Derek Thomas Allan (born 24 December 1974) is a Scottish former

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 ...

defender. He is currently the coach of

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the Scottish Championship. The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest senior Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greeno ...

's U17 side.

Playing career

Allan or ("Swan Neck") (Due to his aerial ability) was born in

Irvine Irvine may refer to: Places On Earth Antarctica *Irvine Glacier *Mount Irvine (Antarctica) Australia *Irvine Island *Mount Irvine, New South Wales Canada *Irvine, Alberta * Irvine Inlet, Nunavut United Kingdom *Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotla ...

, Scotland and started his professional career at Ayr United, where he made only five appearances. After just one year at the club he was sold to Southampton of the English Premiership for a fee of £75,000 in March 1993. He also was part of the Scottish Under 21 squad in April 1993 which played Iceland at Rugby Park, Kilmarnock. Southampton's manager Ian Branfoot saw Allan as "one for the future" but a series of injuries restricted him to just one Premier League appearance when he came on as a late substitute for

Matthew Bound Matthew Terence Bound (born 9 November 1972) is an English former football defender. Career statistics Honours Individual *PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the ...

in a 1–0 defeat at

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 ...

on 1 May 1993. In March 1996 Jimmy Case took him on loan to Brighton & Hove Albion, before making the move permanent. In the three years he spent at Brighton he made 67 league appearances, scoring twice. Allan joined non-league side

Kingstonian Kingstonian Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, southwest London which currently plays in the Isthmian League Premier Division. The club was founded in 1885 by YMC ...

and was player of the year in the 1999–00 season. Allan had a successful spell at Kingsmeadow, being part of the winning 2000 FA Trophy squad beating Kettering Town 3-2 in a dramatic 2000 Wembley Final, which turned out to be one of the last games ever played at the 'Old Wembley'. 68 appearances in 2 seasons In July 2001 he was signed by Scottish side Queen of the South where he won the Scottish Second Division Title in May 2002. His stay was again hampered by injuries and he was limited to just 47 league appearances. Allan spent the last season of his career at Dumbarton, before early retirement at the age of just 30. Derek is now the Elite Youth Coach at Greenock Morton Under 17s and a fully UEFA Qualified 'A' licence Youth Coach.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

Kingstonian *

FA Trophy The Football Association Challenge Trophy, commonly known as the FA Trophy, is a men's football knockout cup competition run by and named after the English Football Association and competed for primarily by semi-professional teams. The compet ...

: 1999-20 Queen Of The South * Scottish Second Division: 2001-02

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Allan, Derek 1974 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Ayr United F.C. players Southampton F.C. players Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Kingstonian F.C. players Men's association football defenders Premier League players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Greenock Morton F.C. non-playing staff Scotland men's youth international footballers