Alan Nigel Kernaghan (born 25 April 1967) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former professional player. As a player, he was a defender from 1985 to 2006, notably in the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

for

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

and

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

. He played the final nine years of his career playing in Scotland with

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 old ...

Brechin City Brechin City Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the townDespite the name of the football club, Brechin is not an official city. Brechin was historically known as a city because it has a cathedral. of Brechin in Angus. The club w ...

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

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 ...

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had a ...

and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. Born in England, he was capped 26 times by the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, scoring one goal. During his coaching career, Kernaghan has managed Scottish clubs Clyde and Dundee, and

Glentoran Glentoran Football Club is a professional football club that plays in the NIFL Premiership. The club was founded in 1882. History Early history In 1914, Glentoran won the Vienna Cup, becoming the first United Kingdom team to win a European t ...

in the Northern Irish league, which he resigned from after an embarrassing 3–2 defeat to struggling Championship side Annagh United. He has also worked for other clubs in a variety of coaching roles.

Club career

Born in

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically a part of the West Ridi ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England, Kernaghan moved with his family to Bangor, County Down at the age of four. He represented

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

at schoolboy level and the

at senior level. He began his playing career as an apprentice at

, and went on to make 212 appearances during an eight-year period, scoring 16 goals. In September 1993, Kernaghan was signed for

by then-boss

Brian Horton Brian "Nobby" Horton (born 4 February 1949) is an English former footballer and manager. He spent 16 years as a professional player and 22 years as a manager, making 689 appearances and managing 1,098 matches. In addition to this he spent four ...

. He went on loan to various clubs—

in 1994,

in 1996, and then to

in 1997. The Saints signed him on a permanent deal just before the end of the year, after he was given a free transfer from Manchester City. He enjoyed four years at

McDiarmid Park McDiarmid Park is a stadium in Perth, Scotland, used mainly for association football. It has been the home ground of Scottish Premiership side St Johnstone since its opening in 1989. The stadium has an all-seated capacity of . As well as St Jo ...

, making 60 league appearances and scoring five goals. Kernaghan then joined

, but he made only three competitive appearances for the club. He then moved to

, where he started as a player but was promoted to a player/manager role in the 2003–04 season. He guided Clyde to a second-placed finish in the First Division, behind

Inverness Caley Thistle Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team currently competes in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Fo ...

, a division which they led for the majority of the season. Kernaghan made 63 appearances for Clyde as a player, scoring three goals. Kernaghan's next move was to

as assistant manager to

Allan Preston Allan Preston (born 16 August 1969) is a retired Scottish professional footballer and manager. He is currently a radio sports pundit for BBC Scotland. Playing career Preston, who predominantly played at left-back, began his career as a 15-y ...

. He was on a player/assistant manager role at the club, making four first team appearances for Livingston, but he was sacked along with Preston after a poor run of results. Kernaghan next moved to

, where he took up a player/coach role. He made nine appearances for the Bairns but left the club on 2 September 2005.

International career

Brought up in Bangor, Northern Ireland, Kernaghan played for Northern Ireland Schoolboys six times. However, as the

Irish Football Association The Irish Football Association (IFA) is the governing body for association football in Northern Ireland. It organised the Ireland national football team from 1880 to 1950, which after 1954, became the Northern Ireland national football team. ...

policy at the time did not select players who were not or whose parents were not born in Northern Ireland, he wasn't selected for the senior team.Kernaghan youth role breaks Rangers taboo
by Paul Rowan, The Sunday Times, 31 December 2006 Due to his grandmother being an Irish citizen he was entitled to Irish citizenship, and he was selected by

Jack Charlton John Charlton (8 May 193510 July 2020) was an English footballer and manager who played as a defender. He was part of the England national team that won the 1966 World Cup and managed the Republic of Ireland national team from 1986 to 199 ...

to play for the Republic of Ireland. Kernaghan earned 22 caps, scored one goal and was selected for the

1994 FIFA World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States ...

Managerial and coaching career

Kernaghan left Clyde to take up the role as manager of

. He was removed from the position, after an unsuccessful spell, in April 2006. Kernaghan became the first former Republic of Ireland player to hold a coaching role at

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. He left this position in February 2012 to join

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

. Kernaghan made an appearance as a player during a 2013–14 pre-season friendly versus FC Einheit Rudolstadt, replacing

Aaron Pierre Aaron Jordan Pierre (born 17 February 1993) is a professional footballer who plays as a centre back for League Two club Sutton United and the Grenada national team. He began his career in the academy at Premier League club Fulham, before join ...

after 65 minutes. He left Brentford in December 2013, after new manager

Mark Warburton Mark Warburton (born 6 September 1962) is an English professional football manager and former player who is a first-team coach at West Ham United. As a player, Warburton was a right back at non-League level with Enfield and Boreham Wood. He beg ...

decided to make changes to the club's coaching staff. Kernaghan was appointed manager of

in November 2015. Losing to Annagh United in the League Cup on 30 August 2016 was the final game in charge for Kernaghan, he then tendered his resignation after the game.

References

External links

*
Interview regarding nationality

First interview as Glentoran Manager
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kernaghan, Alan 1967 births Living people British people of Irish descent People from Otley Association football defenders Republic of Ireland association footballers Association footballers from Northern Ireland Republic of Ireland international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players Republic of Ireland international footballers from Northern Ireland Middlesbrough F.C. players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Bradford City A.F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. players Brechin City F.C. players Falkirk F.C. players Livingston F.C. players Clyde F.C. players English Football League players Premier League players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League managers Clyde F.C. managers Dundee F.C. managers Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Livingston F.C. non-playing staff Brentford F.C. managers Glentoran F.C. managers Football managers from Northern Ireland

Club career

International career

Managerial and coaching career

See also

References

External links