Antony Paul Gallacher (born 23 July 1999) is a Scottish 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 plays for

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 ...

as a

left back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Falkirk

Gallacher joined Falkirk as a graduate from the Forth Valley Football Academy in the summer of 2015, having played for the club's youth teams since the age of 10. He made his debut as a sixteen-year-old in a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Fraserburgh Fraserburgh (; sco, The Broch or ; gd, A' Bhruaich) is a town in Aberdeenshire (unitary), Aberdeenshire, Scotland with a population recorded in the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 Census at 13,100. It lies at the far northeast corner of Aber ...

on 28 November 2015. He made his first league start in a

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland Scotland (, ...

match against

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

on 17 December 2016. In January 2017, he was named as one of the '' Daily Record's'' and '' The Herald's'' Scottish footballing prospects for 2017. The latter reported that Gallacher had been scouted by

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 ...

sides

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

, as well as Scottish club

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 ...

Liverpool

On 25 January 2018,

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 ...

signed Gallacher after a successful trial for a fee of £200,000. Gallacher made his competitive debut for Liverpool on 17 December 2019, starting in a 5–0 League Cup defeat at

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

. Liverpool had decided to play a shadow team in that match due to a scheduling clash with the

2019 FIFA Club World Cup The 2019 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 presented by Alibaba Cloud for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament betw ...

. He featured primarily with the Liverpool U23s in the

Premier League 2 The Professional Development League is a system of youth football leagues that are managed, organised and controlled by the Premier League or by the Football League. It was introduced by the Football Association via the Elite Player Performanc ...

U23 league.

Toronto FC

On 14 September 2020, Gallacher joined Canadian club

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

, on a loan until 31 December 2020. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, he first had to complete a 14-day quarantine, and then the club had to play out the rest of the season in the United States, due to Canadian travel restrictions, meaning Gallacher did not get to spend any time in Toronto, instead spending the entire time on the road.

St Johnstone

Gallacher signed for

in January 2022, on a contract that is due to run until the summer of 2024.

International career

Gallacher has been involved with

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

at various youth age group levels.

Personal life

Tony is the nephew of

Jim Gallacher James Gallacher (born 29 March 1951) is a Scottish former football goalkeeper. Gallacher played for Arbroath and Clydebank in the Scottish Football League. He made over 600 league appearances for the ''Bankies'' in a career that spanned four deca ...

and cousin of

Paul Gallacher Paul James Gallacher (born 16 August 1979) is a Scottish former professional footballer who currently is the goalkeeping coach for Heart of Midlothian. Gallacher made eight appearances for the Scottish national team between 2002 and 2004. He ...

, both former goalkeepers.

Career statistics

;Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallacher, Tony 1999 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Falkirk F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Scottish Professional Football League players Toronto FC players Major League Soccer players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Canada Scottish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada St Johnstone F.C. players