Andy Preece

Andrew Preece (born 27 March 1967) is an English football manager and former professional footballer who is the manager of Chorley.

After serving as Chorley's director of football, he became the club's manager in May 2022.

As a player, he was a forward who played over 500 games as a professional.

He notably played in the Premier League for Crystal Palace, and in the Football League for Northampton Town, Wrexham, Stockport County, Blackpool and Bury.

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.

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.

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 feat against Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup) that he signed for Crystal Palace in June 1994, as strike partner to Chris Armstrong, for a fee of £350,000.

Preece credits Ray Wilkins, who joined QPR just prior to Preece's arrival, with Alan Smith's signing of the striker.

Of his spell in the capital, Preece said: "It was the high point of my career. I scored four [goals] in a week. I scored the winner against Everton, two against Coventry City and the winner against Leicester, but ultimately I don't think I was good enough for that level."

Preece struggled to establish himself at Selhurst Park, in what was a struggling team (they were relegated at the end of the season), and returned to the North West to join Sam Allardyce's Blackpool, for a fee of £200,000, in July 1995.

He turned down Burnley — having been sold on Owen Oyston's ambitious plans for Blackpool which ultimately did not materialise — and also missed a call from Barry Fry at Birmingham City while he was doing the paperwork on the Fylde coast.

Preece played in the forward line with the likes of Andy Watson, briefly, then Tony Ellis and James Quinn, and under Nigel Worthington in 1997–98 he was made captain for a period.

In July 1998, Preece joined Bury on a free transfer and went on to become player-manager.

From 1999 onwards, Preece combined his playing duties with various coaching and management positions.

He became player-manager of Bury in 1999, also going on to manage Worcester City, Northwich Victoria, Airbus UK and Southport.

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.

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.

After leaving Bury in December 2003, Preece returned to playing with Carlisle United.

Although Carlisle were eventually relegated to the Conference, Preece chose to remain with the Cumbrians for the following 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.

He returned to Worcester City, as player-manager, in 2005, where he remained for five years, before finishing his playing career with Northwich Victoria in 2012.

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.

He became the club's manager in 2009, remaining in the role for three years.

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 the Northern Premier League Premier Division.

In spite of relegation and financial uncertainty, he stayed at the club along with his assistant Andy Morrison.

"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."

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.