Angus Charles Alexander (10 January 1934 – 3 January 2010) 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 a

wing half In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

. He joined

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

in 1950 as an amateur, signing as a professional a year later. He made no first team appearances for Burnley after leaving for

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

in 1957. After less than a year at Southport, he moved to

Workington Workington is a coastal town and civil parish in the Cumberland district of Cumbria, England. The town is at the mouth of the River Derwent on the west coast, south-west of Carlisle and north-east of Whitehaven. At the 2021 census the ...

, where he made nearly 50 league appearances. A move to

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system, as of the 2024–25 seas ...

saw him finish his

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

career, where he made seven appearances. After retiring from football, Alexander worked in the steel industry for a number of years before retiring in the 1990s.

Career

Born in

Arbroath Arbroath () or Aberbrothock ( ) is a former royal burgh and the largest town in the Subdivisions of Scotland, council area of Angus, Scotland, Angus, Scotland, with a population of 23,902. It lies on the North Sea coast, some east-northeast of ...

Angus Angus may refer to: *Angus, Scotland, a council area of Scotland, and formerly a province, sheriffdom, county and district of Scotland * Angus, Canada, a community in Essa, Ontario Animals * Angus cattle, various breeds of beef cattle Media * ...

, Alexander started his career with Arbroath YC before joining

as an amateur on 5 July 1950 and signing a professional contract on 25 January 1951. Although he was considered an understudy to

Jimmy McIlroy James McIlroy (25 October 1931 – 20 August 2018) was a Northern Ireland international footballer, who played for Glentoran, Burnley, Stoke City and Oldham Athletic. He was regarded as one of Burnley's greatest players, having played 497 mat ...

, he made no first team appearances for Burnley, and served his

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

from 1952 to 1954 in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

and

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

while playing football for the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. After completing his military service, he joined

for a four-figure

fee A fee is the price one pays as remuneration for rights or services. Fees usually allow for overhead, wages, costs, and markup. Traditionally, professionals in the United Kingdom (and previously the Republic of Ireland) receive a fee in contrad ...

in July 1957. He made 14 appearances and scored one goal in the league before the club placed him on the transfer list because he was dissatisfied with playing

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

football. He signed for

in February 1958 in exchange for Tommy Kinloch, making 49 appearances and scoring four goals in the league. Alexander joined

in June 1959 as part of an exchange deal which saw Tom Brownlee move to Workington. After making seven appearances for York he left the club in 1960, and subsequently worked for the Distington Engineering Company. He had trials with his former club Workington in December 1961, but the club was unable to afford to sign him. He made no further professional appearances. After working in the steel industry for 14 years and then at a printing firm, he took early retirement in the early 1990s. He died in

on 3 January 2010 at the age of 75 after suffering from an illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Gus 1934 births Footballers from Arbroath 2010 deaths Scottish men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Burnley F.C. players Southport F.C. players Workington A.F.C. players York City F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen