Alexander McCrae (2 January 1920 – 8 October 2009) was a Scottish

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 for Hearts, Charlton Athletic,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

and

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 ...

during his career.

Playing career

McCrae began his career at Hearts in 1941. He later moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

to play for Charlton Athletic but was unable to settle and was snapped up by Middlesbrough for £10,000 in October 1948. The versatile frontman could play in any forward position but favoured the inside left role. He began his career with the club in the 1948–49 season in the absence of Wilf Mannion, but his form was poor and soon he was dropped from the side. Eventually, he was recalled alongside Mannion, where he showed his pace, accurate passing and sublime ball skills. After scoring 16 goals in the 1949–50 season, including the winner in a home 1–0 victory over

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

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, he became a fans favourite. He topped the scoring charts the next season, scoring three

hat-tricks A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

before

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, but injury robbed him from helping the side finish higher than sixth in the table that season. McCrae then scored 21 goals in the 1950/51 season. As of 2009, he was the last player to score 20 goals in a season for Middlesbrough while playing in the top division of the

English football league system The English football league system, also known as the football pyramid, is a series of interconnected leagues for men's association football clubs in England, with five teams from Wales, one from Guernsey, one from Jersey and one from the ...

. He left the club for Falkirk in 1953, and followed this with a spell in Northern Ireland with

Ballymena Ballymena ( ; from , meaning 'the middle townland') is a town in County Antrim, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 31,205 people at the 2021 United Kingdom census, making it the List of localities in Northern Ireland by population, seven ...

.http://www.ballymenaunited.co.uk/history/alex_mccrae.html During his stint with Ballymena, McCrae made one appearance for the Irish League representative team.

After football

After retiring from playing, he became Middlesbrough's scout in Scotland, where he recommended future legend Jim Platt to the club.

Honours

;Falkirk * Stirlingshire Cup : 1960–61, 1963–64

References

External links

*
Obituary
in ''The Herald'' {{DEFAULTSORT:McCrae, Alex 1920 births 2009 deaths Charlton Athletic F.C. players Falkirk F.C. managers Falkirk F.C. players Men's association football inside forwards Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players People from Whitburn, West Lothian Footballers from West Lothian Scottish Football League players Scottish men's footballers Scottish football managers English Football League players NIFL Premiership players Glentoran F.C. managers Stirling Albion F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers Ballymena United F.C. managers Irish League representative players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen NIFL Premiership managers Ballymena United F.C. players