Alex Rae

Name: Alexander Scott Rae

DOB: 30/09/1969

POB: Glasgow

Position: Centre midfield

Clubs: Falkirk, Millwall, Sunderland, Wolverhampton
Wanderers, Rangers, Dundee, MK Dons

The increased exposure to European football is gradually
resulting in a demand for the best footballers to rely on technical skills
rather than intangibles, but there will always be an in-built predilection for
players like Alex Rae. His skills were not poor but he knew his limitations and
learned as the years went by, slowly adapting his game to accentuate his
strengths and minimise his faults. In short, he was a player who supporters
could always count on, not just to produce a performance, but to care just as
much about the outcome of any match as they did.

Later thought of as curmudgeonly on the football pitch, he
could easily battle his way through games with a mean streak that flourished
during his six years at Millwall. However, he arrived at The Den with a reputation
for goalscoring and continued this trait throughout his time in south-east London. Far from being
the vacuous thug opposition supporters would late regard him being, he was
outstanding at reading the game and introducing himself to the attack in unguarded
space in or around the penalty area. Sixty-three goals from just over two
hundred league games was enough of a reward for the club’s gamble but they
profited further when they sold the 26-year old Rae to Sunderland in 1996.

It was at this stage of his career when Rae’s image became
the man whose sole intent was extirpating his opposing midfielders from
sufficient time to operate within the centre of midfield. He was always a tough
player, so the move wasn’t ill-fitting but, with the goal-scoring side of his
game held under wraps by the difficulties of the Premier League, they were the
attributes that would become associated with his play as his career went on.
The Sunderland fans welcomed having such a
committed player and quickly he became one of their favourites at a tough time
when the club was yo-yoing in and out of the elite.

It would be at this time when personal problems got in the
way of his football when, in 1998, Rae admitted to being an alcoholic. It was a
battle he would eventually win but the time spent in rehab, and the stigmatism
attached with the illness, halted the momentum of a career that should have
been entering its prime. He would finally regain his place back in the Sunderland side but any chance that the next career
switch would see him go up another level was lost forever. However, what it did
do was give the player a renewed appreciation for the game and any player who
came into contact with the Glaswegian would recall their team-mate’s undeniable
work ethic.

The recipients of this greater focus were Wolves, who spent
£1,000,000 to bring the 31-year old back down to the second tier. It was a lot
of money to spend on a player of such an advanced age but a risk worth taking
for manager Dave Jones, the latest in a line of bosses who’d been handed a
generous budget in which to get the Midlands
club back amongst the big time. The first season saw yet another heartbreaking
failure but Rae did win player of the year honours and it wouldn’t be long
before the club finally found their route back to the top flight. Rae helped
the progress by scoring the winner in the playoff semi-final against Reading. The 3-0 final
win over Sheffield United ended the club’s 19-year exodus from the top league.

The next season was supposed to be it for the centre
midfielder, at the age of 33 the step up in class should have been too much for
him, but Rae played perhaps the greatest season of his career. Ultimately he
couldn’t keep Wolves in the division but he again won fans player of the year
honours and his eight goals made him the team’s highest goalscorer. There may
have been many problems with that team which meant they couldn’t stay up, but
the veteran midfield partnership of Paul Ince and Rae was not one of them.
Unfortunately for Wolves they had not banked on their midfielder producing, and
sustaining, such an impressive season and resisted from offering him a new
contract. This held the door open long enough for Rangers to get their foot in
and offer the boyhood Gers fan a chance to make a lifelong dream come true.

He still had the fearsome reputation but none of it had been
earned in Scotland
and it quickly became clear that his physical and technical attributes had
diminished significantly. That didn’t mean he wasn’t popular. While he may be
unlikely to break into any “Best XI” lists from his time at Ibrox he was still
respected for his role on the park. And he did play a part in one of the
greatest days in the club’s history when Scott McDonald’s double for Motherwell
prompting a helicopter u-turn and delivered the title to a jubilant Rangers.

His career petered out the following season and he soon left
the SPL for the chance to try his hand at management, taking over at Dundee. After guiding the club away from the dreaded
possibility of the third tier following Alan Kernaghan’s disastrous spell in
charge he guided the club to 2nd place the following season. However, despite
the reversal in fortunes, this was viewed as the bare minimum for a club that
dwarfed the resources of title-winning Hamilton
and the pressure was on to go one place further the following season.
Unfortunately for Rae he could not provide such a demand and was sacked in
October after a sluggish start.

Where is he now? After leaving Dundee, Rae has found
consistent work in football as a trusted member of Paul Ince’s backing staff,
following his former teammate to MK Dons, Notts
County and now Blackpool
where he works as first-team coach.

Show: Moff Filming