Alexander Scott Rae (born 30 September 1969) is a Scottish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activitie ...

and former

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who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. Rae began his youth career at Rangers and started his senior career at

Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically within the county of Stirlingshire. It lies in the Forth Valley, northwest of Edinburgh and northeast of Glasgow. Falkirk had ...

. Rae played for

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, eas ...

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 ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

, Rangers,

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Milton Keynes Dons Milton Keynes Dons Football Club (), usually abbreviated to MK Dons, is a professional association football club based in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the third tier of the English football league system. The ...

. Back from rehab clinic for alcoholism in 1998, he was with

and played regularly in the top flight until September 2001. He then joined

, and quickly became the key player in the team, winning the fans' player of the season award. In 2003, he helped the team back into the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

, and had his best seasonal tally with 8 goals. He then went back to Scotland, joining Rangers where he had started his youth career, in May 2004, and won the league title in his first season. Rae was appointed player-manager of

in May 2006. He led the club to third place in the First Division in his first season and took them a place higher in his second. He stopped his career as a footballer during the 2008–09 season and went to Sweden as part of his work towards a UEFA Pro Licence.

Playing career

Rae was born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

. He started his career as a youngster at boyhood heroes Rangers but was rejected by boss Graeme Souness. He dropped down to junior leagues with

Bishopbriggs Bishopbriggs ( sco, The Briggs; gd, Achadh an Easbaig) is a town in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the northern fringe of Greater Glasgow, approximately from the city centre. Historically in Lanarkshire, the area was once part of ...

before he joined

and enjoyed a successful two years before heading south to sign for

in 1990 for £100,000. He made his Millwall debut on 25 August 1990 and played for the club for six years. He is currently Millwall's joint-ninth all-time leading scorer, with 71 goals in all competitions. His form for Millwall earned him a big money move to Premier League

for £1 million in 1996, where he established himself as a crowd-pleasing, combative midfielder. His career took a downturn though, as he descended into alcoholism, leading to him attending a rehab clinic during 1998. He stayed sober after this treatment and further rehabilitation, and later became a patron for the Sporting Chance clinic. Back on the field, he won promotion as champions back to the

with

in 1998–99 and played regularly in the top flight. By 2001, he had dropped out of manager

Peter Reid Peter Reid (born 20 June 1956) is an English football manager, pundit and former player. A defensive midfielder in his playing days, Reid enjoyed a long and successful career. He built his reputation as one of England's brightest midfield tale ...

's plans and was sold to

in September 2001, for £1.2 million. He quickly became an important player for Wolves, winning the fans' player of the season award in his first campaign. The following year, he helped them back into the

when they won the play-offs in 2003. He had a strong year in the top flight, finishing as the club's leading scorer with eight goals – his best-ever seasonal tally – but could not prevent the club's relegation. Rae re-signed for Rangers in May 2004, and won the league title in his first season, scoring once in the process against Dunfermline. He only featured 12 times in his second season, however, and was later released by the club.

Coaching and managerial career

Rae was appointed player-manager of

on 24 May 2006. He led the club to third place in the First Division in his first season and took them a place higher in his second. He gave up playing for the 2008–09 season but was sacked on 20 October 2008 with the team in eighth place in the league. Following this, Rae travelled to Sweden as part of his work towards a UEFA Pro Licence. In July 2009 he joined MK Dons, on a temporary basis with a view to a permanent deal, as first team coach working under his former Wolves teammate

Paul Ince Paul Emerson Carlyle Ince (; born 21 October 1967) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the current manager of EFL Championship side Reading. A former midfielder, Ince played professionally from 1982 to 2007, sta ...

. In 2010, Rae made a return to competitive football to cover for injuries. On 29 October 2010, Rae joined

Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 25 November 1862, it is the ...

as assistant manager until he left the club following the departure of manager

on 3 April 2011. In February 2013, Rae joined

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

, once again with Paul Ince. The

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finished with Blackpool in 15th place. On 21 January 2014, along with Paul Ince, Rae's Blackpool contract was terminated and he left the club. In August 2014 he became assistant manager at Belgian club

KRC Genk Koninklijke Racing Club Genk (), commonly known as KRC Genk, Racing Genk or simply Genk, is a Belgian professional football club based in the city of Genk in Belgian Limburg. Racing Genk plays in the Belgian Pro League and have won four c ...

, working with

Alex McLeish Alexander McLeish (born 21 January 1959) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player. He played as a defender for Aberdeen during their 1980s glory years, making nearly 500 League appearances for the club, and won 77 caps for ...

. Rae was appointed manager of

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

side St Mirren in December 2015, after former manager Ian Murray resigned. After an unsuccessful start to the 2016–17 season, Rae and his assistant David Farrell were sacked by the club. Rae became assistant to Paul Ince at

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

in February 2022.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Sunderland *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

: 1998–99 Wolverhampton Wanderers *

Football League First Division play-offs The English Football League Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

Rangers *

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when t ...

: 2004–05 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existe ...

: 2004–05 Scotland U21 * UEFA under-21 Euros: Bronze

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engin ...

Toulon Tournament The Toulon Tournament (officially the Festival International "Espoirs" – Tournoi Maurice Revello) is a football (training match) tournament, which traditionally features invited national teams composed of youth players from U-17 to U-23 level. ...

: Bronze 1991

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rae, Alex 1969 births Living people Footballers from Glasgow Scottish footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Association football midfielders Falkirk F.C. players Millwall F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Milton Keynes Dons F.C. players Scottish Premier League players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Premier League players Scottish football managers Dundee F.C. managers St Mirren F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers Scottish Professional Football League managers Notts County F.C. non-playing staff Blackpool F.C. non-playing staff