Alexander McLaren (25 December 1910 – 5 February 1960) 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

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

. Born in

Tibbermore Tibbermore is a small village situated about west of Perth, Scotland. The parish extends to Aberuthven. Previously known as Tippermuir, it was the site of the Battle of Tippermuir in 1644, between the Marquis of Montrose's army and an army ...

Perthshire Perthshire (Scottish English, locally: ; ), officially the County of Perth, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county in central Scotland. Geographically it extends from Strathmore, Angus and Perth & Kinross, Strathmore ...

, McLaren played club football for

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland. The team competes in the , the second division of Scottish football. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun (or Saint Johnstoun)—an old name o ...

in 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 ...

and

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

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 ...

. He earned five

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in 1929 and 1932, and remains St Johnstone's most capped player for Scotland, as well as the joint-first to debut ( Willie Imrie played in the same match – they were the only serving players from the club to be selected until

Murray Davidson Murray Davidson (born 7 March 1988) is a Scottish former footballer who played as a midfielder. He is most associated with a 14-year spell at St Johnstone, having started his career at Livingston. Davidson also played on loan for Cowdenbeath. ...

in 2012). McLaren was one of only four 18-year-olds to play for Scotland during the 20th century, the others being

Denis Law Denis Law (24 February 1940 – 17 January 2025) was a Scottish footballer who played as a forward. His career as a football player began at Second Division Huddersfield Town in 1956. After four years at Huddersfield, he was signed by Manchest ...

Paul McStay Paul Michael Lyons McStay, (born 22 October 1964) is a Scottish former professional footballer who spent his entire career with Celtic, making his senior debut in 1982 and retiring in 1997. He captained both Scotland and Celtic at all age lev ...

and

Willie Henderson William Henderson (born 24 January 1944) is a Scottish retired footballer. He played most of his career for Rangers, and spent the latter part of his career with Sheffield Wednesday, in Hong Kong with Hong Kong Rangers and with Airdrieonian ...

. He remains the youngest

to play for Scotland, as he made his debut aged 18 years and 152 days.Sun 26 May 1929 Norway 3 Scotland 7
London Hearts Supporters Club

References

;Sources * *

External links

*
FilbertStreet.net profile
1910 births 1960 deaths Footballers from Perth and Kinross Scottish men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Scotland men's international footballers St Johnstone F.C. players Leicester City F.C. players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) wartime guest players Greenock Morton F.C. wartime guest players St Johnstone F.C. wartime guest players Scottish Football League players English Football League players 20th-century Scottish sportsmen {{Scotland-footy-goalkeeper-stub