Sturrock's managerial career began with St Johnstone in 1993, where he went on to win the Scottish First Division title in 1996–97 before returning to Dundee United as manager.
Since 2000, Sturrock has worked as a manager in English football, initially with Plymouth Argyle where he helped the club to win two promotions before moving on to a brief spell with Southampton.
Sturrock was born in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, and grew up in Pitlochry, Perthshire, where he was educated at the local primary and secondary schools and played for amateur side Grandtully Vale.
In 1972, he joined Vale of Atholl of the Perthshire Amateur First Division (where he returned as coach in his latter days with Dundee United), and in the 1972–73 season he scored approximately 100 goals.
His playing career came to an end in 1989, with his final goal for United occurring on 8 April 1989 in a 2-1 victory against local rivals Dundee.
In a 2012 study by Stefan Szymanski, economics professor at the University of Michigan, Sturrock was rated as one of the best managers in English football.
It took a while for Sturrock to improve the club's fortunes, as they lost 4–0 to Stenhousemuir in the 1994–95 Scottish Cup, and he then collapsed in the dugout at Tannadice while managing St Johnstone against Dundee United during the 1995–96 season.
His United team failed to recover from the sale of top scorer Billy Dodds in December 1999, when they were lying third in the table.
[8] In October 2000 Sturrock joined Plymouth Argyle, a club which had reached the lowest ebb in its history, struggling in the English Football League Third Division.
The following season, he guided them to the Third Division title breaking numerous records in the process, including a club and league points total of 102.
As a result of his success at Home Park he was named as the manager of Argyle's Team of the Century in a BBC Devon poll.
On 23 August 2004 it was announced that Sturrock was leaving the club 'by mutual consent', after a disappointing run of form and rumours of player unrest and boardroom dissatisfaction with his management.
Despite numerous injuries to key players he helped Wednesday to finish 10 points clear of relegation in their first season back in The Championship.
A slow start to the 2006–07 season sparked rumours that Wednesday were about to sack Sturrock, but this speculation looked to be false when he agreed a new four-year contract on 14 September.
In late October 2006, Swindon Town allowed their management team of Dennis Wise and Gustavo Poyet to join Leeds United.
Swindon made a decent start to the 2007–08 season, maintaining their position in the top half of the league table after the first 8 games.
Sturrock also brought back to the club assistants Kevin Summerfield and John Blackley, who were previously with him during his first successful spell as manager.
[14] On 10 December 2009, Sturrock was removed as Plymouth Argyle manager and put into a business support role by chairman Sir Roy Gardner.
Sturrock faced the tough task of rebuilding the Southend side with only five first team players available for selection at one stage of pre-season, with only Anthony Grant, Matt Paterson and Scott Spencer surviving.
[19] Sturrock was sacked as manager of Southend United on 24 March 2013[20] although it was agreed that he could lead out the players in the final of the Football League Trophy to be held at Wembley on 7 April.