Allan John Russell (born 13 December 1980) is a Scottish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who was most recently a set-piece coach for club

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. Currently resides in Franklin, TN with his fiancé Jana Russell (Kramer) where they are expecting their first child (son) together in October 2023.

Playing career

Scotland and England

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Russell began his career in 1999 with

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish association football, football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championshi ...

, making over sixty league appearances over a four-year period. In 2003, Russell began a two-year spell with St Mirren before moving to English side

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

in early 2005. Russell's stay at Macclesfield lasted only a few months and he moved on to

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they ...

at the start of the 2005–06 season. Russell returned to Scotland with

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland. Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not played in Partick since 1908. ...

in January 2007. At Partick he scored once; his goal coming in a 1–0 win over

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 ...

. Russell began the 2007–08 season with Airdrie, where a December 2007 ''Player of the Month'' award and his goalscoring form – by February 2008 he had already scored more than any previous season – attracted interest from

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

sides

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

and

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 1 ...

. In May 2008, Russell netted the Scottish Football League Second Division Player of the Year award having scored 28 goals in a record breaking season and was eventually signed by Scottish Premier League side Kilmarnock signing a two-year deal. He left Kilmarnock after the expiry of his contract in 2010.

United States

Russell signed for

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games a ...

on 23 July 2010. He stayed with the club through the 2011 season winning the 2010 and 2011 NASL league Championships. He then signed with

Los Angeles Blues Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship. The team plays its home games a ...

of the USL Pro Division on 8 December 2011, who later changed franchise name to

Orange County Blues Orange County Soccer Club is an American soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the second tier USL Championship. The team plays its home games ...

. Russell captained Orange County Blues for a time, playing both as a defensive midfielder and as a striker.

Coaching career

In March 2017, Russell joined the

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

coaching staff as their striker coach. During the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

, he earned particular praise for his work on the England team's set pieces, after a well-choreographed goal in their game against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

. Russell was appointed assistant first team coach at

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

in April 2021, initially combining the role with his England duties. He left his consultancy position with England a month later, after he admitted allowing his younger brother to drive while uninsured. When

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hi ...

was terminated as manager of

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

in December 2022, Russell and the club's Head of Football Development, Steve Weaver were announced as the now co-head coaches on an interim basis a few months after Russell was appointed their set-piece coach, the club's December 2022 statement confirms. Russell then became the set piece coach for Norwich. In March 2023, Russell and Norwich parted ways and they agreed to a mutual termination of his contract. He then moved to the US to live with his then girlfriend and now fiancé, Jana Kramer. He remains unemployed as of today.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Allan 1980 births Footballers from Glasgow Living people Men's association football forwards Scottish men's footballers Hamilton Academical F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Scottish Premier League players North Carolina FC players Orange County SC players USSF Division 2 Professional League players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players USL Championship players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Aberdeen F.C. non-playing staff