Alex Steel

Alexander Steel (25 July 1886 – 1954)[1] was a Scottish professional footballer who played for Newmilns, Ayr, Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Barcelona, Kilmarnock, Southend United and Gillingham.[2][3] In his spell at Barcelona he won two Pyrenees Cups in 1912 and 1913.[4]

Alex Steel
Personal information
Full name Alexander Steel
Date of birth (1886-07-25)25 July 1886
Place of birth Newmilns, Scotland
Date of death 1954 (aged 67–68)
Place of death St Albans, England
Position(s) Right half
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
Newmilns
Ayr
1905–1908 Manchester City 30 (1)
1908–1911 Tottenham Hotspur 1 (0)
1911 Kilmarnock 3 (0)
1912–1913 Barcelona
Southend United
1919–1920 Gillingham 23 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Football career

Steel began his career at local non-league club Newmilns before joining Ayr. In 1905 he joined Manchester City and made 32 league and FA Cup appearances for the Hyde Road club, scoring only once.[5] The right half signed for Tottenham Hotspur in 1908 and played in one first-team match in his three years with Spurs.[6][7]

After playing a few games back in his native Ayrshire with Kilmarnock,[lower-alpha 1] Steel joined FC Barcelona during the 1911–12 season and quickly became one of the club's benchmarks, netting 56 goals in just 43 matches. At Barça he won two Pyrenees Cups in 1912 and 1913, scoring once in the quarter-finals of the former and netting a hat-trick in the quarter-finals of the latter,[9] and even though he did not found the back of the net again in the 1913 edition, his hat-trick alone was enough to make him the tournament's shared top scorer alongside Frank Allack. After leaving Barcelona he had spells in England at Southend United and finally Gillingham,[10] where he played the 1919–20 Southern Football League season as a defender before ending his playing career.

His brothers Danny and Bobby were also footballers, both having a significant association with Tottenham Hotspur; the three siblings played together in one Football League fixture against Bradford City in January 1910, Alex's only league appearance for the club.[11][12] Alex later recommended Bobby as a signing for Gillingham.

Honours
Barcelona

References
  1. The FitbaStats website attributes appearances in three seasons at Kilmarnock to 'Steel, ?' which would clash with the time in Barcelona,[8] but the Litster files attribute only the 1911 matches to Alex and the others to James Steel.[3]
  1. "Alexander Steel". www.bdfutbol.com. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  2. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records. soccerdata. p. 248. ISBN 1-899468-63-3.
  3. John Litster (October 2012). "A Record of pre-war Scottish League Players". Scottish Football Historian magazine. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. "Alexander 'Sandy' Steel stats - FC Barcelona Players". players.fcbarcelona.com. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  5. "Alex Steel". BlueMoon. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  6. "Tottenham Hotspur F.C A-Z of players". BlueMoon. Archived from the original on 15 April 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2012.
  7. Bob Goodwin (2017). The Spurs Alphabet. Lulu.com. ISBN 9780954043421.
  8. (Kilmarnock player) Steel, ?. FitbaStats. Retrieved 11 August 2022
  9. "1913 Pyrenees Cup". RSSSF. 4 May 2017. Archived from the original on 30 July 2022. Retrieved 11 August 2022.
  10. Alex Steel, Gillingham FC Scrapbook
  11. Tottenham On This Day: Three Brothers Play In The Same Spurs Team, Logan Holmes, Fansided, 29 January 2014
  12. Hotspur Towers - Spurs Steel, Keith Harrison, India Spurs, 28 January 2016
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