Southport have today announced their third manager of season, and it’s our old nemesis Andy Preece who will be in charge until the end of the season.
Preece is no friend of Lincoln City, nor of this blogger. He was always highly critical of Keith Alexander’s Imps when in charge at Bury, and an incident on August 25th 2003 saw Bury snatch a late win from the Imps in controversial circumstances.
It was Preece who, as player manager, netted a stoppage time penalty to condemn City to a fourth defeat in five games. Ben Futcher was adjudged to have handled the ball in the area, the referee Kevin Friend waved play on, but his assistant flagged and a grateful Preece gobbled up the goal
In later life Preece rocked up at Northwich Victoria, and he was in charge for our 2009 FA Cup 2nd Round match, screened live on the BBC. It took place during the ill-fated reign of Chris Sutton, but on the day Northwich were well beaten by three goals to one. However, an incident prior to the game left a sour taste in my mouth, as Preece physical assaulted me as Poacher. You can read about it in my upcoming book!
Preece had a decent playing career scoring regularly for Stockport, Bury and Blackpool before moving into management. More recently he’s been director of football at Airbus UK Broughton, which sounds prestigious in itself.
I can’t say I’m delighted to see him back in football, and with James Caton and Callum Howe no longer at Southport I don’t even feel the need to wish them well! Having been there a couple of times the staff and people are very friendly, but I fear that may not be the case in April now Andy Preece is in charge.
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