Alexander Kevin "Zander" Diamond (born 12 March 1985) 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 ...

and current assistant manager of

Lowland League The Scottish Lowland Football League (SLFL, commonly known as the Lowland League) is a senior association football, football league based in central and southern Scotland. The league sits at level 5 on the Scottish football league system, actin ...

club Broomhill. Diamond played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

and began his career with

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football' ...

club

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, before moving to

Oldham Athletic Oldham Athletic Association Football Club is a professional football club in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The history of Oldham Athletic ...

in 2011; he later played for

Burton Albion Burton Albion Football Club is a professional association football club in the town of Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club moved its home groun ...

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

and

Mansfield Town Mansfield Town Football Club is a professional football club based in the town of Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Stags', they play in a blue and ...

in England. He won eleven caps for Scotland under-21s.

Club career

Aberdeen

Raised in the west of Scotland in

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

-born Diamond graduated from the

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future i ...

at Aberdeen in his first full season and made his League debut against Dundee United at

Tannadice Tannadice Park ( gd, Pàirc Thanachais), usually referred to as Tannadice, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Dundee Hibernian in 1 ...

, coming on as a substitute at half time in 2003–04 season. He made his first start for the club in a

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

match v Dumbarton in September 2004. Later in the same season, he scored his first senior goal for the club in a 3–1 win against Kilmarnock at

Pittodrie Pittodrie Stadium, commonly referred to as Pittodrie, is an all-seater stadium in Aberdeen, Scotland. Used primarily for football, it has been the home ground of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) club Aberdeen F.C. since they wer ...

. He won the "Young Player of the Month" award for February. In the 2005–06 season,

Jimmy Calderwood James Calderwood (born 28 February 1955) is a Scottish former football player and manager. Calderwood played for Birmingham City and Dutch clubs Sparta Rotterdam, Willem II Tilburg, Roda JC and Heracles Almelo. After retiring as a player, Calder ...

was appointed Aberdeen manager. He quickly tied Diamond down on a long-term contract after his partnership with Aberdeen captain

Russell Anderson Russell Anderson (born 25 October 1978) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a centre back. He played in the Scottish Premier League for Aberdeen, the Premier League for Sunderland, and the Football League for Plymouth ...

helped the club narrowly miss out on European qualification.Aberdeen Football Club website
, afc.co.uk; accessed 14 August 2014. However, in season 2007–08, Aberdeen qualified for the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

group section after beating

Dnipro Dnipro, previously called Dnipropetrovsk from 1926 until May 2016, is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper Rive ...

on away goals. They were drawn in

Group B Group B was a set of regulations for grand touring (GT) vehicles used in sports car racing and rallying introduced in 1982 by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Although permitted to enter a GT class of the World Sportscar ...

against Panathanaikos,

Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (''FC Lokomotiv Moskva'', russian: link=no, Футбольный клуб "Локомотив" Москва, ) is a Russian professional football club based in Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москв ...

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

and

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen ( da, Football Club København, ), commonly known as FC København, FC Copenhagen, Copenhagen or simply FCK, is a professional Danish football club in Copenhagen, Denmark. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on ...

. Diamond scored in the 1–1 draw against Lokomotiv Moscow, Branislav Ivanovic scoring the equaliser. After qualifying from the group, they faced

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which pla ...

in the last 32, drawing 2–2 at

in the first leg. They went out on aggregate 7–3 after a 5–1 defeat in the

Allianz Arena Allianz Arena (; known as Fußball Arena München for UEFA competitions) is a football stadium in Munich, Bavaria, Germany with a 70,000 seating capacity for international matches and 75,000 for domestic matches. Widely known for its exterior ...

. On 18 January 2009, he achieved the feat of scoring twice against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

in an

SPL SPL may refer to: Association football * Saudi Professional League * Scottish Premier League * SportPesa Premier League, Kenya * Singapore Premier League * RoboCup Standard Platform League, matches between autonomous robots Computing Program ...

match at

which Aberdeen won 4–2. Diamond and team-mate Michael Paton were carpeted by Aberdeen for offensive remarks made on social media during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Scotland. Diamond made 249 appearances for Aberdeen over eight seasons, scoring 19 goals.

Oldham Athletic

Having previously been expected to sign for Hearts before an ankle injury was identified, on 13 July 2011 Diamond signed a one-year contract with

. His first goal for the club on 30 July 2011 came with a headed goal against

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

in a pre–season friendly, which

won, 1–0. He made his competitive club debut on the first day of the 2011–12 season, starting 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 ...

match against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Burton Albion

On 5 June 2012, Diamond signed with

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

. He made his debut against Sheffield United at Bramall Lane in the first round of the League Cup, which Burton won on penalties. Diamond scored his first goal for the club in a 6–2 home win against

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

. After finishing 4th, the highest in the club's history in the Football League, they were beaten in the playoffs by eventual winners Bradford City. On 26 May, Burton called him back to play in their Play-Off Final game against

. He started on the bench but came on as a sub.

Northampton Town

On 21 February 2014, Diamond joined League Two side

on loan for the remainder of the 2013–14 season. On 7 May 2014, Diamond signed a three-year contract for the ''Cobblers'' after a successful loan spell with the club. The move became effective at the start of pre-season, at which time he spoke of his positive experiences in English football and the relative anonymity he enjoyed compared with living in

. He made over 100 league appearances for Northampton, experiencing a

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

as winners of League Two in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

and maintaining the club's status in League One in the following season. He was named the club's 'Player of the year' for 2017, but despite this he was one of several players allowed to leave when their contracts expired.

Mansfield Town

Diamond joined

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

on 12 May 2017. He was transfer-listed by Mansfield at the end of the 2017–18 season. Diamond retired in October 2018 due to injury.

International career

Having earlier appeared for the Under-19s and Under-20s, Diamond captained the Scottish under-21 international side, winning 11 caps and scoring once, between 2004 and 2006. He also appeared once for the

B team B, or b, is the second letter of the Latin-script alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is '' bee'' (pronounced ), plural ''bees''. It r ...

in December 2004.

Career statistics

References

External links

* *
Profile and stats at ''AFC Heritage Trust''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, Zander 1985 births Living people People from Alexandria, West Dunbartonshire Scottish footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Scotland B international footballers Association football defenders Aberdeen F.C. players Oldham Athletic A.F.C. players Burton Albion F.C. players Northampton Town F.C. players Mansfield Town F.C. players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players People educated at Our Lady & St Patrick's High School Footballers from West Dunbartonshire