Alan McCormack

Preston North End and loan spells

McCormack was born in Dublin and began his career with Stella Maris. He moved to England to sign for First Division club Preston North End in December 2002 after impressing on trial, and progressed to sign a professional contract in 2003. He joined Leyton Orient of the Third Division on 29 August 2003 on a one-month loan and made the first professional appearance of his career in a 4–1 home defeat to Cheltenham Town the following day, when he replaced Billy Jones at half-time. McCormack received the first red card of his career in a 0–0 draw with Lincoln City on 13 September, after committing two bookable offences. In late September, caretaker manager Martin Ling extended McCormack's loan until 1 November. He was sent off again in a 1–1 draw with Northampton Town on 25 October. He made 11 appearances, accumulating six yellow and two red cards, before his loan expired. McCormack made his Preston debut on 6 March 2004 in a league match against Burnley, when he replaced Dickson Etuhu after 55 minutes. He made four further appearances before the end of the 2003–04 season. After making four substitute appearances at the beginning of the 2004–05 season, McCormack was made available for transfer in September 2004. He joined League Two club Southend United on loan on 16 March 2005 and made his debut three days later, starting in a 3–0 victory over Cheltenham Town. In April, the loan was extended until the end of the 2004–05 season. He was an…

McCormack's first exposure to international football came at schoolboy level. Injury to Darren Potter saw McCormack called up to the Republic of Ireland under-19 team for three 2003 European U19 Championship second qualifying round matches in May 2003. He failed to make the squad for the first two matches against England and Switzerland, but started the third match against Slovenia, which resulted in a 2–0 win.

The Coventry Telegraph described McCormack as "a no-nonsense tough-tackling midfielder who is prepared to put his body in places others wouldn't. He has a similar style of play to fellow countryman Roy Keane and while he has not quite reached the same level as the former Manchester United skipper, he has adopted the same dogged and determined style of football".

McCormack began taking his coaching badges in late September 2014 and hinted that he is interested in entering coaching and management after his playing career is over. Following his retirement from playing, McCormack returned to Luton Town as an academy coach in October 2021. McCormack became first team coach at Leyton Orient in June, 2024.[1]