Rowan Alexander

Rowan Alexander

Personal information
Full name	Rowan Samuel Alexander
Date of birth	(1961-01-28) 28 January 1961
Place of birth	Ayr, Scotland
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
1976-1978	Annan Athletic
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1978–1983	Queen of the South	136	(69)
1983–1984	St Mirren	18	(3)
1984–1986	Brentford	47	(6)
1986–1995	Greenock Morton	310	(98)
1995–1998	Queen of the South	18	(2)
2002–2003	Gretna	2	(1)
Total		531	(179)
International career
	Scotland Semi-Pro
Managerial career
1996–1999	Queen of the South
2000–2007	Gretna
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Rowan Samuel Alexander (born 28 January 1961) is a former Scottish football player and manager. Alexander was a prolific goal-scoring striker for Queen of the South and Greenock Morton. Alexander also played for St Mirren, Brentford and Gretna. Alexander later went into management with both the Doonhamers and the Anvils.

Playing career

Queen of the South (1st spell)

After spending his youth career at Annan Athletic, Alexander signed for Dumfries club Queen of the South at the start of the 1978-79 season, where he remained for five years. Whilst at Palmerston Park, 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, Iain McChesney, Crawford Boyd and Jimmy Robertson playing for the club at this time. Ted 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.

After Alexander departed from the Doonhamers he returned to make guest appearances in:-

• The Allan Ball testimonial versus Manchester City. Other guest players for Queens included Davie Cooper, Danny McGrain and Gary Mackay
• The game on 23 April 1995 to mark Queens' 75th anniversary and the opening of the new stand (other guests included Ted McMinn, Davie Irons and Andy Thomson. The game was a 2-2 draw versus Rangers.

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 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 club Brenford 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 rivals Greenock Morton at the start of the 1986-87 season. Alexander played at Cappielow 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 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, 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 club.

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 alongside Mark Shanks. With Queens newly appointed chairman Norman Blount getting the wheels moving on the club's revival, Alexander and Shanks reached the 1997–98 Scottish Challenge Cup Final with the Doonhamers, where they lost 1-0 to Falkirk who were playing in the tier above Queens. Alexander remained at the club until the summer of 1999, having played in 18 league matches and scored two goals during his second spell in Dumfries.

Gretna

Alexander was then appointed as Mike McCartney's replacement as player-manager of Gretna at the start of the 1999-2000 season, with the Anvils playing in non-league football in England. Alexander remained in-charge following the club's induction into the Scottish Football League.

Following Gretna's take over by multi-millionaire Brooks Mileson, Alexander steered the club to the Scottish Third Division title in 2005 with a record-breaking 98 points. Success continued in the following season as the club clinched promotion to the Scottish First Division and earned a place in the UEFA Cup after reaching the Scottish Cup final, where they were eventually beaten 4-2 on penalties after the match had ended 1-1.

Following Gretna's success in 2005–06, Alexander signed a five-year contract with the club and stated his intention to remain with Gretna for the rest of his career. He was replaced towards the end of the 2006–07 season by his assistant, Davie Irons. He turned up for Gretna's first game in the top division of Scottish football - at Motherwell's Fir Park on 4 August 2007, only to be refused entry. On 6 November 2007, it was officially announced that Alexander was sacked by Gretna.

Alexander's sacking and the subsequent liquidation of Gretna meant that he was unable to receive compensation for his five-year contract. In February 2009 he claimed that he was in financial difficulties as a result and was unable to get a job in Scottish football. [1]

In January 2010, Alexander was appointed assistant manager at Scottish Junior side Glenafton Athletic FC and was at the club until August.

Honours

Player

Morton

• 1994-95 - Scottish Football League Second Division
• 1986-87 - Scottish Football League First Division

Manager

Gretna

• Scottish Football League Division Three - Champions; 2004–05
• Scottish Football League Division Two - Champions; 2005–06
• Scottish Cup - Runners Up; 2005–06
• Scottish Football League Division One - Champions; 2006–07

External links

• Rowan Alexander at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database
• Rowan Alexander at Soccerbase
• Rowan Alexander management career statistics at Soccerbase