Alex Burns

Name: Alexander Burns

DOB: 04/08/73

POB: Belshill

Position: Striker

Clubs: Motherwell, Heracles, Southend, Raith Rovers,
Livingston, St Mirren, Partick Thistle, Clyde,
Brechin, Stranraer

The slight striker came through the youth ranks at
Motherwell in the early 90’s. His speed and shooting ability made him an
intriguing prospect but in the end the lasting memory among the Motherwell
support was that of a virtuoso in falling on his arse. He scored almost as many
league goals (eight) as years he spent in his first spell in Lanarkshire (six).
Bravely enough he took advantage of the, still fresh, Bosman ruling and tried
his hand at continental football at Heracles in Holland. Maybe they were equally indifferent
to a player who couldn’t score in a bag of fannies because he was back to these
shores one year after leaving.

The second switch – he would move six times in successive
summers – was the stop off in Southend where again more pitiful goalscoring
problems got him chased out of town before he’d fully unpacked his suitcase.
The once promising striker was in real danger of his career drifting off into
anonymity.

Raith Rovers offered a reprieve and he accepted by hitting
double figures in a single campaign for the first time. He quickly made the
most of the shift in momentum by signing on at free spending Livingston.
While it may have made Burns more financially secure the same couldn’t be said
for his place in the first team. However, he proved to be a reliable squad
member, hitting the back of the net seven times in his limited appearances as Livingston continued their march to the Scottish Premier
League.

Unfortunately for Burns they were unwilling to make him a
top flight footballer, but he soon found work under similar circumstances at
newly relegated St Mirren. It would be a difficult time for the player and his
new employers since the Buddies struggled to adapt to their first year back in
the First Division and Burns was shunted out to the wing. One goal was all he
could manage from effete performances in an unfamiliar habitat.

Unsurprisingly the relationship lasted just the one season
but Partick boss John Lambie, fresh off winning the First Division title,
snapped up the free agent striker with curious alacrity. Clearly the Jags boss
had spotted something inside the player that equipped him to be a premier
league striker. The rise of Thistle from the Second Division to Premier League
safety, and swift return following his retirement, indicates that Lambie was a
vastly underrated manager in his later years. And whatever magic he was able to
sprinkle on Firhill he was able to do the same for Burns.

No one was prepared for the perplexing explosion of goals;
there is nothing in his career before or since his one-year stay in Maryhill
that would explain the clinical finishing he demonstrated during the 2002/03
campaign. He struck 20 times throughout, 16 times in the SPL, with Partick
Thistle successfully avoiding an immediate return to the second tier with
points to spare. Perhaps it was the positive effect from Lambie’s confidence in
him, maybe for the first time in his career he had a team built around his
strengths, maybe he got lucky and went on a hot streak. Who knows? The answer
lies somewhere in a Whitburn pigeon coop.

An imprudent Motherwell leapt to the conclusion that this
was no fluke and promptly resigned the player, unveiling him to a sceptical
support. His disappointing history and advancing age should have admonished the
club from repeating those mistakes, but manager Terry Butcher was presumably
overawed with the previous year’s proliferation and pushed through the
controversial recapture (Motherwell were in administration at the time, where
as Partick Thistle had no debt). In the end maybe karma played its role, with
Burns spending twice the amount of time back in Lanarkshire (two years) than he
had at Firhill (one) but registering over six times as fewer goals (three).
Although Partick were relegated at the end of Burns’ second season and haven’t
been back since.

Before leaving Motherwell, again, there was a horrendous
loan spell at Clyde where the 32-year scored
only once in 15 games at the lower level. This indicated any top flight
pedigree was fully behind him and he went back to his favourite pastime, club
hopping, for the final two years of his career before retiring a Stranraer
player in 2007.

Where is he now? Burns is currently working as a community
police officer in Hamilton.

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