Alex Massie

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Alex Massie
Personal information
Full name	Alex C. Massie
Date of birth	March 13, 1906(1906-03-13)
Place of birth	Possilpark, Scotland
Date of death	September 20, 1977 (aged 71)
Place of death	Welwyn Garden City, England
Playing position	Wing Half
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1927-1928 1928-1930 1930 1930-1935 1935-1939	Partick Thistle Petershill Glasgow Benburb Glasgow Ashfield Ayr United Bury Bethlehem Steel Dolphin Hearts Aston Villa	032 (12) 141 0(5)
National team
1932-1938	Scotland	018 0(0)
Teams managed
1945-1950 1950-1951 1951-1952	Aston Villa Torquay United Hereford United
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Alex C. Massie (March 13, 1906 - September 20, 1977) was a Scottish international footballer, playing mainly at right-half. He was born in Possilpark, Glasgow.

Contents 1 Player 2 Manager 2.1 Aston Villa 2.2 Torquay United and Hereford United

[edit] Player

Massie began his senior career with Partick Thistle, joining Partick from Shawfield Juniors. He moved on to Petershill, Glasgow Benburb, Glasgow Ashfield and Ayr United before joining Bury in January 1927, for a fee of £1,000.

He left Gigg Lane in August 1928, moving to the United States to play for Bethlehem Steel in the American Soccer League (ASL). That season FIFA declared the ASL an "outlaw league". As part of the dispute, the ASL boycotted the U.S. Open Cup. Bethlehem, however, defied the boycott and played in the Cup, leading the ASL to suspend the team after only seven league games. Bethlehem joined two other suspended ASL clubs, plus several other east coast teams to form the rival Eastern Soccer League. Massie stayed with Bethlehem through that tumultuous season, then spent the 1929-30 season in the Atlantic Coast League before returning to Europe with Dublin side Dolphins in 1930. Later that year he returned to his native Scotland to join Heart of Midlothian. His performances at wing-half, and occasionally at inside-forward soon won him international recognition, his first full Scotland international cap coming in 1932, and he became the Scottish captain during the 1934-35 season.

He moved to Aston Villa in December 1935 for a fee of £6,000, but was unable to prevent their first ever relegation at the end of the season. He captained Villa to the Second Division title in 1938, and to the Football League North War Cup in 1944, also guesting for a number of sides, including Solihull Town, Birmingham, Nottingham Forest, Notts County and Portsmouth during the war.

[edit] Manager

[edit] Aston Villa

He retired from playing at end of the 1944-45 wartime season, and was appointed manager of Aston Villa in August 1945 and lead them to top ten finishes in his first three seasons, despite not having complete control of the playing side of things at Villa Park, and twelfth place the following year. However, in August 1950 he left Villa.

[edit] Torquay United and Hereford United

In November of the same year he was appointed as manager of Torquay United as successor to Bob John, but his side struggled, eventually finishing in 20th place at the end of the season. He resigned in September 1951, returning to management with Hereford United the following January, where he remained as manager until December 1952.

He later coached local sides in Welwyn Garden City, where he died in September 1977 at the age of 71.

v • d • e Aston Villa F.C. – Managers Ramsay (1884–1926) • Smith (1926–34) • McMullan (1934–35) • Hogan (1936–39) • Massie (1945–50) • Martin (1950–53) • Houghton (1953–58) • Mercer (1958–64) • D. Taylor (1964–67) • Cummings (1967–68) • Docherty (1968–70) • Crowe (1970–74) • Saunders (1974–82) • Barton (1982–84) • Turner (1984–86) • McNeill (1986–87) • G. Taylor (1987–90) • Venglos (1990–91) • Atkinson (1991–94) • Little (1994–98) • Gregory (1998–2002) • G. Taylor (2002–03) • O'Leary (2003–06) • O'Neill (2006–)

v • d • e Torquay United F.C. – Managers Mackrill (1927–29) • Hoskins (1929–30) • Womack (1930–32) • F. Brown (1932–38) • Steward (1938–40) • B. Butler (1945–46) • J. Butler (1946–47) • McNeil (1947–50) • John (1950) • Massie (1950–51) • Webber (1951–65) • O'Farrell (1965–68) • A. Brown (1969–71) • Edwards (1971–73) • Musgrove (1973–76) • O'Farrell (1976–77) • Green (1977–81) • O'Farrell (1981–82) • Rioch (1982–84) • Hargreaves (1984) • Webb (1984–85) • Sims (1985) • Morgan (1985–87) • Knowles (1987–89) • Smith (1989–91) • Impey (1991) • Saunders (1991–92) • Golac (1992) • Compton (1992–93) • Warnock (1993) • O'Riordan (1993–95) • May (1995–96) • Hodges (1996–98) • Saunders (1998–2001) • Lee (2001) • McFarland (2001–02) • Rosenior (2002–06) • Cornforth (2006) • Atkins (2006) • Kubik (2006–07) • Curle (2007) • Rosenior (2007) • Buckle (2007–)

v • d • e Hereford United F.C. – Managers Tranter (1948–50) • Massie (1951–52) • Tranter (1953–56) • Wade (1958–62) • Daniel (1962–63) • Dennison (1965–67) • Charles (1967–71) • Addison (1971–74) • Sillett (1974–78) • Ford (1978) • Bailey (1978–79) • Isaac (1979) • Lord (1979–82) • Hughes (1982–83) • Newman (1983–87) • Bowyer (1987–90) • Addison (1990–91) • Sillett (1991–92) • Downs (1992–94) • Layton (1994–95) • Turner (1995–)