Morton in 1975 and had spells at clubs including Newcastle United, Aberdeen, Hamburg, Celtic, IK Brage and Reading.

McGhee has since managed several clubs in both England and Scotland, including Reading, Millwall, Aberdeen and Brighton & Hove Albion.

Despite an encouraging start at St James' Park, managerial changes at the club saw McGhee fall down the pecking order.

[6] His time there was not a success, primarily due to injuries, and McGhee moved back to Scotland 16 months later after scoring only 12 goals to join Celtic in a £170,000 deal.

[4] The following year saw McGhee struggle at Parkhead through injury and the inability to displace Mo Johnston and Brian McClair from the starting line-up.

[12] McGhee's management career began as player-manager at third tier Reading in 1991, succeeding Ian Porterfield, after being recommended for the post by his ex-manager Alex Ferguson.

He officially retired as a player in 1993 and won the Division Two title with the Royals the following season and quickly adapted to the second flight during the next campaign, taking the team as high as second place by December 1994.

He remained at Filbert Street post-relegation and set about launching a promotion campaign but did not see the season out after being approached by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

He quickly added midfielders Simon Osborn and Steve Corica and tried to implement a more passing game than the direct tactics of his predecessor.

However, a poor string of results in the final ten games, allowed surprise package Barnsley to snatch second place behind runaway champions Bolton Wanderers, condemning Wolves to the play-offs.

McGhee saw his team concede two late goals in a 3–1 defeat at Crystal Palace in their semi final tie, which ultimately cost them the chance of reaching the Premier League, despite a 2–1 victory in the return leg.

His failure to reach the top flight prompted a tirade from Wolves owner Sir Jack Hayward, who stated that he would no longer be "the golden tit", supplying the club with endless finance.

However, his Wembley dream was dashed by Arsenal (double winners that season) as they edged past the Midlanders 1–0 at Villa Park.

[14] After only two months he was appointed manager at Millwall who were playing in the third tier in September 2000, replacing the duo of Keith Stevens and Alan McLeary.

Here, he suffered more play-off agony as the club lost to a last minute Birmingham City goal to deny them a place in the final.

The next season saw things take a downward turn as his relationship with chairman Theo Paphitis strained and players began to be sold.

[20] It was reported that McGhee wanted a meeting with Vladimir Romanov to seek reassurances about team selection and squad control at Hearts before moving.

[23] His first competitive match in charge resulted in a 5–1 home defeat by Czech team Sigma Olomouc in the UEFA Europa League.

[31] His tenure ended with McGhee being statistically the second least successful Aberdeen manager, only ahead of Alex Miller, with just 17 wins from 62 matches (27.42%).

[32] He presided over an upturn in form for Bristol Rovers which saw them go from relegation contenders to finishing in mid-table, including beating Burton Albion and Accrington Stanley 7–1[33] and 5–1[34] respectively in the final two home games of the season.

[35] McGhee joined the coaching staff of the Scotland national side on 18 January 2013, as assistant to his close friend Gordon Strachan.

[41] This poor run of form and dissatisfaction with the team's performance resulted in McGhee leaving the club on 28 February 2017, with Motherwell three points above the automatic relegation spot.

[46] On 19 February 2019, McGhee agreed to take over at Eastbourne Borough until the end of the 2018/19 season in an interim position after the club had recently sacked their former manager Jamie Howell.