Alec William Alfred Stock (30 March 1917 – 16 April 2001) was an English

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 ...

and manager. He briefly managed

AS Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...

, between long spells at Leyton Orient and

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...

. At QPR, he won successive promotions, leading the club to the First Division for the first time, and winning the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

. Among managers for whom accurate statistics exist, he is the fourth most experienced manager of all time.

Career

Alec Stock was born in Peasedown St John, Somerset, and played as an inside-forward for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in ...

and

before the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and guested for several other clubs during the hostilities. He joined Yeovil Town in 1946. He came to prominence as the player/manager of Yeovil Town during a historic

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...

run in 1949. They had thrilling victories over Bury and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, before losing to

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

in the fifth round. He later managed Leyton Orient (1949–1959),

(1959–1965) (general manager 1965–1968),

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the EFL Championship, Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1 ...

(1968–1972),

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswo ...

(1972–1976) and AFC Bournemouth (1979–1980). He was also the assistant manager of

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 ...

for 53 days during the 1955–56 season and was a director of Queens Park Rangers (1977–1979). He was asked to manage the Third Division South team against the North in 1955–56. It was perhaps Stock's time as manager of Queens Park Rangers where he is most fondly remembered. It was during his spell in the 1960s that coincided with the development of the club with chairman Jim Gregory. The team enjoyed unprecedented success in 1967 and 1968 winning consecutive promotions with the club reaching the First Division for the first time and becoming the first Third Division team to win the

Football League Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establ ...

beating then First Division

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional Association football, football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English foo ...

3–2 in a come from behind win. Stock had a focus on youth bringing many of the team through the club's youth system (including Frank Sibley,

Tony Hazell Tony Hazell (born 19 September 1947 in High Wycombe) is an English former footballer who made 564 appearances in the Football League playing as a defender for Queens Park Rangers, Millwall, Crystal Palace and Charlton Athletic. Hazell jo ...

, Roger Morgan, Ian Morgan and Mick Leach) as well as blending characters such as Rodney Marsh and

Mark Lazarus Mark Lazarus (born 5 December 1938) is an English retired professional footballer. He played as a right winger and made more than 400 Football League appearances, scoring over 100 goals. A prominent Jewish player, he initially chose football o ...

into the set up. With internal pressures mounting in the club following the 1967–68 season however, Stock was absent for three months, suffering from asthma. In his book ''A Little Thing Called Pride'', Stock tells how Jim Gregory sacked him in 1968 for being ill, just as he thought he was about to return to the helm and save Rangers from relegation. He later had success with

who he helped to promotion from the Third Division and also with

when he led them to the 1975 FA Cup Final. He briefly returned to be a Director at Queens Park Rangers in the 1977/8 season. Ron Manager, a character in

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

comedy sketch show ''

The Fast Show ''The Fast Show'', known as ''Brilliant'' in the US, is a BBC comedy sketch show that ran from 1994 to 1997, with specials in 2000 and 2014. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, Joh ...

'' is based on Stock, told 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 ...

in his autobiography. This was also confirmed by comedy actor

Paul Whitehouse Paul Julian Whitehouse (born 17 May 1958) is a Welsh actor, writer and comedian. He was one of the main stars of the BBC sketch comedy series ''The Fast Show'', and has also starred with Harry Enfield in the shows '' Harry & Paul'' and ''Harr ...

, who played Ron Manager, in the documentary, ''Suits You Sir - The Inside Leg Of The Fast Show''.

Managerial Statistics

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stock, Alec 1917 births 2001 deaths English footballers English football managers English expatriate football managers People from Bath and North East Somerset Footballers from Somerset Charlton Athletic F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players Yeovil Town F.C. players AFC Bournemouth managers Fulham F.C. managers A.S. Roma managers Leyton Orient F.C. managers Luton Town F.C. managers Queens Park Rangers F.C. managers Yeovil Town F.C. managers Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Serie A managers Expatriate football managers in Italy English expatriate sportspeople in Italy Association football forwards