Alex Elder

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Alex Elder
Personnel
Surname Alexander Russell Elder
birthday April 25, 1941
place of birth Lisburn ,  Northern Ireland
position Full-back (left)
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
until 1959 Glentoran Belfast
1959-1967 Burnley FC 271 (15)
1967-1973 Stoke City 83 0(1)
Leek Town
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1964 Northern Ireland U-23 1 0(0)
1959 Northern Ireland B 1 0(0)
1960-1969 Northern Ireland 40 0(1)
1 Only league games are given.

Alexander Russell "Alex" Elder (born April 25, 1941 in Lisburn ) is a former Northern Irish football player . In the 1960s he was a left full-back who was modern at the time and who did more than just defend himself. As a result, he created advantages over the club's internal competition, which led to his being a regular at Burnley FC and a member of the 1960 championship team as a teenager .

Athletic career

When the then 17-year-old left -back Elder in January 1959. Northern Ireland's capital Belfast from Glentoran to England for Burnley changed for 5,000 pounds, this was the prelude to a rapid rise, which it only 16 months later because winning the English Championship earned . The Elder personality was unusual because Burnley's trainer Harry Potts was rarely active on the transfer market. There was only one other player in the full championship team who had moved to Burnley from another professional club and that was also a Glentoran player with Jimmy McIlroy almost a decade earlier.

At first, the regular left-back Dave Smith had little competition to fear, as Elder first had to fight for a place on the reserve team. The club's own observers, however, certified the newcomer so extraordinarily good performance that he quickly received probation opportunities in the 1959/60 season. When Smith broke his leg and the position was used on an interim basis by center runner Tommy Cummings , Elder made his debut in mid-September 1959 against Preston North End . Although his direct opponent Tom Finney scored the decisive goal, Potts was satisfied with the performance of the "youngster" and when Smith reported healthy again, he could not get past Elder. With his physical strength, speed and a good passing game, the tall Northern Irishman had the necessary prerequisites for the now increasingly popular full-back, who also knew how to intervene in the offensive game. His meteoric rise also ensured that in 1960 he completed his first of a total of 40 internationals until 1969 for the Northern Irish national team . In his international debut against Wales he faced a high-profile opponent with Cliff Jones from Tottenham Hotspur and to play for Northern Ireland he missed his only game in the championship season with Burnley against Nottingham Forest after his debut against Preston. He harmonized very well with his defense partner John Agnus , regardless of the fact that the styles of the two differed fundamentally from each other - Angus was an "old school" defender who normally did not intervene in attacking play.

In the 1961/62 season Elder reached the final of the FA Cup with Burnley and on the way there he scored his first goal to the 3-0 lead against the Queens Park Rangers (final score 6-1). The final was lost 3-1 to Tottenham Hotspur . In preparation for the 1963/64 season he broke his leg, but the break did not last very long and the substitutes Walter Joyce and Mick Buxton made room for him again just before Christmas 1963. He took almost two years later, before the start of the season 1965/66 the captaincy of Brian Miller and in this capacity he closed with Burnley with the identical point yield in 1960 on the third place on what would have been nearly enough for a new English Championship (subverted doing against runners-up Leeds United a rather bizarre own goal for a 0-1 home defeat). In his last season, 1966/67, he reached the quarter-finals in the trade fair cup with Burnley again , before moving to first division competitor Stoke City in August 1967 - allegedly differences with former teammate Jimmy Adamson, who had meanwhile risen to the position of Kotrainer, were partly responsible for this decision .

Not long after starting over with the Potters, Elder sustained an injury. He stayed with the new club for six years, during which time he played a comparatively few 83 league games. It was also a blessing that effectively ended his professional career and from 1973 he let the active career in the amateur area at Leek Town end. He later turned his back on his British homeland and began a life on the Spanish Costa de Almería .

Title / Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ "(Northern) Ireland - International Results 1960-1969 - Details" (RSSSF)
  2. ↑ "Alex Elder" (Clarets Mad)
personal data
SURNAME Elder, Alex
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Elder, Alexander Russell (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Northern Irish soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH April 25, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Lisburn , Northern Ireland