The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Former footballer is mixing management with property line-up
Ever since the age of four years old football has been the number one passion for former Dundee FC midfielder Darren Young.
The 44-year-old would spend hours kicking a ball around with younger brother Derek in the back garden of their home growing up in Cambuslang.
Fast forward six years and the brothers started training with Aberdeen FC, which was the start of a playing career which also saw him play for Dundee and Dunfermline.
As Darren moved towards playing part-time football, his attention turned to thinking about something to “supplement” his football.
Eight years on, the dadof-one is now an awardwinning estate agent for Remax, selling properties across the country, while combining it alongside football management.
Darren, who has won seven Scotland under-21 caps, said: “I was in the middle of doing my coaching to get my badges and my foot in the door.
“Someone I knew was working as an estate agent and it was a situation of trying to find a job to supplement the football.
“I’ve been doing it for about eight years now and really enjoying the property side of things.
“I felt it was an easy transition for me. I felt comfortable learning the ropes and I knew I could tie it in alongside the football.”
Darren, who covers the Lanarkshire area, has won a number of Remax awards including best sales executive.
Darren played more than 130 matches for the Dons and was made captain during the 2001-2002 season by manager Ebbe Skovdahl.
He has fond memories of his time playing for
Dunfermline Athletic alongside brother Derek, before signing for Dundee in 2008 where he made 13 appearances scoring two goals.
He said: “We played together when we were younger and then it got to the point where he had to go to his own level when we were at Aberdeen.
“But when we left Aberdeen we both played together at Dunfermline. I had five years and Derek was three.
“I then went to Dundee which was a bit of a nightmare as I was injured for most of it.”
Darren has since gone on to carve out a career in football management and admits he has had no problems switching between the two professions.
He said: “It’s got its challenges but it was easy enough for me. It was three months before the end of the season and I thought
I’d see how it goes. If I enjoyed it I would stick with it.
“Because I’ve always been coaching or playing football it was easy to tie in the viewings.
“Football is still my main aim and I’m hoping I can kick on with that.
“I’m obviously a few promotions and a few teams away from that yet but it’s something I know I can fall back on and feel comfortable with.
“If football was over it’s something I can see myself continuing with.”
Darren’s first appointment was as player/ manager of Albion Rovers in 2014 where he won the League Two championship and promotion in his first season.
Towards the end of the 2016–17 season, Albion Rovers announced Darren would leave the club and in June 2017 was named manager of League One club East Fife.
He was sacked in November 2021, but a month later was named as the new manager of Scottish League Two side Stirling Albion.
Darren has enjoyed success with The Binos guiding them to 21 wins, 10 draws and five defeats during the season, to secure the league title by 11 points from nearest rivals Dumbarton.
To top it off he was named League Two manager of the season.
Darren said: “The main aim last year was to try and achieve promotion and we felt we had a good enough squad to win the league or get to the playoffs.
“The way we’ve done it to come back from 11 points behind and then win it by 11 points was amazing.”
Looking towards next season Darren, who is engaged to Louise, said: “We will go again and see if we can aim for the play-offs and see what happens.”