Former Preston North End player Dave Sneddon has been awarded an MBE in the 2014 Queen’s Birthday Honours List.
The 78-year-old received the accolade for his services to the Kilmarnock community and Kilmarnock Football Club, where he spent time as a player and manager – leading them to the Tennent Caledonian Cup in 1979.
Sneddon originally signed for Preston in 1959 from Scottish First Division side Dundee for a fee of £12,000 and made his debut for the Lilywhites against Tottenham Hotspur in a 2-2 draw.
The Scotland U23 international was a busy, stylish inside-forward and was brought in to supersede Jimmy Baxter.
He played in 40 games in what was Sir Tom Finney’s last season, chipping in with 14 goals.
Sneddon played in 45 league and cup games the following season, North End’s last in the top flight, knowing the Club had a ready-made, up-and-coming replacement coming through the system in Alan Spavin.
So with 18 games of the campaign gone, North End sold Sneddon, who made 105 appearances for the Club, to Kilmarnock for a club record fee of £17,000.
With Killie he became a legend, playing around 170 games for the club, winning the league championship and playing against the likes of Real Madrid in the European Cup competition.
After a spell with Raith Rovers he re-joined Kilmarnock, initially as coach, and then became their manager.
Nowadays Sneddon still attends all the Kilmarnock home games in an ambassador capacity and was in Preston not long ago, to attend the funeral of his former North End team mate, Sir Tom Finney.
Everyone at the Club would like to congratulate Dave on his achievement.