Alex McCrae
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Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Alexander McCrae | ||
Date of birth | 2 January 1920 | ||
Place of birth | Whitburn, Scotland | ||
Date of death | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. | ||
Place of death | Livingston, Scotland | ||
Position(s) | Forward | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1941–1947 | Heart of Midlothian | 156 | (62) |
1947–1948 | Charlton Athletic | 43 | (8) |
1948–1953 | Middlesbrough | 122 | (47) |
1953–1957 | Falkirk | 94 | (33) |
Ballymena United | |||
Managerial career | |||
1957–1960 | Ballymena United | ||
1960 (Jan-Mar) | Stirling Albion | ||
1960–1965 | Falkirk [1] | ||
1969–1971 | Ballymena United | ||
1972 | Glentoran | ||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Alex McCrae (2 January 1920 – 8 October 2009) was a Scottish football player who played for Hearts, Charlton Athletic, Middlesbrough and Falkirk during his career.
Playing career
McCrae began his career at Hearts in 1941. He later moved to London to play for Charlton Athletic but was unable to settle and was snapped up by Middlesbrough for £10,000 in October 1948.
The versatile frontman could play in any forward position but favoured the inside left role. He began his career with the club in the 1948–49 season in the absence of Wilf Mannion, but his form was poor and soon he was dropped from the side. Eventually, he was recalled alongside Mannion, where he showed his pace, accurate passing and sublime ball skills.
After scoring 16 goals in the 1949–50 season, including the winner in a home 1–0 victory over Newcastle United on Boxing Day, he became a fans favourite. He topped the scoring charts the next season, scoring three hat-tricks before Christmas, but injury robbed him from helping the side finish higher than sixth in the table that season. McCrae then scored 21 goals in the 1950/51 season.[2] As of 2009, he was the last player to score 20 goals in a season for Middlesbrough while playing in the top division of the English football league system.[2]
He left the club for Falkirk in 1953, and followed this with a spell in Northern Ireland with Ballymena.[3]
After football
After retiring from playing, he became Middlesbrough's scout in Scotland, where he recommended future legend Jim Platt to the club.
Honours
- Falkirk
- Stirlingshire Cup : 1960-61, 1963–64
References
- ↑ Falkirk FC Managers
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ http://www.ballymenaunited.co.uk/history/alex_mccrae.html
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Newcastle Fans profile
- Obituary in The Herald
- No local image but image on Wikidata
- 1920 births
- 2009 deaths
- Charlton Athletic F.C. players
- Falkirk F.C. managers
- Falkirk F.C. players
- Association football inside forwards
- Heart of Midlothian F.C. players
- Middlesbrough F.C. players
- People from Whitburn, West Lothian
- Sportspeople from West Lothian
- Scottish Football League players
- Scottish footballers
- Scottish football managers
- The Football League players
- NIFL Premiership players
- Glentoran F.C. managers
- Stirling Albion F.C. managers
- Scottish Football League managers
- Ballymena United F.C. managers