Alexander Rooney Forbes (21 January 1925 – 28 July 2014) was a Scottish

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

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 ...

Playing career

Forbes was born in

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. As a teenager he worked in the dockyards and played junior football for Dundee North End. He signed for English professional club

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

in 1944 and became a first team regular when competitive football resumed after the end of the Second World War. Forbes suffered an injury during the 1947–48 season and lost his place in the Sheffield United first team, which prompted Forbes to ask for a transfer.

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 mostly ...

signed Forbes in March 1948 for a fee of £15,000. The move was encouraged by Forbes' Scotland teammate Archie Macaulay, who subsequently lost his place in the Arsenal team to Forbes. Arsenal won the English league championship in 1947–48 and the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 ...

. Forbes played an important role in the latter victory, as Arsenal defeated

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

2–0 in the final. Arsenal reached another FA Cup final in

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

, but they lost 1–0 to

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. The club then won another league championship in 1952–53, finishing ahead of Preston on goal average. Forbes suffered from recurring knee injuries during the 1955–56 season. Arsenal signed

Dave Bowen David Lloyd Bowen (7 June 1928 – 25 September 1995) was a Welsh football player and manager, who captained his country to their first ever World Cup finals, in 1958. Playing career Born in Maesteg, Bowen first played for Northampton Town. ...

to replace Forbes, who they allowed to leave at the end of the season. Forbes played for

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club, commonly referred to as Orient, is a professional association football club based in Leyton, Waltham Forest, London, England. The team compete in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. ...

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

and non-league club Gravesend and Northfleet before retiring as a player. Forbes played 14 times for Scotland from 1947 to 1952. He also represented Scotland at

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

Coaching career

Forbes returned to Arsenal as a youth team coach. While taking an Arsenal team on a tour of South Africa in 1964, he was offered the opportunity to coach the Wanderers side. Forbes decided to accept and emigrated soon afterwards. Although Wanderers were an all-white club at the time, Forbes also coached black players in township and gold mine teams. He became manager of Orlando Pirates in 1975. His life in South Africa was not dull and saw him coach a few more teams after Pirates. The likes of Rangers, Highlands Park, Western Tigers and Swaraj all in his later years. He also coached football at Yeshiva College for many years. Forbes briefly became coach of the Israeli club Maccabi Haifa and he also worked in Kuwait. He only fully retired from football when he was aged 83, when he had already been diagnosed as suffering from prostate cancer.

Personal life

He loved to play snooker, joining the Wanderers Club in 1964 when he came to South Africa. He won more trophies at the Wanderers tournaments than in his football years, but it just shows that his determination to win was not left behind in England. He enjoyed greyhound racing and bought and owned the 1953 McAlinden Cup champion Rose of Meath. He was a teacher at Yeshiva College for 35 years and passed on his knowledge and expertise in football and life skills to many children. In the days after his death, 4,000 former pupils posted messages of condolence on a Facebook memorial page created by Yeshiva College. He died in his bed in the early hours of 28 July 2014. He was survived by his wife Peggy, who he met at Walthamstow dog track while on an Arsenal players' night out. Forbes was also survived by two children (Bobby and Jan) and three grandchildren - Jason and Andrew (Bobby) and Alex (f)(Jan). Forbes was the last surviving member from either Arsenal or Liverpool who played in the 1950 FA Cup Final.

Honours

Player

Sheffield United * Football League North: 1945–46 Arsenal *

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was the top division of the Football League in England from 1888 until the end of the 1991–92 season, when its teams broke away to form the Premier League. From 1992 to 2004, the name First Division was g ...

: 1947–48, 1952–53 *

: 1949–50; runner-up: 1951–52 *

FA Charity Shield The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier ...

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 ...

Manager

Swaraj United * Soccer Federation Cup: 1977 Rangers Johannesburg * NSL First Division:

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

References

;Sources * {{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Alex 1925 births 2014 deaths Scottish men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Sheffield United F.C. players Arsenal F.C. players Leyton Orient F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Scotland men's international footballers Footballers from Dundee Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Expatriate football managers in Israel English Football League players Dundee North End F.C. players Scottish ice hockey players Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer managers in South Africa Maccabi Haifa F.C. managers Orlando Pirates F.C. managers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Israel Scottish emigrants to South Africa 20th-century Scottish sportsmen