Allan Preston (born 16 August 1969) is a retired Scottish professional footballer and manager. He is currently a radio sports pundit for

BBC Scotland BBC Scotland (Scottish Gaelic: ''BBC Alba'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Scotland. It is one of the four BBC national regions, together with the BBC English Regions, BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Northern Irelan ...

Playing career

Preston, who predominantly played at

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, began his career as a 15-year-old with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in ...

in 1985. He made his league debut in the 1987/88 season. After spending several years at Tannadice, he signed for Hearts, the team he supported as a boy. After brief spells with Hearts and

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish Association football, football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Champ ...

he joined

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an ol ...

in 1994. It was in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

that he played the most consistent football of his career.

Management and coaching

In June 2000, after a hip injury ended his playing career, Preston became assistant to

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was wound-up after a High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially known as Macclesfield F.C., the club was formed in 1874 and ...

manager

Peter Davenport Peter Davenport (born 24 March 1961) is an English former professional footballer and manager who has managed teams in both the Welsh and English leagues. He has also managed classes as a substitute teacher. Born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, he won ...

, whom he had played with at St Johnstone. Preston left Macclesfield within a year to return to Scotland with

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

as a coach, and in June 2004 he became the club's manager. He brought in another former St Johnstone teammate,

Alan Kernaghan Alan Nigel Kernaghan (born 25 April 1967) is a football manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a defender from 1985 to 2006, notably in the Premier League for Manchester City and in the Football League for Middlesbrough, ...

, as his assistant, Kernagahan had been player/manager at Clyde. In November 2004, after just fifteen games in charge, Preston and Kernaghan were sacked after the team's seventh successive defeat. Preston was unsuccessful in his application to be St Johnstone manager in April 2005.

Other professional interests

Preston works as a football agent for ICM Stellar Sports. Preston has been a

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

BBC Radio Scotland BBC Radio Scotland is a Scotland, Scottish radio station, radio network owned and operated by BBC Scotland, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts a wide variety of programmes. It replaced the Scottish BBC Radio 4 opt-out service of the same na ...

's ''

Sportsound ''Sportsound'' is BBC Radio Scotland's main radio sports show. It provides coverage to listeners on medium wave, FM, DAB Digital Radio and via the internet. It is best known for its exclusive live commentary of Scottish Premiership football ...

'' since 2008 and is nicknamed ''Biscuits''.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Allan 1969 births Living people People from Leith Scottish footballers Association football defenders Association football midfielders Dundee United F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Livingston F.C. managers Livingston F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Premier League managers Footballers from Edinburgh