Alexander McCluckie McSpadyen (19 December 1914 – 1978) 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 as an

outside right In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on bei ...

, mainly for

Partick Thistle Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...

as well as for

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

as a guest player during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and

Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

after the conflict ended. Having been brought in to the Partick squad as an inexperienced teenager to potentially replace the long-serving

Davie Ness David Hogg Ness (15 August 1902 – 1974) was a Scottish footballer who played as an outside right; his only club at the professional level was Partick Thistle, where he spent twelve seasons (all in the top division), making 423 appearances for ...

,Rapid Rise
the Sunday Post, 17 March 1935, via Partick Thistle History Archive McSpadyen won the

Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockout football tournament open to teams from in and around Glasgow and later on in the tournament's history, teams from outwith Glasgow. Invitations were made and sent out by the Glasgow Charity Cup ...

at the end of his first season with the ''Jags'' quickly became a first-team regular and gained international recognition before his career progress was halted by the outbreak of war, which occurred when he was aged 24 and appeared to be coming to the peak of his abilities. He joined the Army and appeared for their select team in charity matches, while also finding time to play for Partick Thistle in wartime competitions when possible. This brought his total number of appearances for the club to 297 with 33 goals, although his official SFL and

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Portadown Portadown ( ) is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town is based on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population ...

, he returned to Holytown United as a trainer until the club folded a year later. McSpadyen represented

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

twice, also playing in one unofficial wartime match,Irish XI v Scottish XI, 28 April 1940
11v11.com and making three appearances for the

Scottish Football League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

,(SFL player) Alec McSpadyen
London Hearts Supporters Club all between 1938 and 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mcspadyen, Alex 1914 births 1978 deaths Footballers from North Lanarkshire Scottish men's footballers Men's association football wingers Partick Thistle F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. wartime guest players Scotland men's youth international footballers Portadown F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Scottish Football League players Scotland men's international footballers Date of death missing Scottish Football League representative players Scotland men's wartime international footballers British Army personnel of World War II