Alexander Young (20 October 1925 – 2 March 2010) was a Scottish footballer and coach. He played at

centre-half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for the league-winning

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

team of 1954–55, and was inducted into the Aberdeen FC "Hall of Fame" as one of the founding members in 2003.

Playing career

Young began his playing career in

junior Junior or Juniors may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''Junior'' (Junior Mance album), 1959 * ''Junior'' (Röyksopp album), 2009 * ''Junior'' (Kaki King album), 2010 * ''Junior'' (LaFontaines album), 2019 Films * ''Junior'' (1994 ...

football in the West of Scotland, playing for

Kilsyth Rangers Kilsyth Rangers Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire. Nicknamed ''The Wee Gers'', they were formed in 1913 and play at Duncansfield Park, which used to be one of the bigger ''non-league'' f ...

and Blantyre Victoria – with whom he won a

Scottish Junior Cup The Scottish Junior Cup is an annual football competition organised by the Scottish Junior Football Association. The competition has been held every year since the inception of the SJFA in 1886 and, as of the 2022–23 edition, 108 teams compete ...

in 1950 – before signing for Aberdeen at the relatively late age of 24. He was a mainstay of the successful Aberdeen side of the 1950s, playing in every game of the league championship season in 1954–55, and appearing in two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

and

1954 Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

. In the second of these finals, Young scored an own goal to open the scoring for

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, who went on to win 2–1. Young never played for the Scottish national team, despite being a highly regarded defender, and having captained the junior international side.

Archie Glen Archibald Glen (16 April 1929 – 30 August 1998) was a Scottish footballer who played as a left half for Aberdeen, where he spent his whole professional career. He made 270 appearances for the club in the three major domestic competitions,

, one of Young's teammates in the league-winning side, considered him to be one of that side's more under-rated players: Young left Aberdeen in 1958, moving to Ross County, then in the Highland League, where he served as player-coach until retiring on medical advice in 1964. He went on to run a grocery shop in

Fortrose Fortrose (; gd, A' Chananaich, sco, Chainry) is a town and former royal burgh in Highland, Scotland, United Kingdom. It is on the Moray Firth, about north-east of Inverness. The burgh is a popular location for trying to spot bottlenose dolp ...

.Caught in Time: Aberdeen's first championship side, April 1955
''The Sunday Times'', 17 July 2005

References

1925 births 2010 deaths Footballers from Glasgow Association football central defenders Scottish footballers Aberdeen F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Scottish Football League players Kilsyth Rangers F.C. players Blantyre Victoria F.C. players Highland Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scotland junior international footballers {{Scotland-footy-defender-1920s-stub