Alistair John Dawson (25 February 1958 – 26 July 2021) was a Scottish professional

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 defender. He spent most of his career at

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 ...

. In 2011, Dawson was inducted into Rangers' Hall of Fame.

Playing career

Dawson was signed as a sixteen-year-old in 1975 by manager Jock Wallace Jr. and made his debut in a pre-season tour in Canada. He was a full back who could play on either side of the pitch. He sustained a serious injury during a club tour of Canada, when he fractured his skull. He recovered, and became a

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

. He made a total of 316 appearances for Rangers, scoring eight goals. He received two

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

, and four League Cup winner's medals – in 1979,

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

and

1987 Events January * January 1 – Bolivia reintroduces the Boliviano currency. * January 2 – Chadian–Libyan conflict – Battle of Fada: The Military of Chad, Chadian army destroys a Libyan armoured brigade. * January 3 – Afghan leader ...

. He was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the e ...

five times by

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 ...

, all while at Rangers. After 12 years at the club, Dawson left Rangers for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second level of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...

in 1987 for £25,000, . He signed for

Limerick Limerick ( ; ) is a city in western Ireland, in County Limerick. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is in the Mid-West Region, Ireland, Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. W ...

in 1990 and returned to Scotland later that season with Airdrie, before becoming player/manager of Maltese league club Luxol St. Andrews. He later also played for Dingli Swallows, another Maltese team, in their historic 1994/1995 season in First Division.

Managerial career

Dawson went on to manage

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, who currently compete in . They were established in 1874 from the school football team at Hamilto ...

for a three-year spell between 1999 and 2003 where he won the

Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

title.

Death

Dawson died on 26 July 2021, aged 63.

Honours

As manager

Hamilton Academical *

: 2000–01

References

External links

* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawson, Ally 1958 births 2021 deaths Footballers from Johnstone Men's association football defenders Scottish men's footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Rangers F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Limerick F.C. players Dingli Swallows F.C. players Scottish Football League players League of Ireland players Scottish expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Malta Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Malta Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers Hamilton Academical F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers Scotland men's youth international footballers St. Andrews F.C. (Malta) players St. Andrews F.C. (Malta) managers English Football League players