McGuigan was born in Motherwell; his father had played football before the war with Motherwell. McGuigan played junior football for Muirkirk and Bo'ness United, before signing professionally with St Mirren in November 1953. In May 1955, he moved to England to join Southend United, where he stayed until June 1958, making 125 league appearances. He then moved to First Division Newcastle United for £2,250 in an exchange deal with Bill Punton joining Southend. He made a scoring debut, with Newcastle's goal in a 1–1 draw at Everton on 30 August. At St James' Park, he was in and out of the side and was never able to show any consistent form, and after three and a half years was transferred to Scunthorpe United of the Football League Second Division in January 1962 in another exchange deal, with Barrie Thomas coming to Newcastle. McGuigan was valued at £9,000, then a club record signing for Scunthorpe. Scunthorpe played Southampton five times in league and cup matches in the 1962–63 season and McGuigan played in each of them, scoring two goals in League Cup matches. He clearly made an impression on the Southampton managerTed Bates who signed him in August 1963 for a fee of £10,000. Described as "a tricky, versatile inside-forward", he made his first-team debut at home to Swansea Town on 21 September, scoring twice in a 4–0 victory. For the remainder of the 1963–64 season, he shared the inside-left position with Dave Burnside and Ian White, scoring eight goals in 21 appearances. but failed to score in 12 games in the following season, losing his place in the team to Jimmy Melia. In March 1965, Southampton accepted a bid of £6,500 and McGuigan left The Dell for South Wales.
Later career
Following the end of his professional football career, McGuigan returned to Southampton to become the licensee of the Swan Hotel in Portsmouth Road, Woolston. After three years as a publican, he returned to Scotland where he applied for several football-related jobs without success. His failure to find employment in football left him disillusioned with the game, and he is reported to have "never been inside a football ground since". He subsequently found employment with Rolls-Royce, working in the tool-room of their plant at Hillington, near Glasgow.
