31
Andy Lonergan joined Everton in August 2021 and signed a one-year contract with the Club.
The former Preston North End goalkeeper was a free agent when he arrived as back-up for Jordan Pickford and Asmir Begovic following a quadriceps injury to teenage keeper Harry Tyrer.
Lonergan spent the second half of the previous 2020/21 campaign with West Bromwich Albion, where he agreed a short-team deal after completing a similar arrangement with Stoke City.
He began his career with Preston, where Lonergan played 231 matches after graduating from the Deepdale club’s youth system to make a first-team debut aged 16 in September 2000.
A debut First Division (today’s Championship) appearance followed in the same season when, at the age of 17, he was summoned for a televised match against Watford – Preston won 3-2 – after regular David Lucas hurt himself in the warm-up.
Lonergan, who had loan spells with Darlington, Blackpool, Wycombe Wanderers and Swindon Town at various points of his 11 years with Preston, began to establish himself as number one in 2004/05 – the season when he scored with a kick from his own box in a 1-1 draw with Leicester City – before a cruciate ligament injury forced him to the sidelines for an extended period.
The player regained his starting position during 2006/07 and didn’t relinquish first-choice status until the months before a transfer to Leeds United in the summer of 2011.
Lonergan was Preston fans’ player of the year in 2008/09 when he was ever-present as his team reached the Championship play-offs, losing to Sheffield United in a two-legged semi-final.
In the following 2009/10 campaign he won the club’s fans’ and players’ awards double.
Lonergan was with Leeds for one season, playing 38 games across the competitions, but a change of manager – Neil Warnock replaced Simon Grayson – prompted a switch to Bolton Wanderers in time for 2012/13.
He was sparingly employed in his first season with Bolton but featured more prominently over the following two campaigns and left in the 2015 close season after more than 60 appearances.
Lonergan stayed in the Championship with Fulham for 2015/16. He played 31 games for a side managed by four different men during a turbulent season.
The Lancastrian switched to divisional counterparts Wolverhampton Wanderers following one season at Craven Cottage and – at another club experiencing managerial flux – played 12 times in the Championship, in addition to four cup appearances.
Lonergan rejoined Leeds in the summer of 2017 but was lightly run in one campaign back at Elland Road and transferred to Middlesbrough 12 months later.
His involvement at the Riverside Stadium was limited to four games in cup competitions – but there was a temporary stay with League One Rochdale midway through the season when Lonergan played seven matches.
Lonergan was with Liverpool for 2019/20 but didn’t make an appearance for the club.
He was back in the Championship for five weeks with Stoke from December 2020 before returning to the Premier League as a cover option at West Brom for the season’s closing months.
Lonergan is eligible to represent Republic of Ireland but after one appearance for the nation’s Under-16 team declared for birth country England.
He played for England at Under-20 level and started and finished the team’s three matches at the 2003 Under-20 World Cup in UAE.
Contracted until: June 2024
