Linwood Alec Image 1 St Mirren 1946

Description

Drongan, Ayrshire born centre forward Alec Linwood began his football career with Muirkirk before joining Scottish League club St Mirren in October 1938, for whom, out of his 164 goals in 235 matches, only 4 appearances were in peacetime football before the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939. During the War Linwood guested for Partick Thistle, playing two matches for The Jags in 1940, but mainly played for St Mirren throughout the War, being their leading goalscorer in 7 consecutive seasons. Linwood also played in an unofficial international match against England at Maine Road in 1943 and the same year won The Summer Cup as well as The Renfrewshire Cup in 1946, He remains the club’s second top goalscorer of all time.

But after the Second World War Linwood moved to First Division club Middlesbrough in June 1946, making his Football League debut against Preston North End that September, but he struggled to get into their first team and returned to Scotland to join Hibernian at the end of the season after 3 goals in 15 matches for ‘Boro. He had two seasons at Easter Road, scoring 33 goals in 51 matches, helping them to win the Scottish League Championship in 1948.

In November 1948 Linwood represented the Scottish League XI against The Irish League at Windsor Park, Belfast and the next month he joined Clyde where he scored 34 goals in 78 matches for The Bully Wee. He was part of the Clyde side that lost the 1949 Scottish Cup Final to Rangers at Hampden. He was the first post war Clyde player to net five goals in a match in a 6-2 win over Queen’s Park in The Glasgow Cup in September 1949, and two months later he won his only Scotland cap, scoring in a 2-0 win over Wales at Hampden Park. He later moved to Morton in 1951 scoring 72 goals in 101 matches for The Ton before retiring in 1955.