Alex Raisbeck

Alex Raisbeck
Personnel
Surname	Alexander Galloway Raisbeck
birthday	December 26, 1878
place of birth	Polmont ,  Scotland
date of death	March 12, 1949
Place of death	Liverpool ,  England
position	Middle runner
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
	Blantyre Boys Brigade
	Larkhall Thistle
	Royal Albert
1896-1898	Hibernian Edinburgh	24 0(2)
1898	FC Stoke	4 0(0)
1898-1909	Liverpool FC	312 (18)
1909-1914	Partick Thistle	113 0(7)
	Hamilton Academical
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
1900-1907	Scotland	8 0(0)
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1914-1917	Hamilton Academical
1921-1929	Bristol City
1930-1936	Halifax Town
1936-1938	Chester FC
	Bath City
1 Only league games are given.

Alexander Galloway "Alex" Raisbeck (born December 26, 1878 in Polmont , † March 12, 1949 in Liverpool ) was a Scottish football player and coach . The middle runner was one of the first "stars" of Liverpool FC from the end of the 19th century and won the first two English championships in the history of the "Reds" as captain in 1901 and 1906.

Athletic career

Raisbeck was born in Polmont , a small village in the county of Stirlingshire that is part of Falkirk County . He first learned to play football with the "Blantyre Boys Brigade" and after further games for "Larkhall Thistle" and "Royal Albert" he gained his first experience in top Scottish football when he played for Hibernian Edinburgh in the Scottish Football League between 1896 and 1898 in total 24 league games was used. There he mostly acted in the half position in the defensive war - primarily in the center and occasionally on the left side.

In March 1898 Raisbeck moved to the English Football League , but returned to bottom of the table FC Stoke after only two months and four league appearances. Tom Watson , coach of the up-and-coming Liverpool FC , signed the young Scotsman for 350 pounds and helped him make his debut with the Reds on September 3, 1898 against The Wednesday . Raisbeck quickly developed into the leading and leading figure in the defensive network of Liverpool FC, was difficult to defeat in header duels - although comparatively small at 1.78 meters - and was generally characterized by intelligent tackles . Consequently, Watson made him team captain at a young age. Under his leadership, the team became a championship contender and with players such as Jack Cox , Billy Dunlop , Rab Howell , Sam Raybould , John Robertson and John Walker , the club, founded only nine years earlier, won its first English league title . Outside the field, too, Raisbeck was one of the first “superstars” in English sport, who also placed great value on a well-groomed appearance with an always accurate haircut and mustache for a professional footballer of the time. In order to circumvent the upper salary limit of four pounds applicable at the time, the club also officially employed him as a controller, who had to monitor public advertising for the Liverpool FC games.

Its increasing importance did not go unnoticed by the Scottish homeland and on April 7, 1900 Raisbeck completed his first international match for the Scottish selection , in which the English arch-rival was convincingly beaten 4-1. By 1907 he came to seven more missions for Scotland, where he led the "Bravehearts" five times as captain on the field. In the “league routine”, however, after the great championship success, sadness returned and after increasingly mixed performances, the club rose only three years later to the second-class Second Division . Right off the bat, the club managed to return to the English elite class by winning the second division championship, with Raisbeck's leadership qualities and the commitment of "goalkeeper oldies" Ted Doig from Sunderland turned out to be a stroke of luck. Just a year later , Raisbeck won his second championship with Liverpool FC and distanced second-placed Preston North End by four points. Raisbeck still played for the Reds for three years, although his team, as after the first championship win, was no longer an aspirant for the league title.

Raisbeck moved back to Scotland and played for Partick Thistle until 1914 . His last position as an active footballer was Hamilton Academical , where he later held the position of coach for the first time and - as was customary at the time - also took on the functions of club secretary. He later worked in a similar role for Bristol City , Halifax Town , Chester FC and Bath City before returning to Liverpool to scout talent for his former club. At the age of 70 he died there on March 12, 1949.

successes

• English master: 1901, 1906

Web links

• Biography of Liverpoolfc.com (Engl.)
• Biography lfchistory.net (Engl.)