Alexander Donald (born 5 June 1948) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

former

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, rugby lea ...

who played as a winger for English club

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in , the third tier of the English football league system. Vale are named after the valley of ports on the Trent and Mersey Canal ...

between 1965 and 1968, and later played in Northern Ireland for Derry City and

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds. The club has been man ...

Early life

Donald won the West Lothian County Schools sprint title while at Kirkliston Primary School and then Winchburgh Secondary.

Career

Donald played youth-team football for Winchburgh Albion and Pumpherston Juniors. He had a successful trial with

Jackie Mudie John Knight Mudie (10 April 1930 – 2 March 1992) was a Scottish international footballer who played as a forward. He won 17 caps for his country, helping the Scotland national team to qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Starting his ...

over the summer of 1965, having joined in July he signed as a professional by October. He made his debut on 12 January 1966 in a 2–0 defeat by

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The club competes in , the third tier of English football, and is managed by Graham Alexander. The club was founded in 1903 and ...

Valley Parade Valley Parade, currently known as University of Bradford Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is an all-seater association football, football stadium in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. The stadium was built in 1886 as the home of Manningham F.C. ...

, in what was the youngest ever front-line in the history of the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

– consisting of Donald (17), Roddy Georgeson (17),

Mick Cullerton Michael Joseph Cullerton (born 25 November 1948) is a Scottish former Association football, footballer. He is noted for his two spells with Port Vale F.C., Port Vale, as well as for being Stafford Rangers F.C., Stafford Rangers' star Forward (a ...

(17), Paul Bannister (18), and Paul Ogden (19). He played 11 Fourth Division games in 1965–66, before making 24 appearances in the 1966–67 campaign. He featured ten times in the 1967–68 season under

Stanley Matthews Sir Stanley Matthews (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English Association football, footballer who played as an Forward (association football)#Outside forward, outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the Br ...

before he was given a free transfer in May 1968. He moved to Northern Ireland to sign with Derry City, who were managed by his former Vale teammate

Jimmy Hill James William Thomas Hill, Order of the British Empire, OBE (22 July 1928 – 19 December 2015) was an English football in England, footballer and later a television personality. His career included almost every role in the sport, including pla ...

. He spent three years with Derry, before turning part-time at

whilst working a job as a manager at a factory. Ballymena manager Alex McCrae had previously tried to sign him whilst he was the

Falkirk Falkirk ( ; ; ) is a 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 a resident population of 32,422 at the ...

manager. He was granted a

testimonial match A testimonial match or testimonial game, often referred to simply as a testimonial, is a practice in some sports, particularly in association football in the United Kingdom and South America, where a club has a match to honour a player for servic ...

against

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

in 1976 that was attended by

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United F.C., Manchester Un ...

and

Mick Channon Michael Roger Channon (born 28 November 1948) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward and represented the England national team in the 1970s. Scoring over 250 goals in his career, mainly for Southampton, he becam ...

. He played 260 games in a 12-year stay. He served the club as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a caret ...

twice in 1983, taking charge after Ivan Murray left in February; Ian Russell served as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

between April and November, and

Jim Platt James Archibald Platt (born 26 January 1952) is a former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Northern Ireland. Playing career During his career, Platt won 23 caps for Northern Ireland, an amount largely restricted due to the presence of ...

was appointed manager in December. He returned to the club as assistant to caretaker-manager Gary Erwin in October 1984.

Personal and later life

He married Ann, a

radiographer Radiographers, also known as radiology technologists, radiologic technologists, diagnostic radiographers and medical radiation technologists, are healthcare professionals who specialise in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and tr ...

. In 2018, Donald claimed a gold medal in the 400 metres event in his age category at the Scottish Masters Athletics Championships at Grangemouth Stadium.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donald, Alex Footballers from Edinburgh Scottish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Port Vale F.C. players Derry City F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players English Football League players NIFL Premiership players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish football managers Ballymena United F.C. managers 1948 births Living people NIFL Premiership managers Men's association football player-managers