Allen Darrell McKnight (born 27 January 1964) is a Northern Irish former international

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 played professionally in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, and Hong Kong as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

Club career

Born in Antrim, McKnight played youth football for a number of local clubs including Crumlin Boys, Crumlin Rec., and Chimney Corner. He began his senior career in 1984 with

Distillery Distillation, or classical distillation, is the process of separating the components or substances from a liquid mixture by using selective boiling and condensation, usually inside an apparatus known as a still. Dry distillation is the heati ...

, and he also played for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

Albion Rovers Albion Rovers Football Club is a semi-professional football team from Coatbridge, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. They are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier of the Scotti ...

, West Ham United,

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

, Stockport County, Rotherham United,

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

South China South China () is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is that most of its citizens are not n ...

and Exeter City.

Celtic

McKnight signed for Celtic in August 1986, joining up again with his former Distillery teammate Anton Rogan who had arrived at Parkhead a few months earlier. He did not feature in any first-team games in his first year, and was loaned out to Albion Rovers to gain experience of the Scottish game. With the departure of

Peter Latchford Peter William Latchford (born 27 September 1952) is an English former football goalkeeper. He was born in Birmingham and has three older brothers; the eldest John, Dave, who was also a goalkeeper and played over 200 games for Birmingham City, a ...

in the summer of 1987, McKnight rose up in the pecking order at Celtic to second-choice keeper, behind first choice Packie Bonner. McKnight played several games for Celtic at the start of season 1987–88 in place of Bonner who had contracted a virus. He made his debut in a 5–1 win away to Dumbarton in a league cup tie on 26 August 1987 and went on to play in three

Old firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

league games, a 1–0 win at Parkhead, a 2–2 draw at Ibrox and a 2–0 win in the New Year game at Parkhead. Bonner regained his place in the team upon his recovery from illness, but McKnight's 12 league appearances and 5 clean sheets helped the club to win the League Championship. An injury to Bonner in May 1988 saw McKnight play in the 1988 Scottish Cup Final against Dundee Utd, and he won another winner's medal as Celtic triumphed 2–1 at Hampden.Wilson, Brian (1988). "Celtic – A Century With Honour" McKnight left Parkhead for West Ham a couple of months later.

West Ham United

During his West Ham United career he was known by the fans as ''McKnightmare'' because of his frequent goalkeeping errors. Signed from Celtic in the summer of 1988 McKnight made his West Ham debut on 10 September 1988 in a 1–0 away win against

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * ...

. Competing for the goalkeeper's place with Phil Parkes, McKnight played all his 23 league games for West Ham in his first season. His last league game coming on 23 May 1989, a 5–1 away defeat to

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

which saw West Ham relegated to the Second Division. He had to wait eighteen months for his next game, also a 5–1 defeat, away to Luton Town in the Full Members Cup. He later played non-league football with teams including

Collier Row Collier Row is an area of Romford in East London, England, within the London Borough of Havering. It is a suburban development north of Romford town centre, around north-east of Charing Cross. The area is based on a large housing estate built d ...

Romford Romford is a large town in east London and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Havering. It is located northeast of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Historically, Romford ...

and Collier Row & Romford (a merger of his two previous teams).

International career

McKnight earned 10 caps for the

Northern Ireland national football team The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in international association football. From 1882 to 1920, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland natio ...

between 1987 and 1989.

References

External links

*
NIFG
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKnight, Allen 1964 births Living people Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's international footballers Chimney Corner F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Celtic F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Stockport County F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Walsall F.C. players South China AA players Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in Hong Kong Exeter City F.C. players Romford F.C. players People from Antrim, County Antrim Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong English Football League players Scottish Football League players Collier Row F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers