Alistair Espie Maxwell (born 16 February 1965) is a Scottish football

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former 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 ...

. He is currently a youth coach for SC Del Sol Soccer Club in the United States, having previously played for

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

, Rangers and

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in ...

, and coached Greenock Morton and US side Sereno Golden Eagles.

Club career

Born in Hamilton, Maxwell started his career at

, spending the 1987–88 season on loan at

Clydebank Clydebank ( gd, Bruach Chluaidh) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland. Situated on the north bank of the River Clyde, it borders the village of Old Kilpatrick (with Bowling and Milton beyond) to the west, and the Yoker and Drumchapel areas ...

before becoming the first-choice goalkeeper at the

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–08 SPL season. ...

club at the start of the next campaign. He famously won the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the ...

, playing most of the second half plus thirty minutes of extra time with broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and intermittent double vision sustained in a collision with

defender

John Clark John Clark may refer to: Entertainment *John Clark or Signor Brocolini (1841–1906), Irish-born American operatic singer and actor * John Clark (actor) (born 1932), English actor and theatre director *John Clark (American actor) (1933–2011), ...

. Despite his injuries, Maxwell stretched to tip a fierce goal-bound shot from Dundee United defender (and future Motherwell manager)

Maurice Malpas Maurice Daniel Robert Malpas (born 3 August 1962) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He signed for Dundee United in 1979 and spent his entire professional playing career with the club until his retirement in 2000. With him, United ...

over the bar with two minutes of extra time remaining, to ensure Motherwell ran out 4–3 winners. However, he did not play for the club during the next season due to a contract dispute with manager

Tommy McLean Thomas McLean Jr. (born 2 June 1947 in Larkhall) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. McLean played for Kilmarnock, Rangers and Scotland as a midfielder. He managed Morton, Motherwell, Hearts, Raith Rovers and Dundee ...

, who brought in the experienced Billy Thomson and Dutchman

Sieb Dijkstra Sybrandus Johannes Andreas Dijkstra (born 20 October 1966) is a Dutch football coach and former professional footballer, who is goalkeeping coach at Fortuna Sittard. As a player, he was a goalkeeper who notably played in the Premier League for Qu ...

to fill the position. After a loan spell in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

with

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

Maxwell moved to Rangers for a £300,000 fee, where he was initially backup to

Andy Goram Andrew Lewis Goram (13 April 1964 – 2 July 2022) was a Scottish footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Born in Bury, Lancashire, England, he started his career with Oldham Athletic and Hibernian, but he is best remembered for playing for Ra ...

but played regularly when Goram was recovering from injury, picking up a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in exist ...

winners' medal in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

followed by a Scottish Cup runners-up medal, as Dundee United gained revenge for Maxwell's heroics three years previously in the

1994 Scottish Cup Final The 1994 Scottish Cup Final was the final match of the 1993–94 Scottish Cup competition, the 109th edition of the most important cup competition in Scottish football. It was played between Dundee United and Rangers at Hampden Park, Glasgow ...

. He also played sufficient league games for medals in each of his three seasons at Ibrox which were part of the club's '9 in a row' run. Maxwell then moved to Dundee United in 1995 for £250,000 and spent three seasons at Tannadice, although the majority of his games came in his first campaign, and having lost his place to Sieb Dijkstra again after injury, he did not play at all in the third. A move to Greenock Morton followed, where he played regularly for two seasons before becoming a coach and then manager at the club. On 1 November 2019, it was announced that Maxwell was to be inducted into the Motherwell F.C. Hall of Fame.

International career

Although present in several

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

squads, Maxwell never received a cap. He did, however, play in the first half of a Scotland B international against Wales at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county ...

in 1994.

Coaching career

Maxwell was briefly a goalkeeping coach at

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 the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scottis ...

, after managing

Morton Morton may refer to: People * Morton (surname) * Morton (given name) Fictional * Morton Koopa, Jr., a character and boss in ''Super Mario Bros. 3'' * A character in the ''Charlie and Lola'' franchise * A character in the 2008 film ''Horton ...

for half a season in 2001. A UEFA 'A' licensed professional coach, he now resides in the USA. He currently works as the goalkeeping coach at SC Del Sol in

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States. It is the list of U.S. states and territories by area, 6th largest and the list of U.S. states and territories by population, 14 ...

, where he has been since 2008.

Honours

Motherwell *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1990–91 Rangers * Scottish League:

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

, 1993–94, 1994–95 *

: 1993–94

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maxwell, Ally 1965 births Living people Association football goalkeepers Scottish footballers Scottish football managers English Football League players Scottish Football League players Scotland B international footballers Motherwell F.C. players Clydebank F.C. (1965) players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Dundee United F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. managers Greenock Morton F.C. non-playing staff Hamilton Academical F.C. non-playing staff Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Scottish Football League managers Footballers from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire