Max Willocks Anderson (born 17 May 2001) is 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 plays as a
defensive midfielder
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. ...
for club
Crawley Town
Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...
.
Career
Dundee
After spending his youth career with
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
, Anderson signed his first professional contract with the club in April 2019. Anderson would make his professional debut with
Dundee
Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...
in the
Scottish Challenge Cup
The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Elgin City.
In October 2020, Anderson signed a new contract with Dundee to keep him at the club until 2023. After impressing in friendlies and the
Scottish League Cup
The Scottish League Cup, also known as the Premier Sports 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 ...
, Anderson made his league debut for ''The Dark Blues'' in an away loss to Heart of Midlothian, and would compete for regular starts after impressing in his games. In March 2021, Anderson would score his first goal for Dundee in a 2–1 home win against
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...
. At the end of the league season, Anderson was awarded Dundee's Isobel Sneddon Young Player of the Year award. Anderson would be a part of the Dundee team which won the Premiership play-offs and gained promotion to the
Scottish Premiership
The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...
.
Anderson notched his first Premiership goal for the club in a 0–1 away win against St Mirren, and would win Man of the Match for his performance. Despite Dundee being relegated, Anderson's consistent and impressive play resulted in him being awarded the Isobel Sneddon Young Player of the Year award for the second successive season.
He scored his first goal of the 2022–23 season against
The New Saints
The New Saints of Oswestry Town & Llansantffraid Football Club, commonly known as The New Saints () or TNS FC, are an English professional football club that play in the , but are based completely within England, in Oswestry, Shropshire. They a ...
in the
Scottish Challenge Cup
The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Cove Rangers and
Dunfermline
Dunfermline (; , ) is a city, parish, and former royal burgh in Fife, Scotland, from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. Dunfermline was the de facto capital of the Kingdom of Scotland between the 11th and 15th centuries.
The earliest ...
. On 5 November 2022, Anderson came off the bench to play a big part in helping Dundee overturn a 2-goal deficit against
Partick Thistle
Partick Thistle Football Club are a professional association football, football club from Glasgow, Scotland and currently plays in the . Despite their name, the club are based at Firhill Stadium in the Maryhill area of the city, and have not ...
, assisting the winning goal in a 3–2 victory. Anderson would win the
Scottish Championship
The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...
title with Dundee at the end of the season. On 13 June 2023, Dundee announced that Anderson had signed a new two-year deal, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2025.
After falling down the pecking order, Anderson joined
Scottish Championship
The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...
club
Inverness Caledonian Thistle
Inverness Caledonian Thistle Football Club, commonly known as Caley Thistle, Inverness CT or just Inverness, is a professional football club based in Inverness, Scotland. The team competes in , the third tier of the Scottish Professional Footba ...
on a season-long loan on 28 August 2023. He made his debut on 2 September in a league game against
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 ...
. Anderson scored his first goal for the ''Caley Jags'' on 9 December in an away win over Queen's Park. The season would end negatively, with Inverness being relegated by
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 ...
EFL League One
The English Football League One, known as Sky Bet League One for sponsorship reasons, or simply League One, is a professional association football league in England. EFL League One is the second-highest division of the English Football League an ...
club
Crawley Town
Crawley Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Crawley, West Sussex, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth level of the English football league system.
Founded in 1896 as Crawley Foo ...
for an undisclosed fee on an initial two-year deal. He made his debut in a league-opening win against
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...
. On 9 November, Anderson scored his first goal for the ''Red Devils'' in a league draw at home to
Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football.
Huddersfield Town we ...
. On 3 December, Anderson netted the late winner for Crawley away to
Charlton Athletic
Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system.
Their home ground is ...
.
On 3 May 2025, Anderson scored the 600,000th goal in
The Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...
, with a shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box, to lead Crawley to a 2-1 away victory over
Shrewsbury Town
Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team currently competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system.
Founded in 1886, the club were inaugur ...
.
International career
In August 2021, Anderson received a call-up for the
Scotland national under-21 football team
The Scotland national under-21 football team, controlled by the Scottish Football Association, is Scotland's national under 21 football team and is considered to be a feeder team for the Scotland national football team.
As a European under-21 t ...
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. He would make his international debut in this fixture as a substitute.
Career statistics
Honours
Club
;Dundee
*
Scottish Championship
The Scottish Championship known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...
:
2022–23
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...