Alan Irvine

After Queen's Park, Irvine went on to play for Everton, Crystal Palace, Dundee United and Blackburn Rovers. He helped Everton win the 1983–84 FA Cup: despite being left out of the final match day squad, he had started all 7 previous FA cup matches up to and including the semi-final, scoring goals in the 3rd round and 5th round ties. Irvine also started the 1984 League Cup Final and League Cup Final Replay with Everton ultimately losing 1–0 to Liverpool. In 1992, he was part of the Blackburn team that won promotion to the new FA Premier League. He announced his retirement from playing just before the 1992–93 season began.

Irvine returned to Goodison Park to join the coaching staff 20 years after leaving as a player. He was academy director at Blackburn Rovers and Newcastle United, where he was credited with bringing through players such as Steven Taylor and Peter Ramage. Damien Duff has described Alan Irvine as being "the best coach" he worked under.

Preston North End

Irvine took over as manager of Preston North End on 20 November 2007 with Preston in a relegation battle. He guided Preston to a respectable 15th place in the 2007–08 season. In his first full season in charge, Irvine led Preston to the play-offs when on a dramatic final day of the season, after Preston clinched the final play-off spot thanks to goals from Jon Parkin and Sean St. Ledger. After that he was named the Championship Manager of the Month for April. Preston lost their play-off semi-final to Sheffield United 2–1 on aggregate. He was dismissed on 29 December 2009 after Preston suffered a poor run of results where the team only won once in 10 games.

Sheffield Wednesday

Irvine was appointed manager of Sheffield Wednesday on 8 January 2010. Wednesday got off to a good start under Irvine, winning games against Barnsley, Blackpool and Peterborough United. Irvine was named Championship Manager of the month for January 2010. This form was not sustained, however, as on the last day of the season Wednesday faced a Hillsborough relegation showdown against Crystal Palace who had suffered a 10-point deduction,…

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Irvine studied for qualification as an insurance broker whilst playing for Queen's Park. Irvine is a boyhood Leeds United fan, citing fellow Scot Eddie Gray as his favourite player.

Everton

FA Cup: 1983–84 Blackburn

Second Division play–offs: 1992 Individual

Championship Manager of the Month: April 2009 League One Manager of the Month: August 2010