Allen Darrell McKnight (born 27 January 1964) is a Northern Irish former international

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 played professionally in Northern Ireland, Scotland, England, and Hong Kong as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Born in Antrim, McKnight played youth football for a number of local clubs including Crumlin Boys, Crumlin Rec., and Chimney Corner. He began his senior career in 1984 with

Distillery Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

, and he also played for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, Albion Rovers,

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

, Airdrieonians,

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional association football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. The team plays in EFL League One, the third tier of English football, after suffering relegation fr ...

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

South China South China ( zh, s=, p=Huá'nán, j=jyut6 naam4) is a geographical and cultural region that covers the southernmost part of China. Its precise meaning varies with context. A notable feature of South China in comparison to the rest of China is ...

and

Exeter City Exeter City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Exeter, Devon, England. The team play in , the third level of the English football league system. Known as "the Grecians", the origin of their nickname is subject to ...

Celtic

McKnight signed for Celtic in August 1986, joining up again with his former Distillery teammate

Anton Rogan Anton Rogan (born 25 March 1966) is a former professional footballer. His playing career included spells at Lisburn Distillery, Celtic, Sunderland, Oxford United, Millwall and Blackpool. Rogan also played 18 times for the Northern Ireland natio ...

who had arrived at Parkhead a few months earlier. He did not feature in any first-team games in his first year, and was loaned out to Albion Rovers to gain experience of the Scottish game. With the departure of Peter Latchford in the summer of 1987, McKnight rose up in the pecking order at Celtic to second-choice keeper, behind first choice

Packie Bonner Patrick Joseph Bonner (born 24 May 1960) is an Irish retired footballer who played as a goalkeeper and spent his entire senior career at Celtic. He earned 80 caps for the Republic of Ireland after making his debut on his 21st birthday. Commonly ...

. McKnight played several games for Celtic at the start of season 1987–88 in place of Bonner who had contracted a virus. He made his debut in a 5–1 win away to

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

in a league cup tie on 26 August 1987 and went on to play in three

Old firm The Old Firm is a collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply embedded i ...

league games, a 1–0 win at

Parkhead Parkhead () is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet (place), hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necro ...

, a 2–2 draw at Ibrox and a 2–0 win in the New Year game at Parkhead. Bonner regained his place in the team upon his recovery from illness, but McKnight's 12 league appearances and 5 clean sheets helped the club to win the League Championship. An injury to Bonner in May 1988 saw McKnight play in the 1988

Scottish Cup Final The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the Scottish Cup, is a knockout cup competition in Scottish football. Organised by the Scottish Football Association, it is the third oldest existing football competition in the wo ...

against Dundee Utd, and he won another winner's medal as Celtic triumphed 2–1 at Hampden.Wilson, Brian (1988). "Celtic – A Century With Honour" McKnight left Parkhead for West Ham a couple of months later.

West Ham United

During his West Ham United career he was known by the fans as ''McKnightmare'' because of his frequent goalkeeping errors. Signed from Celtic in the summer of 1988 McKnight made his West Ham debut on 10 September 1988 in a 1–0 away win against

Wimbledon Wimbledon most often refers to: * Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London * Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships Wimbledon may also refer to: Places London * W ...

. Competing for the goalkeeper's place with Phil Parkes, McKnight played all his 23 league games for West Ham in his first season. His last league game coming on 23 May 1989, a 5–1 away defeat to

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

which saw West Ham relegated to the Second Division. He had to wait eighteen months for his next game, also a 5–1 defeat, away to

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

in the

Full Members Cup The Full Members' Cup was an association football cup competition held in English football from 1985 to 1992. It was also known under its sponsored names of the Simod Cup from 1987 to 1989 and the Zenith Data Systems Cup from 1989 to 1992. T ...

. He later played non-league football with teams including Collier Row,

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

and Collier Row & Romford (a merger of his two previous teams).

International career

McKnight earned 10 caps for the

Northern Ireland national football team The Northern Ireland national football team represents Northern Ireland in men's international association football. From 1882 to 1950, all of Ireland was represented by a single side, the Ireland national football team (1882–1950), Ireland ...

between 1987 and 1989.

References

External links

*
NIFG
{{DEFAULTSORT:McKnight, Allen 1964 births Living people Men's association footballers from Northern Ireland Northern Ireland men's international footballers Chimney Corner F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Celtic F.C. players West Ham United F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Stockport County F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Walsall F.C. players South China AA players Expatriate sportspeople from Northern Ireland in Hong Kong Exeter City F.C. players Romford F.C. players People from Antrim, County Antrim Expatriate men's footballers in Hong Kong English Football League players Scottish Football League players Collier Row F.C. players Men's association football goalkeepers NIFL Premiership players