Lex Baillie (born 6 July 1966) 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 played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. Born in

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

, Baillie played for Burnbank Boys Club,

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foot ...

, St Mirren and

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently compete in the after winning the 2022–23 Scottish League One title. Dunfermline play at ...

. After retiring as a player, Baillie became a police officer, and was the subject of a 2007 TV documentary. Baillie is the son of sports journalist and former

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 ...

player, Doug Baillie.

Playing career

Baillie signed for Celtic from Burnbank Boys Club in August 1982. After several years in the youth team and reserves, he made his first team debut on 22 December 1987 in a 2–0 away win over

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 ...

in the league. Baillie went on to make 13 appearances in the league that season ( 1987–88) for Celtic, playing in 2-0 (at

Parkhead Parkhead () is a district in the East End of Glasgow. Its name comes from a small weaving hamlet (place), hamlet at the meeting place of the Great Eastern Road (now the Gallowgate and Tollcross Road) and Westmuir Street. Glasgow's Eastern Necro ...

) and 2-1 (at Ibrox) wins over Rangers, and helped the club to the League Championship title. He failed to establish himself as a regular in the team after that though, and spent the summer of 1990 on loan at

Toronto Blizzard Toronto Blizzard may refer to: *Toronto Blizzard (1971–1984), the original soccer club, a franchise of the North American Soccer League *Toronto Blizzard (1986–1993), the later club and franchise of the Canadian Soccer League *Toronto Azzurri B ...

in the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; ) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL). It is a non-FIFA league previously ...

. In June 1991, Baillie left Celtic to join St Mirren for a fee of £90,000. He spent two seasons at

Love Street "Love Street" is a song performed by the American rock band the Doors. Sequenced as the second album track on ''Waiting for the Sun'' (1968), its lyrics were written by lead singer Jim Morrison and as with other songs, it was dedicated to his gir ...

before being released in the summer of 1993. Baillie then signed for Dunfermline in August 1993 on a one-year contract, before retiring from football at the end of that season.

References

1966 births Living people Scottish men's footballers Celtic F.C. players Toronto Blizzard (1986–1993) players St Mirren F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Scottish Football League players Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) players Men's association football defenders Scottish expatriate men's footballers Scottish expatriates in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada 20th-century Scottish sportsmen {{Scotland-footy-defender-1960s-stub