Andy Preece

Worcester City

Born in Evesham, Worcestershire, Preece began his career as a junior with Worcester City, making his debut as a substitute against Runcorn in the Conference aged 16. "It went backwards from there," he said in 2020. "I got glandular fever, they released me and I had to work my way back. I'd half given up on football. I played a lot of cricket, including going out to play in Australia for six months."

Evesham United and Northampton Town

He subsequently played briefly for Evesham United, then planned to return to Australia; however, someone at the club knew Graham Carr, manager at Northampton Town. The wheels were put in motion, and Preece joined the Cobblers in August 1988 on a non-contract basis. He made one appearance, as a substitute, before being released at the end of the following season.

Worcester City and Wrexham

In July 1989, he rejoined Worcester City briefly, and in March 1990 signed for Wrexham, for whom he scored his first known goals. In 51 league appearances, he scored seven times.

Stockport County

In December 1991, Preece joined Stockport County for a fee of £10,000, with Preece later saying he was unsure what County manager Danny Bergara had seen in him at Wrexham. At Edgeley Park, however, Preece enjoyed the most prolific period of his career, scoring 42 league goals in 97 league games, and forming a partnership with Kevin Francis. He impressed enough (including scoring the winning goal in a giant-killing…

Bury

In 1999, Preece was appointed join player-manager (with Steve Redmond) of Bury. David Nugent was signed by Preece after unsuccessful trials with Crewe Alexandra and Northampton Town, and went on to net Bury close to £1 million. Preece kept the team in League 1 for two seasons until the collapse of ITV Digital forced the sale of several players and administration for the club in 2001, resulting in their relegation to League Two. Preece's Bury reached the League Two play-offs in the 2002–03 season. Preece was released in December 2003 as Bury again tried to cut costs. Bury director Roger Barlow said that Preece's departure was for financial reasons and nothing to do with results on the pitch.

Worcester City

In February 2005, Preece joined Worcester City as player-manager and led the side to three consecutive top ten finishes in the Conference North then, in 2006, to the second round of the FA Cup. He left the club in October 2007.

Northwich Victoria

Preece became caretaker manager of Northwich Victoria on 25 February 2009. In the 2009–10 season, he led Northwich to the second round of the FA Cup, a considerable achievement, and saw his side defeat former Premier League side Charlton Athletic in the process. Preece won manager of the month for April for his achievement of six successive wins. In the same season, he saw his side finish 12th in the Conference North in his first season in charge; however, financial issues saw his side relegated to…

Preece's wife and daughter were only a couple of rows behind Crystal Palace supporter Matthew Simmons when the Eric Cantona kung-fu kick incident occurred at Selhurst Park in January 1995. After this incident, in 2020 Preece explained that he once jumped into a small group of fans during a Blackpool reserves game with Leicester City (which included Emile Heskey in their team) after one fan had racially abused him for the entire match. "After the game, I've run over and jumped in and confronted him, and then thought, 'Whoa, what am I doing?' I was pulled away, but it was too late — the FA got hold of it. It was front page of the Daily Sport. You know: Million-pound star does a Cantona." About forty Blackpool fans wrote to the FA in defence of Preece, saying the racial abuse he received was horrendous. The FA reprimanded him but took no further action. "I will always be grateful to those people who wrote in and supported me at that time," Preece added. In 2021, Preece named the best XI he had played with. They were: Nigel Martyn (Crystal Palace), Lee Todd (Stockport County), Chris Coleman (Crystal Palace), Andy Morrison (Blackpool), Gareth Southgate (Crystal Palace), David Frain (Stockport County), Micky Mellon (Blackpool), Dean Gordon (Blackpool), Terry Dunfield (Bury), Chris Armstrong (Crystal Palace) and Tony Ellis (Blackpool). As for the best player he has played against, he chose Manchester United's Gary Pallister. "He was quick, he was strong, he was good in the air, he…

Stockport County

Football League Trophy runner-up: 1992–93 Individual

PFA Team of the Year: 1993–94 Second Division