Rowan Samuel Alexander (born 28 January 1961) is a Scottish former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Alexander was a prolific goal-scoring striker for Queen of the South and

Greenock Morton Greenock Morton Football Club is a Scottish professional football club, which plays in the . The club was founded as Morton Football Club in 1874, making it one of the oldest Scottish clubs. Morton was renamed Greenock Morton in 1994 to celebr ...

. Alexander also played for St Mirren,

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West (London sub region), West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the River Thames, Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has dive ...

and Gretna. Alexander later went into management with both the Queen of the South and Gretna.

Playing career

Queen of the South (1st spell)

After spending his youth career at Annan Athletic, Alexander signed for

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

club Queen of the South at the start of the 1978–79 season, where he remained for five years. Whilst at

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 ...

, Alexander won promotion from the third to second tier of Scottish football at the end of the 1980–81 season, as the ''Doonhamers'' finished runners-up to the ''Spiders'' in the SFL Second Division. Queens had players such as

Allan Ball Allan Ball (26 February 1943 – 21 July 2018) was an English footballer. Born in Hetton-le-Hole in County Durham, Ball played as a goalkeeper, spending most of his professional career with Scottish club Queen of the South in Dumfries. Ball ma ...

Iain McChesney Iain McChesney (29 July 1944 – 29 March 2024) was a Scottish professional footballer with Scottish Football League club Queen of the South from Dumfries. McChesney is the longest serving player in the club's history, playing with them from 19 ...

Crawford Boyd Crawford Boyd is a Scottish former professional footballer. Crawford Boyd is best known for his time at Dumfries club, Queen of the South The defensive cornerstone of the 1970s returned to Queens during the promotion campaign of 1980–81 to m ...

and Jimmy Robertson playing for the club at this time."Club History" on the official Queen of the South website
/ref>Allan Ball profile on "Queens Legends" on the official Queen of the South FC website
/ref>

Ted McMinn Kevin Clifton "Ted" McMinn (born 28 September 1962) is a Scottish former association footballer who played as a winger. His nickname is ''The Tin Man''. Playing career Early years Born in Castle Douglas and raised in nearby Dumfries, McMinn ...

, who later joined Alexander at Queens described him as being one of the best players he had the pleasure to play with at the Dumfries club.Ted McMinn profile on "Queens Legends" on the official Queen of the South FC website
/ref>Jimmy Robertson profile on "Queens Legends" on the official Queen of the South FC website
/ref> After Alexander departed from the Doonhamers he returned to make guest appearances in:- *The Allan Ball testimonial versus

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

. Other guest players for Queens included

Davie Cooper David Cooper (25 February 1956 – 23 March 1995) was a Scottish professional association football, footballer who played as a winger (association football), winger. Born in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Hamilton, Cooper played as a youth for l ...

Danny McGrain Daniel Fergus McGrain (born 1 May 1950) is a Scottish former professional footballer, who played for Celtic, Hamilton Academical and the Scotland national team as a right back. McGrain is regarded as one of Scotland's greatest players and th ...

and

Gary Mackay Gary Mackay (born 23 January 1964) is a Scottish former footballer, who made over 500 league appearances for Heart of Midlothian and also played for Airdrieonians and the Scotland national team. After retiring as a player, he managed Airdr ...

*The game on 23 April 1995 to mark Queens' 75th anniversary and the opening of the new stand (other guests included

Davie Irons David John Irons (born 18 July 1961) is a Scottish former football player and coach. Irons' playing career spanned 26 years as a central defender or midfielder for a host of clubs, most notably for Ayr United, Clydebank, Dunfermline Athletic a ...

and Andy Thomson. The game was a 2–2 draw versus

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 ...

. In his first spell at the ''Doonhamers'', Alexander played in 136 league matches and scored 69 goals.

St Mirren

Alexander then played for Paisley club St Mirren 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 ...

for the 1983–84 season and played in 18 league matches and scored three goals.

Brentford

Alexander then moved to England at the start of the 1984–85 season to play for

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

club

where he remained for two years. Alexander played in 47 league matches and scored 6 goals.

Greenock Morton

Alexander then returned to Scotland to play for the ''Buddies''

Renfrewshire Renfrewshire () (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. Renfrewshire is located in the west central Lowlands. It borders East Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and West Dunbartonshire, and lies on the southern ba ...

rivals

at the start of the 1986–87 season. Alexander played at

Cappielow Cappielow, also known as Cappielow Park supported by Dalrada Technology UK for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Greenock, Inverclyde, Scotland. It is the home ground of Scottish Professional Football League club Greenock Morton, w ...

for nine years, where he played in 310 league matches and scored 98 goals. Alexander is currently 7th in the club's post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

league appearances list and is also the third highest post-WW2 league goalscorer. Alexander is five goals and one place ahead of former ''Doonhamer'',

Peter Weatherson Peter Joseph Weatherson (born 29 May 1980) is an English former professional Association football, footballer who mainly played as a Forward (association football), striker for Greenock Morton F.C., Greenock Morton. Weatherson also played for N ...

, although he trails Weatherson by 13 appearances and one place. Alexander also won caps for the Scotland Semi-Pro team when playing for the

Greenock Greenock (; ; , ) is a town in Inverclyde, Scotland, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland. The town is the administrative centre of Inverclyde Council. It is a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, and forms ...

club. Throughout his nine years with Morton, Alexander commuted from his home in Dumfries, combining his part-time football career with primary

employment Employment is a relationship between two party (law), parties Regulation, regulating the provision of paid Labour (human activity), labour services. Usually based on a employment contract, contract, one party, the employer, which might be a cor ...

