Callum Preston (born 7 November 1995) is a

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 plays 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 ...

. He turned professional with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

, and had loan spells with

Worcester City Worcester City Football Club is an English football club based in Worcester, Worcestershire. The club play in the Midland Football League, the ninth tier of English football. Established in 1902, the club play at Claines Lane. Worcester City's ...

and

AFC Telford United AFC Telford United is a football club based in Telford, Shropshire, England. The club was formed in 2004 after the original Telford United, founded in 1872, folded due to financial problems. Currently members of the National League North, they ...

, but was released in 2015 without appearing for his parent club. He spent the next season with

Crawley Town Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The club was founded as Crawley Football Club in 1896, changed its name to Crawley Town Football Club in 1958. The team co ...

of League Two, for whom he made ten first-team appearances, and had a brief spell with

National League North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

club

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester city centre, southwest of Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2011 Census, it had a population o ...

in August 2016. Although born in

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

, in England, Preston has represented Wales at under-19 level.

Club career

Preston was born in

, England, but was brought up in

Welshpool Welshpool ( cy, Y Trallwng) is a market town and community in Powys, Wales, historically in the county of Montgomeryshire. The town is from the Wales–England border and low-lying on the River Severn; its Welsh language name ''Y Trallwng'' m ...

, Wales, where he attended

Welshpool High School Welshpool High School is located in Welshpool, Powys. It is a combined secondary school and sixth form, catering for pupils aged 11 to 19. In 2022, a new headteacher was appointed. Motto and the school The school's motto is ''Raising Achievement ...

and played for the local

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

club. He was on the books of both

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 ...

and

The New Saints The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, also known as The New Saints ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed y Seintiau Newydd) or TNS, are a professional football club that currently play in the Cymru Premier. They are the most successfu ...

before joining Birmingham City F.C.'s youth academy in 2008. He took up a scholarship in July 2012. In 2014, he spent a short spell on work experience at

Conference North The National League North, formerly Conference North, is a division of the National League in England, immediately below the National League division. Along with the National League South, it is at the second level of the National League Sy ...

club

, for whom he played twice, once in the league and once in the

Worcestershire Senior Cup The Worcestershire Senior Cup (officially ''The Worcestershire Football Association Senior Invitation Cup'') is a football competition organised by the Worcestershire County Football Association. It began in the 1893-94 season, with Redditch Town ...

, while the club was without all its senior goalkeepers. He signed his first professional contract, of one year with the option of a second, in June 2014. In February 2015, Preston joined

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

club

on a month's loan. He played in the final of the

Shropshire Senior Cup The Shropshire Senior Cup is a county cup football competition that is open for professional and non-professional senior football teams in the English county of Shropshire. The competition is one of the oldest cup competitions in the world, and ...

, a 3–1 defeat to

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

's youth team, but remained an unused substitute in league matches. At the end of the 2014–15 season, Birmingham decided against taking up their option for another year on Preston's contract. After a trial, he signed a one-year contract with

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

. He began the season as second-choice goalkeeper, behind

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

loanee

Freddie Woodman Frederick John Woodman (born 4 March 1997) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper for EFL Championship club Preston North End F.C., Preston North End. Woodman sta ...

, but when Woodman was away on international duty with the England under-19 team, he made his senior Crawley debut in the

Football League Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Leag ...

. The match, on 6 October 2015, ended as a 3–0 defeat at home to

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

visitors

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

. With Woodman still absent, Preston made his

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 ...

debut four days later in a 3–2 home win against

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

. The same day, Newcastle United goalkeeper Tim Krul suffered a ruptured

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

, so Woodman was recalled by his parent club, leaving Preston as Crawley's only senior goalkeeper. Crawley signed the experienced

Darryl Flahavan Darryl James Flahavan la-hay-van(born 28 November 1978) is an English football coach and former footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is currently the goalkeeper coach at EFL League One club Wigan Athletic. He has spent most of his career ...

in Woodman's place, so Preston returned to the bench. Preston returned to the starting eleven for the 2–1 win against

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...

on 26 December, and kept his place for the next match two days later even though Flahavan's injured ankle had recovered enough for him to be named among the substitutes. After Flahavan took too long deciding whether to accept a contract extension, the club withdrew the offer, and Preston started the match away to

Yeovil Town Yeovil Town may refer to: * Yeovil Town F.C., an English football team based in Yeovil, Somerset * Yeovil Town L.F.C. Bridgwater United Women's Football Club are an English women's association football club based in Bridgwater, Somerset who wer ...

on 23 January 2016. At the end of the 2015–16 season, Preston was released by Crawley having made 10 appearances for the Sussex club. On 3 August 2016, Preston joined

club

as competition for Andrew Dawber, but he played only once, in a 6–0 defeat at home to

AFC Fylde AFC Fylde is a professional football club based in Wesham in the Borough of Fylde, Lancashire, England. They are currently members of the and play at Mill Farm. Originally known as Kirkham & Wesham following a merger of Kirkham Town and Wesh ...

on 16 August, and was released a few days later. He returned to the Football League in September, when he joined

of League Two as goalkeeping cover on non-contract terms. In September 2017, Preston joined

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

on non-contract terms as cover for an injury to Chris Dunn. After taking time out from football to concentrate on his degree in professional sports writing and broadcasting, Preston signed for

Aberystwyth Town Aberystwyth Town Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-Droed Tref Aberystwyth) is a Welsh semi-professional football team, currently playing in the Cymru Premier, the top tier of football in Wales. They are the only top flight men's football team in Ce ...

of the

Welsh Premier League The Cymru Premier, known as the JD Cymru Premier for sponsorship reasons, is the national football league of Wales. It has both professional and semi-professional status clubs and is at the top of the Welsh football league system. Prior to 20 ...

in January 2019. After playing one game for Aberystwyth in the

Welsh Cup The FAW Welsh Cup ( cy, Cwpan Cymdeithas Pêl-droed Cymru), currently known as the JD Welsh Cup for sponsorship reasons, is a knock-out football competition contested annually by teams in the Welsh football league system. It is considered the most ...

, Preston left the club.

International career

Preston made his international debut for Wales under-19s in a friendly against their Montenegrin counterparts in April 2014. He was placed on standby for the elite round European qualifiers in May but was not called upon.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Preston, Callum 1995 births Living people Footballers from Stafford People from Welshpool Footballers from Powys Welsh men's footballers Wales men's youth international footballers Men's association football goalkeepers The New Saints F.C. players Birmingham City F.C. players Worcester City F.C. players AFC Telford United players Crawley Town F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players Stevenage F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Aberystwyth Town F.C. players National League (English football) players English Football League players