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Alexander MacDonald (born 17 March 1948 in Glasgow) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. MacDonald played for St Johnstone, Rangers and Hearts. He also played in one full international match for Scotland, in 1976. Towards the end of his playing career, MacDonald became player/manager of Hearts. He led the team as they won promotion in 1983, then narrowly missed out on winning the Scottish league championship in 1986. MacDonald then managed Airdrieonians for most of the 1990s, leading the team to Scottish Cup finals in 1992 and 1995.

Playing career

Club career

MacDonald started his career with St Johnstone but was snapped up by Rangers in November 1968 for £65,000. He quickly became a fans favourite at Ibrox as he demonstrated his passion for the blue jersey. He was instrumental in Rangers 1972 Cup Winners' Cup triumph, scoring against Rennes in the First Round. During his time at Rangers he played 503 games and scored 94 times and won 3 League Championship, 4 Scottish Cup and 4 League Cup medals. MacDonald joined Hearts for £30,000 in 1980.

International career

MacDonald was capped once by Scotland, against Switzerland in 1976.

Managerial career

MacDonald became player/manager at Tynecastle in 1981. He took Hearts to within seven minutes of winning the Scottish Premier League title in 1985–86. One week later his team lost the Scottish Cup Final 3–0 to Aberdeen. He became joint manager alongside Sandy Jardine in 1986, although this was a short lived arrangement. Hearts chairman Wallace Mercer sacked MacDonald in the summer of 1990.

MacDonald later found success with Airdrieonians. He took over the newly promoted team from Jimmy Bone in May 1991, and guided them to two Scottish Cup finals and into Europe. In the 1992–93 season he led them into the European Cup Winners Cup as a result of being runners-up to Rangers in the Scottish Cup final during the previous season. The club's last appearance in the final was in 1994–95, when they lost 1–0 to Tommy Burns' Celtic. League success was harder to come by, however, and the team were relegated to the First Division in 1993. Unable to provide a return to top-league football, he was sacked by Airdrie on 13 March 1999 and has chosen not to work in management since.

Honours

Manager

Airdrieonians

• Scottish Challenge Cup: 1994–95

Heart of Midlothian

• Scottish First Division promoted: 1982–83
• Tennents' Sixes: 1985

References

1. ^ London Hearts profile
2. ^ Alex MacDonald at the Scottish Football Association
3. "Bell's Cup". SPFL. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
4. "THE GREATEST HALL OF FAME". Heart of Midlothian FC. Retrieved 9 April 2023.

External links

• Alex MacDonald at Post War English & Scottish Football League A–Z Player's Transfer Database
• Alex MacDonald profile at Rangers.co.uk

Awards

v t e Rangers F.C. – Hall of Fame Albertz Amoruso Archibald Baxter Bowie Brand G. Brown J. Brown R. Brown Butcher Cairns Caldow Campbell Conn Cooper Cox Craig Cunningham H. Davis S. Davis A. Dawson J. Dawson Dixon Drummond Durrant English B. Ferguson I. Ferguson Fleming Forsyth Gascoigne Gibson Gillick Goram Gordon Gough Gray Greig Hamilton Hateley Henderson Hubbard Jackson Jardine Johnston Johnstone Klos Laudrup Little MacDonald Manderson Mathieson McBeath McCall McCloy McCoist McColl McCulloch McGregor McKinnon McLean McMillan M. McNeil P. McNeil McPhail D. McPherson J. McPherson Meiklejohn Millar Morton Muirhead Niven Novo Parlane Provan Ricksen Ritchie Russell Scott Shaw Shearer W. Simpson J. Simpson A. Smith D. Smith J. Smith N. Smith Souness Stein Tavernier Thornton Vallance Venters Waddell Weir Wilkins Wilson Woodburn Woods Young v t e Airdrieonians F.C. – Hall of Fame inductees Balfour J. Ballantyne R. Ballantyne Black Boyle Busby Calderón Clark Conn Connor Cooper Coyle Crapnell Dalziel Docherty Duncan Flavell Flood Forsyth Gallacher Goodwin Gray Jack Jarvie Jonquin Keenan Kidd Lapsley Lawrence Leslie Lovering MacDonald McKenzie March Martin McCann McCulloch McGuire McKeown McMillan McPhee Murray O'Rourke Ramsey Ja. Reid Jo. Reid Rodger Rowan Russell Sandison M. Scott R. Scott Smith Stewart Watson Welsh Whiteford Wilson v t e Heart of Midlothian F.C. – Hall of Fame inductees 2006 Bauld Cumming Hartley D. Mackay G. Mackay Pressley Robertson 2007 Glidden Gordon Levein T. Walker Wardhaugh Young 2009 Conn Ford Jefferies Smith R. Walker 2016 Battles Colquhoun Crawford Cruickshank Jardine MacDonald Marshall Purdie

• 1948 births
• Living people
• Scottish men's footballers
• Scottish football managers
• St Johnstone F.C. players
• Luncarty F.C. players
• Rangers F.C. players
• Heart of Midlothian F.C. players
• Heart of Midlothian F.C. managers
• Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) managers
• Scotland men's international footballers
• Footballers from Glasgow
• Scottish Football League players
• Scottish Football League representative players
• Men's association football midfielders
• Scottish Football League managers
• Scottish Junior Football Association players