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.

Football career

Playing

Preston, who predominantly played at left-back, began his career as a 15-year-old with Dundee United in 1985. He made his league debut in the 1987/88 season. After spending several years at Tannadice, he signed for Hearts, the team he supported as a boy. After brief spells with Hearts and Dunfermline Athletic he joined St Johnstone in 1994. It was in Perth that he played the most consistent football of his career.

Management

In June 2000, after a hip injury ended his playing career, Preston became assistant to Macclesfield Town manager Peter Davenport, whom he had played with at St Johnstone. Preston left Macclesfield within a year to return to Scotland with Livingston as a coach, and in June 2004 he became the club's manager. He brought in another former St. Johnstone teammate, Alan Kernaghan, as his assistant, Kernagahan had been player/manager at Clyde. In November 2004, after just fifteen games in charge, Preston and Kernaghan were sacked after the team's seventh successive defeat. The following month he joined his current employer, Stellar Scotland, a subsidiary of The Stellar Group Limited, alongside former St. Johnstone teammates John Inglis and Paul Cherry.

Preston was unsuccessful in his application to be St Johnstone manager in April 2005 and thus his Livingston job represents his last football role.

Media career

Preston has been a pundit on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound since 2008 and is nicknamed Biscuits.