, including as a pig farmer and insurance salesman.

Queen of the South (2nd spell)

After leaving Morton in the summer of 1995, Alexander returned to the ''Doonhamers'' and soon after was appointed joint

player-manager A player–coach (also playing coach, captain–coach, or player–manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. Player–coaches may be head coaches or assistant coaches, and they may make chang ...

alongside Mark Shanks. With ''Queens'' newly appointed 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, Alexander and Shanks reached the

1997–98 Scottish Challenge Cup The 1997–98 Scottish Challenge Cup was the eighth season of the competition, competed for by the 30 member clubs of the Scottish Football League. The defending champions were Stranraer, who defeated St Johnstone 1–0 in the 1996 final.

Final with the ''Doonhamers'', where they lost 1–0 to

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 ...

who were playing in the tier above ''Queens''. Alexander remained at the club until his sacking in January 1999, having played in 18 league matches and scored two goals during his second spell in Dumfries. Alexander is 14th highest in Queens all-time goalscoring charts with 78 goals, one behind

. He finished the 1998–99 season playing for Cumnock Juniors.

Gretna

Alexander was then appointed as

Mike McCartney Peter Michael McCartney (born 7 January 1944), known professionally as Mike McGear, is an English musician and photographer who was a member of the groups the Scaffold and Grimms. He is the younger brother of former Beatle Paul McCartney. ...

's replacement as player-manager of Gretna in November 2000, with the ''Anvils'' playing in non-league football in England. Alexander remained in-charge following the club's election into the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

. Alexander played in two league matches and scored one goal during the 2002–03 season. Following Gretna's take over by multi-millionaire

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 ...

, Alexander steered the club to the

Scottish Third Division The Scottish Football League Third Division was the fourth tier of the Scottish football league system between 1994 and 2013. History The Scottish football league system had operated with three divisions in the Scottish Football League (SFL) fro ...

title in the 2004–05 season with a record-breaking total of 98 points. Success continued the following season as the club clinched promotion to the

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

and earned a place in the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

after reaching the 2006 Scottish Cup Final, where they were eventually beaten 4–2 on penalties by Heart of Midlothian after the match ended 1-1 after

extra-time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. Rowan famously wore a traditional kilt in the colours of Gretna for the final. Following Gretna's success in the 2005–06 season, Alexander signed a new five-year contract with the club and stated his intention to remain with the ''Anvils'' for the remainder of his career. Alexander was then replaced towards the end of the 2006–07 season by his assistant,

. Alexander turned up for Gretna's first league match in the top tier of Scottish football

Fir Park Fir Park Stadium is a football stadium situated in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The stadium plays host to the home matches of Scottish Premiership club Motherwell and was the temporary home of Gretna for the 2007–2008 SPL season. ...

, the home of

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

on 4 August 2007 and was then refused entry to the main stand. On 6 November 2007, Alexander was officially sacked by the ''Anvils'' and this was announced to the media.SPL - Gretna finally sack Alexander - Yahoo! Eurosport UK
/ref> Alexander's sacking and the subsequent liquidation of the ''Anvils'' meant that Alexander was unable to receive compensation on his five-year contract. In February 2009, Alexander claimed that he was in financial difficulties as a result of this decision and was unable to obtain another job in Scottish football

In January 2010, Alexander was appointed assistant manager of Scottish Junior Football Association, Scottish Junior club Glenafton Athletic in

New Cumnock New Cumnock is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It expanded during the coal-mining era from the late 18th century, and mining remained its key industry until its pits were shut in the 1960s. The village is southeast of Cumnock, and east of ...

and stayed at the club until August 2010. He works as a visiting football coach to primary schools based in Cumbria and the Borders.

Gretna 2008

After a long absence from coaching, Alexander returned to the ''Anvils'', becoming manager of Gretna F.C.'s phoenix club, Gretna F.C. 2008, in December 2019. Alexander was relieved of his duties on 2 September 2021.

Honours

Player

;Morton *1994-95 -

Scottish Football League Second Division The Scottish Football League Second Division was the third tier of the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The Second Division was created in 1975, as part of a wider reconstruction of the Scottish Football League (SFL ...

*1986-87 -

Scottish Football League First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. It was replaced by the Scottish Championship. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 in Scottish footb ...

Manager

;Gretna * Scottish Football League Division Three - Champions; 2004–05 *

Scottish Football League Division Two 2 (two) is a number, numeral (linguistics), numeral and numerical digit, digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and the only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a Dualistic cosmology, duali ...

- Champions; 2005–06 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Scottish Football League Division One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, Numeral (linguistics), numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest Positive number, positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in o ...

- Champions; 2006–07

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexander, Rowan 1961 births Brentford F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Gretna F.C. managers Gretna F.C. players Living people Queen of the South F.C. managers Queen of the South F.C. players Scottish Football League players Scottish football managers Scottish men's footballers St Mirren F.C. players English Football League players Footballers from Ayr Scottish Football League managers Scotland men's semi-pro international footballers Men's association football forwards Gretna F.C. 2008 managers Lowland Football League managers