ALAN IRVINE FACTFILE

Born: Glasgow, 1958 (Age 58) Playing career: A winger, Irvine joined Scottish parttimers Queen’s Park in 1977, scoring nine goals in 88 games and winning the Scottish Second Division in 1981. He joined Everton that summer and spent three seasons at Goodison, scoring six times in 69 matches and collecting a winner’s medal in the 1984 FA Cup. After three years at Crystal Palace (12 goals, 109 games), he returned to Scotland with Dundee United in 1987 and twice secured qualification for Europe. Irvine joined Blackburn in 1989, scoring three goals in 58 appearances and securing promotion to the Premier League before retiring in 1992. Managerial career: Placed in charge of Blackburn’s youth team on his retirement, Irvine spent five years at Ewood Park before joining Kenny Dalglish at Newcastle, this time as assistant manager. When Dalglish was replaced by Ruud Gullit, Irvine became academy director and remained in post until he joined Everton as assistant to David Moyes in 2002. Named manager of Preston in November 2007, Irvine averted relegation in his first season then finished sixth in his second, ultimately suffering play-off defeat to Sheffield United. Sacked amid a poor run in December 2009, he joined Sheffield Wednesday but couldn’t prevent relegation from the Championship in May 2010. He was dismissed in February 2011 but returned to Everton as academy director in 2011. He then spent six months in charge of West Brom, winning five of his 22 matches before being dismissed in December 2014. He joined Norwich as assistant to Alex Neil in 2016 and is currently caretaker-manager at Carrow Road.