Andrew Robert Aitken (born 2 February 1978) is a Scottish 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 lea ...

who made over 300 appearances for Queen of the South. A left sided defender, he also played for Gretna and

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the , the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname is The Honest Men, fro ...

. Andrew now works as a first team coach at Annan Athletic.

Career

Aitken joined a Queen of the South in 1996 with new chairman

Norman Blount Norman Blount is the Scottish former chairman of Queen of the South football club. Blount was instrumental as the new broom that swept through the Dumfries club in the mid and late 90s replacing the previous regime under which the club had gon ...

getting the wheels moving on the club's revival. In 1997 Queen of the South reached the Scottish Challenge Cup final for the first time. Second Division Queens lost 1–0 to 1st Division Falkirk despite a rousing Queens display at Motherwell's Fir Park; a performance that included the man of the match award going to Queens veteran central midfield playmaker

Tommy Bryce Tommy Bryce (born 27 January 1960) is a Scottish former footballer. Bryce had a playing career spanning 21 seasons from 1980 to 1981 with Scottish Football League clubs Kilmarnock, Stranraer, Queen of the South, Clydebank, Ayr United and Ar ...

and an early career appearance for

Jamie McAllister James Reynolds McAllister (born 26 April 1978 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former player who played as a defender (association football), defender and currently working as a professional Association football, football coach with Duli Pengiran Muda ...

. A late chance for a

Derek Townsley Derek Johnstone Townsley (born 21 January 1973, in Carlisle) is an English former professional footballer. His clubs included Gretna, Queen of the South, Motherwell, Hibernian and Oxford United. Townsley was normally a midfielder, although h ...

equaliser went agonisingly over for Queens.Andy Aitken career profile on 'Queens Legends' www.qosfc.com
/ref> Aitken spent two seasons at Gretna playing during the reign of

Brooks Mileson Brooks John Joseph Mileson (13 November 1947 – 3 November 2008) was an English businessman and the owner of now dissolved professional football club Gretna as well as being a philanthropist to 70 non-League clubs. Early life The eldest ...

. Aitken returned to

Palmerston Park Palmerston Park is a association football, football stadium on Terregles Street in Dumfries, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish League One club Queen of the South F.C., Queen of the South, who have played there ...

& immediately brought some pace to the defence. In combination with

Stuart Lovell Stuart Andrew Lovell (born 9 January 1972 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian professional footballer, who played as a striker early in his career, before reverting to a midfield role later in his career. Playing career Lovell was born in ...

and Jim Thomson the Annan native managed to secure one of the tightest defences in the league over the last three months of last season. In pre-season 2006, Aitken sustained a knee ligament injury in a friendly match 3–0 victory away against

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, No ...

on 22 July that meant a lengthy spell on the treatment table. Andy Aitken was a mainstay of the Queens side that made it to final of the

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,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 ...

. ''The Doonhamers'' lost 3–2. His appearances for Queen of the South have placed him 15th within the club's record appearances list. Along with Jim Thomson they are the only Queens players to earn four senior Scottish football medals while playing for the club – (winners of the 2001/02 Second Division and 2002/03 Scottish Challenge Cup; runners up in the 1997/98 Scottish Challenge Cup and 2007/08 Scottish Cup). Aitken joined Ayr United in the 2009 close season. His time there was impacted by an injury that was to keep him out for nine weeks ironically sustained against QoS at Palmerston. At the end of the 2009-10 season rejoined Annan Athletic who had by now joined the Scottish Football League. He became Assistant Manager after the departure of Derek Townsley, Aitken's ex teammate from the '97 Challenge Cup Final team.. He had a spell at Carlisle based Celtic Nation in 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aitken, Andy 1978 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Annan Athletic F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Gretna F.C. players Scottish Football League players Men's association football defenders Ayr United F.C. players Footballers from Dumfries Celtic Nation F.C. players