Andrew Robert Aitken (born 2 February 1978) is a Scottish former 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 ...

who made over 300 appearances for Queen of the South. A left sided defender, he also played for Gretna and Ayr United.

Career

Aitken joined a Queen of the South in 1996 with new chairman

Norman Blount Norman Blount is the Scottish former chairman of Queen of the South football club. Blount was instrumental as the new broom that swept through the Dumfries club in the mid and late 90s replacing the previous regime under which the club had gone ...

getting the wheels moving on the club's revival. In 1997 Queen of the South reached the Scottish Challenge Cup final for the first time. Second Division Queens lost 1–0 to 1st Division Falkirk despite a rousing Queens display at Motherwell's Fir Park; a performance that included the man of the match award going to Queens veteran central midfield playmaker Tommy Bryce and an early career appearance for Jamie McAllister. A late chance for a Derek Townsley equaliser went agonisingly over for Queens.Andy Aitken career profile on 'Queens Legends' www.qosfc.com
/ref> Aitken spent two seasons at Gretna playing during the reign of Brooks Mileson. Aitken returned to Palmerston Park & immediately brought some pace to the defence. In combination with

Stuart Lovell Stuart Andrew Lovell (born 9 January 1972 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian professional footballer, who played as a striker early in his career, before reverting to a midfield role later in his career. Playing career Born in Australia, ...

and Jim Thomson the Annan native managed to secure one of the tightest defences in the league over the last three months of last season. In pre-season 2006, Aitken sustained a knee ligament injury in a friendly match 3–0 victory away against

Coleraine Coleraine ( ; from ga, Cúil Rathain , 'nook of the ferns'Flanaghan, Deirdre & Laurence; ''Irish Place Names'', page 194. Gill & Macmillan, 2002. ) is a town and civil parish near the mouth of the River Bann in County Londonderry, Northern I ...

on 22 July that meant a lengthy spell on the treatment table. Andy Aitken was a mainstay of the Queens side that made it to final of the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Scottish Cup Final, where they faced

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

. ''The Doonhamers'' lost 3–2. His appearances for Queen of the South have placed him 15th within the club's record appearances list. Along with Jim Thomson they are the only Queens players to earn four senior Scottish football medals while playing for the club – (winners of the 2001/02 Second Division and 2002/03 Scottish Challenge Cup; runners up in the 1997/98 Scottish Challenge Cup and 2007/08 Scottish Cup). Aitken joined Ayr United in the 2009 close season. His time there was impacted by an injury that was to keep him out for nine weeks ironically sustained against QoS at Palmerston. At the end of the 2009-10 season rejoined Annan Athletic who had by now joined the Scottish Football League. He became Assistant Manager after the departure of Derek Townsley, Aitken's ex teammate from the '97 Challenge Cup Final team.. He had a spell at Carlisle based

Celtic Nation The Celtic nations are a cultural area and collection of geographical regions in Northwestern Europe where the Celtic languages and cultural traits have survived. The term ''nation'' is used in its original sense to mean a people who shar ...

in 2013.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aitken, Andy 1978 births Living people Scottish footballers Annan Athletic F.C. players Queen of the South F.C. players Gretna F.C. players Scottish Football League players Association football defenders Ayr United F.C. players Footballers from Dumfries Celtic Nation F.C. players