Alan Kernaghan

Name: Alan Kernaghan

DOB: 25/04/76

POB: Otley,
England

Position: Centre back, Centre forward

Clubs: Middlesbrough, Charlton Athletic, Manchester City,
Bradford City,
Bolton Wanderers, St Johnstone, Brechin
City, Clyde, Livingston, Falkirk, Dundee.

International Caps: 26 (Republic of Ireland)

He may have been English and he may have been versatile in
both defence and attack, but that’s where the similarities to Chris Sutton end.
For starters, he was never too prolific playing up front, hence the switch into
the back four.

The most he ever tallied was eleven in one season during his
time with Middlesbrough, first coming through
the ranks at the club while the great Malcolm Allison was coming to the end of
his famous managerial career. Off field turmoil was something Alan Kernaghan
had to get used to early in his young career, the club having to reform in 1986
after being liquidated following their relegation to the old Third Division in
the young striker’s first season.

Steve Gibson saved Middlesbrough and Kernaghan would go on
to feature over 200 times while the club made its’ steady rise back up the
leagues, by this time he had made the shift back to defence, the management
figuring that he was of much greater use to them trying to prevent than
provide.

It took a while to arrive but finally bigger clubs noticed
his form and he became a Manchester
City player in 1993. The
move arrived in the same year he was first capped by the Republic
of Ireland, an interesting choice of
international side considering he was born in England
and grew up in Bangor, Northern Ireland. It occurred
because at the time the Irish Football Association, governing body of football
in Northern Ireland,
did not select players who were not or whose parents were not born in the
country. Kernaghan’s grandmother was an Irish citizen, the Football Association
of Ireland (Republic’s equivalent) famously had no such qualms and so he became
a member of Jack Charlton’s squad, quickly establishing himself as a regular in
the side.

This was the peak
of Kernaghan’s career:
playing international football regularly and moving up into the top flight.
Unfortunately it didn’t last too long. Manchester City
were going through periods of turmoil off and on the pitch. The team struggled
to put a string of results together while boardroom upheaval distracted players
and fans alike. Soon the manager that brought him to the club, Brian Horton,
was sacked and Kernaghan found himself on the fringes of the first team. The
downturn in fortunes at club level soon affected his international career. He
made the Irish squad for the trip to USA ’94, but his lack of form and
playing time on a weekly basis meant he’d slipped to role of observer on the
bench.

Not only was the City switch an unhappy time, it was drawn
out as well. It took four years and three loan deals before Kernaghan would
again find happiness and security in his football. Unsuccessful periods at
Bolton and Bradford preceded a 1997 switch to
St Johnstone in the SPL. Here the defender found himself among a group of
professionals to whom he felt he belonged working with. His performances on the
park soon picked up and St Johnstone decided to pick up their option to sign
Kernaghan when City released him.

Initially, Kernaghan was considered a first team regular but
he soon found himself drifting towards the peripheries of the first team.
Unlike at City this wasn’t so much of a problem. He was considered a respected
veteran, along with a few others at the club at the time, playing the part of
role model to some of the younger players coming through the ranks at McDiarmid Park.

In 2001 he left in search of first team football and was
signed to Brechin
City. He would feature in
only three games before an application to become the manager of Clyde was accepted by the Broadwood board. For two and a
half years he would play the role of player/manager from the heart of the
club’s defence and see the club come so close to winning promotion to the SPL.
Clyde finished second but had led the First Division the majority of the
season, Kernaghan again having to deal with off-field problems casting a shadow
over the playing side thanks to Clyde’s
perilous financial state.

He continued down the coaching career path when old St
Johnstone buddy Allan Preston invited him to be his assistant at Livingston,
exiting when the duo were both given their marching orders with the team
struggling at the wrong end of the SPL table. Dundee
was his next port of call but he would be quickly out the door after an
unsuccessful year in charge.

Where is he now? Kernaghan would become the first Republic of Ireland
internationalist to be handed a coaching role at Rangers when he joined the Glasgow giants in April
2006. It would be a role he would keep for nearly six years before deciding to
move to a similar position with Brentford in February of last year.

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