Alexander Bryce Linwood (13 March 1920 – 26 October 2003) 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 le ...

who played for St Mirren, Middlesbrough, Hibernian, Clyde,

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

and the

Scotland national team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the thr ...

Career

Born in the tiny mining settlement of Drumsmudden, near

Drongan Drongan is a former mining village in East Ayrshire, some east of Ayr and west of Cumnock. It had a population of 4686 in 2011.https://www.scotlandscensus.gov.uk/ods-analyser/jsf/tableView/tableView.xhtml History The earliest references to Dr ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

, Linwood began working in the mines at the age of 14. He played schools and juvenile football before joining the newly formed Muirkirk Juniors in 1938. Linwood signed for St Mirren the same year, however on the outbreak of World War II, the player was forced to resume his mining career for the war effort. A centre-forward, Linwood continued to play wartime football for St. Mirren and also played in an unofficial international match against England at Maine Road in 1943 which the Scots lost 8–0. In all, Linwood scored 165 goals in 236 competitive matches for St Mirren between 1938–1946 and remains the club's second top goalscorer of all time. He finished as the team's top scorer in all seven seasons with the club. After

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

had a bid rejected in November 1945, Linwood moved to Middlesbrough in 1946 but struggled to make an impact in the

English First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

, partly due to still having to work as a miner while his teammates were full-time professionals. The player returned to Hibernian and won the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a 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 km south ...

championship in 1948, his only senior footballing honour. Later in 1948, Linwood represented the Scottish League XI. In November 1949, now as a Clyde player, Linwood scored in his only cap for Scotland, a 2–0 win over Wales in a

British Home Championship The British Home Championship * sco, Hame Internaitional Kemp * gd, Farpais lìg eadar-nàiseanta * cy, Pencampwriaeth y Pedair Gwlad, name=lang (historically known as the British International Championship or simply the International Champio ...

match which doubled as a 1950 World Cup qualifier. While at

Shawfield Shawfield is an industrial/commercial area of the Royal Burgh of Rutherglen in South Lanarkshire, Scotland, located to the north of the town centre. It is bordered to the east by the River Clyde, to the north by the Glasgow neighbourhood of Oatl ...

, Linwood played in 1949 Scottish Cup final and scored 30 goals the season after. He was the first post-war Clyde player to net five goals in a match. He later moved to Morton in 1951 before retiring in 1955. Linwood died on 23 October 2003 at the age of 83.

Honours

St Mirren * Summer Cup: 1942–43 * Renfrewshire Cup: 1945–46 Hibernian * Scottish Division A: 1947–48 Clyde * Scottish Cup: Runner-up 1948–49 Morton * Renfrewshire Cup: 1951–52

Career statistics

Notes

References

External links

*
Profile
at Londonhearts.com *
Alec Linwood
www.ihibs.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Linwood, Alec 1920 births 2003 deaths Men's association football forwards Scottish footballers Scotland men's international footballers Scotland men's wartime international footballers St Mirren F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Clyde F.C. players Greenock Morton F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish Junior Football Association players Muirkirk Juniors F.C. players Partick Thistle F.C. wartime guest players Footballers from East Ayrshire People from Drongan