Alexander Duncan Rennie (27 September 1948 – 4 March 2018) 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 ...

who played as a defender. He played for

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

between 1968 and 1975, making almost 200 league appearances, and later managed the club from 1980 until 1985, winning the

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

title in 1983. He also played for

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

Stirling Albion Stirling Albion Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Stirling. The club was founded in 1945 following the demise of King's Park after World War II. The club currently competes in as a member of the Scottish Profession ...

and

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

and managed

Stenhousemuir Stenhousemuir (; ) is a town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It lies within the Falkirk council area of Scotland. The town is north-northwest of Falkirk and directly adjoins to Larbert in the west, where the nearest rail access is located ...

Playing career

Alex Rennie was born in

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 ...

on 27 September 1948. He played for local youth team Gairdoch United during the 1962–63 season. He joined

, where he played in the reserve team. After a brief spell with

, making three league appearances, he joined

in 1968, going on to make 197 league appearances, scoring 7 goals. He was part of the St Johnstone team managed by

Willie Ormond William Esplin Ormond (23 February 1927 – 4 May 1984) was a Scottish football player and manager. As a player, Ormond was well known as one of Hibernian's Famous Five forward line, winning three league championships in the late 1940s and ...

that finished third in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

in the 1970-71 season and also played in their subsequent

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

campaign. Rennie was released by St Johnstone in April 1975. He was offered a contract by

Hong Kong Rangers Hong Kong Rangers Football Club (), often abbreviated to Rangers, currently known as Biu Chun Rangers due to sponsorship reasons, is a Hong Kong professional football club which currently competes in the Hong Kong Premier League. They have won ...

, but ultimately decided to remain in Scotland, signing for

in June 1975. After making 63 league appearances over the next three seasons, an eye injury forced him to retire from playing.

Management career

Rennie was a member of Ormond's coaching staff at Heart of Midlothian in the late 1970s. He took over 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 ...

in January 1980 after Ormond was sacked despite Hearts being top of the

First Division 1st Division or First Division may refer to: Military Airborne divisions *1st Parachute Division (Germany) *1st Airborne Division (United Kingdom) * 1st Airmobile Division (Ukraine) * 1st Guards Airborne Division Armoured divisions *1st Armoure ...

. The team remained unbeaten in six matches under Rennie before

Bobby Moncur Robert Moncur (born 19 January 1945) is a Scottish former professional footballer. Moncur is most famous for his role as captain of Newcastle United in the late 1960s and of the Scotland national side in the early 1970s. Moncur was part of ...

took over and steered them to the league title. After leaving Hearts, Rennie returned to St Johnstone as manager in April 1980. He was instrumental in converting the young

Ally McCoist Alistair Murdoch McCoist (; born 24 September 1962) is a Scottish former association football, footballer who has since worked as a Manager (association football), manager and TV pundit. McCoist began his playing career with Scottish club St Jo ...

from a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

to a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

before selling the player to

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

for a club record fee. Rennie remained at the club until 1985, winning the

title in the 1982-83 season. He left the club in 1985 after two successive relegations, and later managed

from 1987 to 1989.

After football

Rennie ran a pub in Falkirk with his wife, the Blackmill Inn, and also worked as a driving instructor. Having previously recovered from throat cancer, he died on 4 March 2018 from the effects of oesophageal cancer, aged 69.

Honours

Manager

St Johnstone *

: 1982-83

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rennie, Alex 1948 births 2018 deaths Scottish men's footballers Men's association football defenders Dundee United F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. non-playing staff Rangers F.C. players St Johnstone F.C. managers St Johnstone F.C. players Scottish Football League managers Scottish Football League players Stenhousemuir F.C. managers Stirling Albion F.C. players Scottish football managers Footballers from Falkirk 20th-century Scottish sportsmen