Alexander Herd (8 November 1911 – 21 August 1982) was a Scottish professional

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 ...

. Born in Bowhill,

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, he played as a forward for Hamilton Academicals,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

. Herd also represented Scotland in a wartime international match.

Early life

Herd was born in Bowhill, in Fife, Scotland in 1911. His football career began at Hamilton Academicals in the Scottish League. In 1933 he transferred to the English team

who were then in the first division.

Manchester City

When Herd signed for

, the team included

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Internationals

Eric Brook Eric Fred Brook (27 November 1907 – 29 March 1965) was an English Association football, footballer who played in the outside left position. Brook was also an England national football team, England international. He was a muscular player with ' ...

Sam Cowan Samuel Cowan (10 May 1901 – 4 October 1964) was an English football player and manager. A relative latecomer to the sport, Cowan did not play football until he was 17 and was 22 by the time he turned professional. He made his league debut for ...

Jackie Bray John Bray (22 April 1909 – 20 November 1982) was an English footballer who played as a left-half. He won six caps for England between 1934 and 1937. His younger brother, George, was also a professional footballer and spent his entire career ...

Frank Swift Frank Victor Swift (26 December 1913 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who played as a goalkeeper for Manchester City and England. After starting his career with local clubs near his home town of Blackpool, in 1932 he was signed b ...

and

Fred Tilson Samuel Frederick Tilson (19 April 1904 – 21 November 1972) was an English professional footballer who played as a centre forward for England along with Barnsley, Manchester City, Northampton Town and York City. With the Sky Blues he won the 1 ...

and former

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

captain

Jimmy McMullan James McMullan (26 March 1895 – 28 November 1964) was a Scottish football player and manager. He won 16 Scotland caps as a player at half-back and was part of the famous ''"Wembley Wizards"'' side of 1928. Playing career Early life and Th ...

. His debut for City came in a 1–0 defeat to

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

. Herd scored his first goal for City in a 2–1 victory against

Derby County Derby County Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Derby, Derbyshire, England. In 2022, it was announced that DCFC was acquired by Clowes Developments (UK) Ltd, a Derbyshire-based property group. Founded in 1884 ...

. The outside right

Ernie Toseland Ernie Toseland (17 March 1905 – 19 October 1987) was an English association football, footballer who played in the outside right position. He has been described as 'a flying winger – football's Jesse Owens'. p38 Early life Toseland was bor ...

scored the other goal for City. In his first season for the Manchester team Herd played in 14 league matches and scored 7 goals. He was also part of the City team which was defeated 3–0 by Everton in the

1933 FA Cup Final The 1933 FA Cup Final was a football match between Everton and Manchester City on 29 April 1933 at Wembley Stadium in London. The deciding match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (better known ...

. In his second season at the club, the 1933–34 season, Herd was City's top scorer with 17 goals. He was also part of the City team which beat

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

2–1 in the

1934 FA Cup Final The 1934 FA Cup Final was won by Manchester City in a 2–1 win over Portsmouth. The match is most remembered for a young Frank Swift's heroics in goal and the predictions of City forward Fred Tilson. The match was also refereed by future FIFA p ...

with two goals from

. In the 1934–35 football season Herd scored 14 goals and City finished fourth in the league, ten points behind champions

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

. Herd was City's third top scorer that season behind

who scored 18 goals and

who scored 17 goals. In the following season, Herd was Manchester City's third top scorer with 10 goals, behind

who scored 13 and

who scored 11.

Matt Busby Sir Alexander Matthew Busby (26 May 1909 – 20 January 1994) was a Scottish association football, football player and manager, who managed Manchester United F.C., Manchester United between 1945 and 1969 and again for the second half of the 197 ...

and

had left the City team in this season but

Sam Barkas Samuel Barkas (29 December 1909 – 10 December 1989) was an English football player and manager who played at left back for Bradford City and Manchester City. Career Born in Wardley Colliery, England, Barkas had worked in the pits and farm be ...

had been brought in from

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 ...

and Peter Doherty was bought from

. Doherty had an immediate impact on the team. Doherty scored two goals, Brook scored a hat trick and Herd and Toseland each scored one goal as City defeated Bolton Wanderers 7–0 in March of that season. Herd also scored a brace in a 6–0 victory against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

. In the 1936–37 football season Herd was part of the first Manchester City side to win the League. The team went on an unbeaten run after Christmas, winning 14 times and drawing 6 games. The championship was won at Maine Road with a 4–1 victory over

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot of ...

. Herd was City's third highest scorer that season behind Peter Doherty who scored 30 goals and

who scored 20. In the 1937–38 football season Herd was part of the City team that were relegated from the first division despite scoring more goals than any other team. Herd was again City's third highest scorer that season with 12 goals. In the 1938–39 season he was City's top scorer with 20 goals. The team finished fourth in division two that season, six points behind winners

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

. The second world war interrupted Herd's football career but he continued playing afterwards and scored 11 goals for City in both the 1945–46 and 1946–47 football seasons. His final season with the Manchester team was the 1947–48 football season. His last goal for the club came in a 3–0 victory against

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

. In 257 league games for City Herd had scored 107 goals. He also appeared in the 3 games in season 1939–40 expunged from the records.

Stockport County

In 1948 Herd joined

on a free transfer. In 111 appearances for Stockport he scored 35 goals. He also made history by playing alongside his son, David Herd, in a 2–0 win against

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

on 5 May 1951, in the 1950–51 season of the

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated In sports leagues, promotion and ...

. He died in Scotland in 1982 at the age of 70.

International

Herd was one of three members of his family to gain recognition for their footballing skills at national level. He played for Scotland in one of the (unofficial) ''wartime international'' matches, a 5–4 win against

in April 1942. His elder brother

Sandy Sandy may refer to: People and fictional characters *Sandy (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Sandy (surname), a list of people *Sandy (singer), Brazilian singer and actress Sandy Leah Lima (born 1983) * (Sandy) ...

, a left-half with Heart of Midlothian, played for Scotland in the 1930s and his son

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, the

striker, represented Scotland five times between 1959 and 1961.

Legacy

Herd is listed as one of Manchester City's fifty greatest players in Ian Penney's book ''The Essential History of Manchester City''. p188

References

External links

*
Alec Herd
at Spartacus Educational {{DEFAULTSORT:Herd, Alec 1911 births 1982 deaths Scottish footballers Hamilton Academical F.C. players Manchester City F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Scotland wartime international footballers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Association football inside forwards Footballers from Fife People from Cardenden FA Cup Final players