Alec William Alfred Stock (30 March 1917 – 16 April 2001) was an English

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

and manager. He briefly managed

AS Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional Association football, football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its ...

, between long spells at

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a profession ...

and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. At QPR, he won successive promotions, leading the club to the First Division for the first time, and winning the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. Among managers for whom accurate statistics exist, he is the fourth most experienced manager of all time.

Career

Alec Stock was born in Peasedown St John, Somerset, and played as an inside-forward for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

and

before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

and guested for several other clubs during the hostilities. He joined Yeovil Town in 1946. He came to prominence as the player/manager of Yeovil Town during a historic

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football compet ...

run in 1949. They had thrilling victories over Bury and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, before losing to

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...

in the fifth round. He later managed

(1949–1959),

(1959–1965) (general manager 1965–1968), Luton Town (1968–1972),

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

(1972–1976) and

AFC Bournemouth AFC Bournemouth () is a professional association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a r ...

(1979–1980). He was also the assistant manager of

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

for 53 days during the 1955–56 season and was a director of Queens Park Rangers (1977–1979). He was asked to manage the Third Division South team against the North in 1955–56. It was perhaps Stock's time as manager of Queens Park Rangers where he is most fondly remembered. It was during his spell in the 1960s that coincided with the development of the club with chairman Jim Gregory. The team enjoyed unprecedented success in 1967 and 1968 winning consecutive promotions with the club reaching the First Division for the first time and becoming the first Third Division team to win the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by t ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

beating then First Division

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

3–2 in a come from behind win. Stock had a focus on youth bringing many of the team through the club's youth system (including Frank Sibley,

Tony Hazell Tony Hazell (born 19 September 1947 in High Wycombe) is an English former footballer who made 564 appearances in the Football League playing as a defender for Queens Park Rangers, Millwall, Crystal Palace and Charlton Athletic. Hazell joined Q ...

Roger Morgan Roger Ernest Morgan (born 14 November 1946) is an English former footballer who played as a winger in the Football League for Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur. Career Born in Walthamstow, London, Morgan came through the ranks at Quee ...

Ian Morgan Ian Arthur Morgan (born 14 November 1946) is an English former footballer, born in Walthamstow, London, who played as a winger in the Football League for Queens Park Rangers and Watford in the 1960s and 1970s. Morgan came through the ranks at ...

and

Mick Leach Mick is a masculine given name, usually a short form (hypocorism) of Michael. Because of its popularity in Ireland, it is often used in England as a derogatory term for an Irish person or a person of Irish descent. In Australia the meaning broade ...

) as well as blending characters such as

Rodney Marsh Rodney William Marsh (born 11 October 1944) is an English former footballer and football coach; he later worked as a broadcaster. A forward, he won nine caps for England between 1971 and 1973, scoring one international goal. Brought up in th ...

and

Mark Lazarus Mark Lazarus (born 5 December 1938) is an English retired professional footballer. He played as a right winger and made more than 400 Football League appearances, scoring over 100 goals. A prominent Jewish player, he initially chose football ov ...

into the set up. With internal pressures mounting in the club following the 1967–68 season however, Stock was absent for three months, suffering from asthma. In his book ''A Little Thing Called Pride'', Stock tells how Jim Gregory sacked him in 1968 for being ill, just as he thought he was about to return to the helm and save Rangers from relegation. He later had success with Luton Town who he helped to promotion from the Third Division and also with

when he led them to the

1975 FA Cup Final The 1975 FA Cup Final was the 94th final of the FA Cup. It took place on 3 May 1975 at Wembley Stadium and was contested by London clubs West Ham United and Fulham. The Fulham team contained two former England captains in former West Ham cap ...

. He briefly returned to be a Director at Queens Park Rangers in the 1977/8 season. Ron Manager, a character in BBC comedy sketch show '' The Fast Show'' is based on Stock, told by

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

in his autobiography. This was also confirmed by comedy actor

Paul Whitehouse Paul Julian Whitehouse (born 17 May 1958) is a Welsh actor, writer and comedian. He was one of the main stars of the BBC sketch comedy series '' The Fast Show'', and has also starred with Harry Enfield in the shows ''Harry & Paul'' and ''Harr ...

, who played Ron Manager, in the documentary, ''Suits You Sir - The Inside Leg Of The Fast Show''.

Managerial Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stock, Alec 1917 births 2001 deaths English footballers English football managers English expatriate football managers People from Bath and North East Somerset Footballers from Somerset Charlton Athletic F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players AFC Bournemouth managers Fulham F.C. managers A.S. Roma managers Leyton Orient F.C. managers Luton Town F.C. managers Queens Park Rangers F.C. managers Yeovil Town F.C. managers Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Serie A managers Expatriate football managers in Italy English expatriate sportspeople in Italy Association football forwards