Alexander Donald (born 5 June 1948) is a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

former

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 le ...

who played as a winger for English club

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley o ...

between 1965 and 1968, and later played in Northern Ireland for

Derry City Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

and

Ballymena United Ballymena United Football Club is a semi-professional football club from Northern Ireland. Based in Ballymena, County Antrim, the team competes in the NIFL Premiership and plays home matches at the Ballymena Showgrounds which is owned by the Mi ...

Early life

Donald won the West Lothian County Schools sprint title while at Kirkliston Primary School and then Winchburgh Secondary.

Career

Donald played youth-team football for Winchburgh Albion and Pumpherston Juniors. He had a successful trial with

Jackie Mudie John Knight Mudie (10 April 1930 – 2 March 1992) was a Scottish international footballer who played as a forward. He won seventeen caps for his country, helping the Scotland national team to qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup. Startin ...

over the summer of 1965, having joined in July he signed as a professional by October. He made his debut on 12 January 1966 in a 2–0 defeat by

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

at Valley Parade, in what was the youngest ever front-line in the history of 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

– consisting of Donald (17), Roddy Georgeson (17),

Mick Cullerton Michael Joseph Cullerton (born 25 November 1948) is a Scottish former footballer. He is noted for his two spells with Port Vale, as well as for being Stafford Rangers' star forward as they were one of the elite non-league clubs in the 1970s. ...

(17),

Paul Bannister Paul Francis Bannister (born 11 October 1947) is an English former footballer who played as a forward. He made 12 appearances in the Football League for Port Vale between 1965 and 1968, before spells in non-League football with Eastwood, Milto ...

(18), and Paul Ogden (19). He played 11

Fourth Division Fourth or the fourth may refer to: * the ordinal form of the number 4 * ''Fourth'' (album), by Soft Machine, 1971 * Fourth (angle), an ancient astronomical subdivision * Fourth (music), a musical interval * ''The Fourth'' (1972 film), a Sovie ...

games in 1965–66, before making 24 appearances in the 1966–67 campaign. He featured ten times in the 1967–68 season under Stanley Matthews, before he was given a free transfer in May 1968, and moved on to

. He spent three years with Derry, before turning part-time at

whilst working a job as manager at a factory. He was granted a testimonial match against

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

in 1976 that was attended by

George Best George Best (22 May 1946 – 25 November 2005) was a Northern Irish professional footballer who played as a winger, spending most of his club career at Manchester United. A highly skilful dribbler, Best is regarded as one of the greatest pla ...

and Mick Channon. He served the club as

caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular Manager (association football), manager is dismissed or leaves for a ...

twice in 1983, taking charge after Ivan Murray left in February; Ian Russell served as

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

between April and November, and

Jim Platt James Archibald Platt (born 26 January 1952) is a former footballer who played as a goalkeeper for Northern Ireland. Playing career During his career, Platt won 23 caps for Northern Ireland, an amount largely restricted due to the presence of ...

was appointed manager in December. He returned to the club as assistant to caretaker-manager Gary Erwin in October 1984.

Personal and later life

He married Ann, a

radiographer Radiographers, also known as radiologic technologists, diagnostic radiographers and medical radiation technologists are healthcare professionals who specialize in the imaging of human anatomy for the diagnosis and treatment of pathology. Radi ...

. In 2018, Donald claimed a gold medal in the 400 metres event in his age category at the Scottish Masters Athletics Championships at Grangemouth Stadium.

Career statistics

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donald, Alex Footballers from Edinburgh Scottish men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Port Vale F.C. players Derry City F.C. players Ballymena United F.C. players English Football League players NIFL Premiership players Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish football managers Ballymena United F.C. managers 1948 births Living people