He became player-manager of Bury in 1999, also going on to manage Worcester City, Northwich Victoria, Airbus UK and Southport.
[3][4] Born in Evesham, Worcestershire, Preece began his career as a junior with Worcester City, making his debut as a substitute against Runcorn in the Conference aged 16.
"[5] He subsequently played briefly for Evesham United, then planned to return to Australia; however, someone at the club knew Graham Carr, manager at Northampton Town.
He impressed enough (including scoring the winning goal in a giant-killing feat against Queens Park Rangers in the FA Cup) that he signed for Crystal Palace in June 1994, as strike partner to Chris Armstrong, for a fee of £350,000.
He turned down Burnley — having been sold on Owen Oyston's ambitious plans for Blackpool which ultimately did not materialise — and also missed a call from Barry Fry at Birmingham City while he was doing the paperwork on the Fylde coast.
[5] Preece played in the forward line with the likes of Andy Watson, briefly, then Tony Ellis and James Quinn,[4] and under Nigel Worthington in 1997–98 he was made captain for a period.
[9][10][4] He returned to Worcester City, as player-manager, in 2005, where he remained for five years, before finishing his playing career with Northwich Victoria in 2012.
[11] David Nugent was signed by Preece after unsuccessful trials with Crewe Alexandra and Northampton Town, and went on to net Bury close to £1 million.
[17] Bury director Roger Barlow said that Preece's departure was for financial reasons and nothing to do with results on the pitch.
[7] In February 2005, Preece joined Worcester City as player-manager[18] and led the side to three consecutive top ten finishes in the Conference North then, in 2006, to the second round of the FA Cup.
[32] On 8 February 2017, he returned to the North West to become the new manager of National League side Southport, replacing Steve Burr,[33] until the end of the season.
[36] Preece's wife and daughter were only a couple of rows behind Crystal Palace supporter Matthew Simmons when the Eric Cantona kung-fu kick incident occurred at Selhurst Park in January 1995.
About forty Blackpool fans wrote to the FA in defence of Preece, saying the racial abuse he received was horrendous.
"[5] Preece's best friend is Andy Morrison, who was his teammate at Blackpool and with whom he has worked in coaching and managerial roles thereafter.
[5] He is a regular guest on the Preview Show, Blackpool's weekly in-house Tangerine TV production, alongside Ged Mills.