Alex Glen

Alexander Glen (11 December 1878 – 21 September 1916) was a Scottish footballer who played as an inside-forward for various clubs in the 1900s.[4]

Alex Glen
Glen while with Tottenham Hotspur in 1905
Personal information
Full name Alexander Glen[1]
Date of birth (1878-12-11)11 December 1878
Place of birth Kilsyth, Scotland
Date of death 21 September 1916(1916-09-21) (aged 37)[2]
Place of death Ripon, England[3]
Height 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Position(s) Inside left
Youth career
Fitzhugh Rovers
Glasgow Parkhead
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Clyde
1902–1903 Grimsby Town 13 (1)
1903–1904 Notts County 20 (3)
1904–1906 Tottenham Hotspur 32 (12)
1906–1907 Southampton 29 (10)
1907–1908 Portsmouth 7 (1)
1908–1909 Brentford 11 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Glen was born in Kilsyth in Lanarkshire, Scotland and was a medical student at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.[5] During the Boer War, he served in South Africa as a first class orderly with the Scottish National Red Cross Hospital and was awarded the Queen's South Africa Medal with Cape Colony and Orange Free State clasps.[3] He returned to England to commence a career as a professional footballer with Grimsby Town.[3]

Football career

He spent the 1902–03 season with Grimsby in the First Division, generally at inside-left alongside Bill Appleyard in the centre. At the end of the season, when Grimsby Town were relegated, Glen moved to another First Division club, Notts County.

At Notts County, he linked up with Welsh international William Green in the centre and Ellis Gee on the left. At outside-right was Herbert Chapman, who went on to become manager at Huddersfield Town and Arsenal. Glen made twenty appearances for County, scoring three goals, in the 1903–04 season, before a move to Tottenham Hotspur, then of the Southern League. After two seasons with the "Spurs", during which he made 55 appearances and 16 goals in all competitions,[6] he then moved to another Southern League club, Southampton in May 1906.

He joined Southampton in time for their summer tour of Germany, where his fluent German led to him becoming the club's official interpreter.[5]

Glen was a "dexterous, elegant dribbler (who) swerved and weaved with devastating effect".[5] He made his debut for the "Saints" in the opening match of the season, playing at inside-left in a 1–0 defeat at Swindon Town. For the next match, Glen switched to inside-right, where he soon formed a strong partnership with Frank Jefferis on the right side of the Saints attack, with Fred Harrison in the centre. Although Harrison was to finish the season as top-scorer with 12 league goals, Glen contributed 10, including two in a 5–1 defeat of Millwall on 6 October 1906.[6] The combination of Glen, Jefferis and Harrison worked well until a loss of form resulted in both Glen and Harrison being dropped by manager Ernest Arnfield for the last six weeks of the season.[7]

In the summer of 1907, Glen moved down the Solent to join Portsmouth for a season, making just seven appearances,[8] before ending his career at Brentford.[9]

Later life

As of 1911, Glen was living in Portsmouth and working as a commission agent for horses.[3] He later served as a lieutenant in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War and committed suicide with a razor while in camp at Ripon on 21 September 1916.[2][3]

Career statistics
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Tottenham Hotspur 1904–05[6] Southern League First Division 18 10 4 1 22 11
1905–06[6] 14 2 4 0 18 2
Total 32 12 8 1 40 13
Southampton 1906–07[4] Southern League First Division 29 10 3 0 32 10
Brentford 1908–09[9] Southern League First Division 11 3 0 0 11 3
Career total 73 25 11 1 83 26

References
  1. Joyce, Michael (2012). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 111. ISBN 978-1905891610.
  2. "Casualty". www.cwgc.org. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  3. "Remembrance Day – Brentford Players Who Made The Ultimate Sacrifice | Beesotted". beesotted.com. Retrieved 13 November 2017.
  4. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 76. ISBN 978-0-9926-8640-6.
  5. Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. pp. 142–143. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
  6. "Alexander Glen". 11v11.com. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  7. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Breedon Books. pp. 40–41. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
  8. Juson, Dave (2004). Saints v Pompey - A history of unrelenting rivalry. Hagiology Publishing. p. 225. ISBN 0-9534474-5-6.
  9. White, Eric, ed. (1989). 100 Years Of Brentford. Brentford FC. p. 360. ISBN 0951526200.
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