Allan John Russell (born 13 December 1980) is a Scottish former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who was most recently a set-piece coach for club

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

Playing career

Scotland and England

Born in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Russell began his career in 1999 with

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

, making over sixty league appearances over a four-year period. In 2003, Russell began a two-year spell with St Mirren before moving to English side Macclesfield Town in early 2005. Russell's stay at Macclesfield lasted only a few months and he moved on to

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third level of the English football league system. The club was formed in 1897 as Mans ...

at the start of the 2005–06 season. Russell returned to Scotland with

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

in January 2007. At Partick he scored once; his goal coming in a 1–0 win over Livingston. Russell began the 2007–08 season with Airdrie, where a December 2007 ''Player of the Month'' award and his goalscoring form – by February 2008 he had already scored more than any previous season – attracted interest from

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

sides

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

and

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

. In May 2008, Russell netted the Scottish Football League Second Division Player of the Year award having scored 28 goals in a record breaking season and was eventually signed by Scottish Premier League side Kilmarnock signing a two-year deal. He left Kilmarnock after the expiry of his contract in 2010.

United States

Russell signed for

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 2006, the team previously was named the Carolina Railhawks. On December 6, 2016, the RailH ...

on 23 July 2010. He stayed with the club through the 2011 season winning the 2010 and 2011 NASL league Championships. He then signed with Los Angeles Blues of the USL Pro Division on 8 December 2011, who later changed franchise name to

Orange County Blues Orange County Soccer Club is an American association football, soccer team based in the Orange County, California city of Irvine, California, Irvine. Founded in 2010 as the Los Angeles Blues, the team currently plays in the Western Conference ( ...

. Russell captained Orange County Blues for a time, playing both as a defensive midfielder and as a striker.

Coaching career

In March 2017, Russell joined the

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

coaching staff as their striker coach. During the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

, he earned particular praise for his work on the England team's set pieces, after a well-choreographed goal in their game against

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

. Russell was appointed assistant first team coach at

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

in April 2021, initially combining the role with his England duties. He left his consultancy position with England a month later, after he admitted allowing his younger brother to drive while uninsured. When

Dean Smith Dean Edwards Smith (February 28, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American men's college basketball Coach (basketball), head coach. Called a "coaching legend" by the Basketball Hall of Fame, he coached for 36 years at the University of North C ...

was terminated as manager of

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

club

in December 2022, Russell and the club's Head of Football Development, Steve Weaver were announced as the now co-head coaches on an interim basis a few months after Russell was appointed their set-piece coach, the club's December 2022 statement confirms. Russell then became the set piece coach for Norwich. In March 2023, Russell and Norwich parted ways and they agreed to a mutual termination of his contract.

Personal life

In January 2023, Russell began dating American actress and singer

Jana Kramer Jana Rae Kramer (born December 2, 1983) Gives birthplace as Detroit, Michigan, of which Rochester Hills is a suburb. is an American actress and country music, country singer. She is known for her role as Alex Dupre on the television series ''One ...

, and the couple subsequently moved to

Franklin, Tennessee Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About south of Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020 Uni ...

. On May 25, 2023, it was confirmed the two were engaged after six months of dating. On June 8, 2023, the couple confirmed via Instagram that they are expecting their first child together. Kramer gave birth to a son, Roman James Russell, on November 13, 2023. Russell and Kramer were married in Scotland on 13 July 2024.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Russell, Allan 1980 births Footballers from Glasgow Living people Men's association football forwards Scottish men's footballers Hamilton Academical F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Forest Green Rovers F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Scottish Premier League players North Carolina FC players Orange County SC players USSF Division 2 Professional League players North American Soccer League (2011–2017) players USL Championship players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Aberdeen F.C. non-playing staff 21st-century Scottish sportsmen