Neil Alexander

James Neil Alexander (born 10 March 1978) is a Scottish football coach and former professional player. He began his career in the Scottish Football League with spells at Stenhousemuir and Livingston, before joining Cardiff City in May 2001 for a fee of £130,000. At Ninian Park, he went on to make over 200 appearances in all competitions during a six-year spell at the club, helping them achieve promotion to the Football League First Division via the 2003 Football League Second Division play-off final. A contract dispute with the club led to a free transfer to fellow Football League Championship side Ipswich Town in 2007.

After six months at Portman Road, he returned to Scotland with Rangers. Alexander was primarily understudy to Allan McGregor, but won the Scottish Cup three times and played in the 2008 UEFA Cup Final. He became the first choice goalkeeper for Rangers after McGregor left the club following Rangers entering administration and subsequent liquidation in 2012. Alexander left Rangers in 2013 after a dispute over wages, having won the Scottish Third Division title at the first attempt, to join Premier League side Crystal Palace. He made one appearance for Palace during the 2013–14 season, in the Football League Cup, before being released.

He returned to Scotland for a third time following the expiration of his contract at Palace with Heart of Midlothian. In his first season with the club, he helped them win the Scottish Championship title, returning to the Scottish Premiership after one season and remained first choice the following season, as they achieved a third-place finish in the top division. Alexander was released by Hearts in 2016 and then spent a year as a backup at Aberdeen. He then returned to Livingston in 2017, and helped them win promotion in his final season as a player.

Alexander represented Scotland at under-21 and B levels and gained three caps at full international level in 2006, winning the Kirin Cup.

After retiring as a player, Alexander was goalkeeping coach of Dundee United from 2018 to 2021. In March 2022 Alexander joined Dunfermline Athletic as goalkeeping coach following the departure of Owain Fon Williams. Dunfermline also registered Alexander as a player for the remainder of the season and he immediately went into the match day squad as substitute goalkeeper.

Early life

Born in Edinburgh, Alexander grew up as a fan of Heart of Midlothian and idolised striker John Robertson, despite his father Jim being a fan of their Edinburgh rivals Hibernian. As a teenager, Alexander attended Balerno Community High School.

Club career

Early career

Alexander started his career with local youth side Edina Hibs in Niddrie, Edinburgh and attracted interest from Arbroath, agreeing scholarship terms with the club. However, at the age of 18, Alexander was spotted by Stenhousemuir manager Terry Christie while playing for Edina. Christie had initially gone to watch the side play at a public park with his son after the team coach Bill Harper recommended one of the sides defenders to him but instead spotted Alexander and immediately signed him for Stenhousemuir, despite not knowing his name at the time. Christie later remarked "You could see the talent he (Alexander) had in that one game. He was streets ahead of everyone else". After establishing himself in the first-team for two seasons, he moved to Livingston in 1998, where he was part of Scottish Second Division and Scottish First Division title-winning sides during a three-year spell. During his time at the club, Alexander attracted attention from various British clubs including Everton and old firm duo Rangers and Celtic.

Cardiff City

On 28 May 2001, he joined Football League Second Division side Cardiff City for a nominal fee of £130,000, with chairman Sam Hammam stating his belief that Alexander had the potential to play at international level in the future. The club had been rejected on several occasions prior to this when attempting to sign a new goalkeeper, failing in bids to sign Andy Marriott, Stewart Kerr and Jamie Langfield, and had originally traveled to watch his Livingston teammate Ian McCaldon, even preparing a bid for the player, but discovered that Alexander was soon to be out of contract and could be signed for a much lower price. He made his debut for the club on the opening day of the 2001–02 season, keeping a clean sheet during a 1–0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers. At the time of his arrival, chairman Hammam's investment had seen the club rise from the Third Division to pushing for promotion to the First Division in four years and Alexander remained ever present in league competition during his first season as the club were eliminated in the play-off semi-final by Stoke City. Following his first season, Alexander stated that his aims were "to be Cardiff City's regular goalkeeper and Scotland's number one."

After suffering a play-off defeat during his first season at Ninian Park, in Alexander's second, Cardiff again reached the play-offs, meeting Severnside rivals Bristol City. Alexander kept clean sheets in both legs of the play-off semi-final, making his 100th appearance in all competitions for the ''Bluebirds'' during the second leg, earning plaudits for his performances which were described as "faultless". The club went on to achieve promotion by winning the 2003 Football League Second Division play-off final against Queens Park Rangers following Andy Campbell's extra-time winner. During his time at Cardiff, Alexander became a fan favourite, despite nearly leaving the club midway through his six-year spell after falling behind Martyn Margetson and Tony Warner following their promotion to the First Division under manager Lennie Lawrence. However, he later regained his position in the first-team and was ever present for the club during the 2005–06 season, playing in all 46 league matches, which lead to him being awarded the club's most improved player award.

During the 2006–07 season he became embroiled in a contract dispute with the club over a wage increase which left him refusing to sign a new contract. Following the club's refusal to offer Alexander an improved deal toward the end of the 2006–07 season, Alexander admitted that he had accepted his inevitable departure from the club, stating "I've got used to the fact now that I'm leaving, but I would have loved to have stayed" and commented that it would be a "sad day" when he leaves Cardiff for the final time. Cardiff manager Dave Jones replaced Alexander as first choice for the last two months of the season with David Forde, his final appearance for Cardiff coming on 31 March in a 1–0 defeat to Sunderland. In six years at Ninian Park, he played over 200 games for the Bluebirds and at the time of his departure he was the longest serving player at the club.

Ipswich Town

After attracting interest from a number of sides, on 16 July 2007, he signed with rival Championship side Ipswich Town. On his arrival at Portman Road, Alexander immediately became first choice goalkeeper at the club and made his debut in a 4–1 win against Sheffield Wednesday on 11 August 2007 in the opening match of the 2007–08 season. In January 2008, after six months with the ''Tractor Boys'', the club accepted a bid from Scottish side Rangers and gave Alexander permission to open talks with the club. Ipswich manager Jim Magilton stated that it had been difficult for Alexander's family to settle in the area since he joined Ipswich and that the move was beneficial to Alexander's hopes of breaking into the Scotland national side, adding that he felt the club could not "stand in his way" over a potential transfer. His final appearance for the club came on 29 January 2008 in a 0–0 draw with Plymouth Argyle, during which he saved a penalty from Steven MacLean to keep a clean sheet. During his six-month spell at Portman Road, Alexander made 31 appearances in all competitions and had been ever present in the league prior to his departure.

Rangers

On 30 January 2008, Rangers agreed a deal with Alexander and he signed a three-and-a-half-year contract later that day. The transfer was believed to be a free transfer with potential add-ons related to success, although it was officially undisclosed. Alexander made his debut for Rangers on 3 February 2008, coming on as a substitute after Allan McGregor had been sent off in a Scottish Cup