Andrew William "Andy" McAteer (b. 24 April Preston, Lancashire) is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 former professional football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

er. He played in the Football League

The Football League

The Football League, also known as the npower Football League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition featuring professional association football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest such competition in world football...

 in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s.

Preston North End

Signing on as an apprentice in July 1977, McAteer turned professional a year later. He made his Preston North End

Preston North End F.C.

Preston North End Football Club is an English professional football club located in the Deepdale area of the city of Preston, Lancashire, currently playing in the third tier of English league football, League One...

 debut as an 18-year-old on Boxing Day

Boxing Day

Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...

 1979 in a 3-0 home win over Shrewsbury Town

Shrewsbury Town F.C.

Shrewsbury Town Football Club is an English Association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, who play in League Two, the fourth tier of English football. The club was formed in 1886 and has played in all the bottom three divisions in various guises since being elected into the Football...

. Quickly establishing himself as a tough-tackling attacking full back, McAteer didn't miss a game for the rest of the season, becoming a firm favourite with the Deepdale

Deepdale

Deepdale is a stadium in the Deepdale area of Preston, England, the home of Preston North End F.C. and, up to 2010, England's National Football Museum. Preston North End are one of the founder members of the Football League.- History :...

 fans. The following season he struggled with injury but still managed to make 26 appearances as the club were relegated to Division Three. These were hard times for Preston, as they constantly struggled against relegation and financial ruin. McAteer, however, was a mainstay in the team making 277 appearances scoring nine goals during his first spell there.

Blackpool

It was in December 1986 that John McGrath accepted a bid of £17,000 from local rivals Blackpool

Blackpool F.C.

Blackpool Football Club are an English football club founded in 1887 from the Lancashire seaside town of Blackpool. They are competing in the 2011–12 season of the The Championship, the second tier of professional football in England, having been relegated from the Premier League at the end of the...

.

McAteer played for the Seasiders for eighteen months. In June 1988 he was given a free transfer, mainly due to an injury-plagued second season. He had made 47 appearances and scored 0 times at Bloomfield Road

Bloomfield Road

Bloomfield Road is an all-seater football stadium in the English town of Blackpool, Lancashire. It has been the permanent home of Blackpool F.C. since 1901 and is named after the road on which the stadium's main entrance used to stand. The stadium has been in a process of redevelopment since 2000...

.

Back home

John McGrath wasted no time in offering McAteer a return to Preston, offering him, in July 1988, a two-year deal. Injury, however, restricted him to just 19 more games for North End as they pushed towards the play-offs. Halfway through his deal it was decided that McAteer couldn't continue with the rigours of the full-time game any longer and he retired from the professional game at the relatively young age of 28. He had played 343 games in his career, scoring 10 goals.

Life in the non-league

Upon leaving the full-time game, McAteer first signed, along with Oshor Williams

Oshor Williams

Oshor Joseph Williams is a former footballer in the English football league who now works for the PFA as a union learning representative. During his playing days he played both in midfielder and in attack...

, for Northern Premier League

Northern Premier League

The Northern Premier League, is one of the regional English football leagues which sits directly below the Football Conference featuring semi-professional and amateur clubs. Geographically, the league covers all of Northern England, and the northern areas of the Midlands. Originally just one...

 team Lancaster City

Lancaster City F.C.

Lancaster City F.C. is an English football club based in Lancaster, Lancashire. The club are currently members of Northern Premier League Division One North and play at Giant Axe.-History:...

, but new work commitments meant that he would only play one game for the Giant Axe club; therefore, he had to give up non-league football too. McAteer decided to revert to playing local parks football in his native Preston whilst building up a successful career in insurance, as he still does to this day.