Career
Irvine began his career with Falkirk in 1983. After two years and nearly forty league appearances for the Bairns Irvine moved to Aberdeen. He was capped nine times by Scotland, but was diagnosed in June 1995 with multiple sclerosis.
Irvine returned to action four months after the diagnosis.
After playing over 300 league matches, Irvine left Pittodrie in 1997 and moved to Dundee, featuring nearly seventy times in two years. In 1999, Irvine moved to Ross County, where he finished his playing career in 2003.
After retiring, Irvine stayed with County as a coach, taking his first managerial job in January 2006 with Elgin City. In December that year, with the club bottom of the table, Irvine left the club
In March 2009, Irvine was named assistant manager to Martin Rennie of USL First Division side Carolina RailHawks Football Club. He was previously Rennie"s assistant at USL-2 side Cleveland City Stars.