Alistair Espie Maxwell (born 16 February 1965) is a Scottish football coach and former professional footballer. He is currently a youth coach for SC Del Sol Soccer Club in the United States, having previously played for Motherwell, Rangers and Dundee United, and coached Greenock Morton and US side Sereno Golden Eagles.

Ally Maxwell
Personal information
Full name Alistair Espie Maxwell[1]
Date of birth (1965-02-16) 16 February 1965 (age 59)
Place of birth Hamilton, Scotland[2]
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[3]
Position(s) Goalkeeper
Team information
Current team
SC Del Sol Soccer Club (coach)
Youth career
–1981 Fir Park B.C.
1981–1983 Motherwell
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1983–1991 Motherwell 134 (0)
1987–1988Clydebank (loan) 1 (0)
1992Bolton Wanderers (loan) 3 (0)
1992–1995 Rangers 53 (0)
1995–1998 Dundee United 44 (0)
1998–2001 Greenock Morton 65 (0)
Total 300 (0)
International career
1994 Scotland B 1 (0)
Managerial career
2001 Greenock Morton
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

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Born in Hamilton, Maxwell started his career at Motherwell, spending the 1987–88 season on loan at Clydebank before becoming the first-choice goalkeeper at the Fir Park club at the start of the next campaign.[2] He famously won the Scottish Cup in 1991, playing most of the second half plus thirty minutes of extra time with broken ribs, a ruptured spleen and intermittent double vision sustained in a collision with Dundee United defender John Clark. Despite his injuries, Maxwell stretched to tip a fierce goal-bound shot from Dundee United defender (and future Motherwell manager) Maurice Malpas over the bar with two minutes of extra time remaining, to ensure Motherwell ran out 4–3 winners.[4][5] However, he did not play for the club during the next season due to a contract dispute with manager Tommy McLean, who brought in the experienced Billy Thomson and Dutchman Sieb Dijkstra to fill the position.[6]

After a loan spell in England with Bolton Wanderers Maxwell moved to Rangers[7] for a £300,000 fee,[2] where he was initially backup to Andy Goram but played regularly when Goram was recovering from injury,[8] picking up a Scottish League Cup winners' medal in 1993[9][10] followed by a Scottish Cup runners-up medal, as Dundee United gained revenge for Maxwell's heroics three years previously in the 1994 Scottish Cup final.[11] He also played sufficient league games for medals in each of his three seasons at Ibrox which were part of the club's '9 in a row' run.[7]

Maxwell then moved to Dundee United in 1995 for £250,000[12] and spent three seasons at Tannadice, although the majority of his games came in his first campaign, and having lost his place to Sieb Dijkstra again after injury, he did not play at all in the third.[12] A move to Greenock Morton followed, where he played regularly for two seasons before becoming a coach and then manager at the club.[13]

On 1 November 2019, it was announced that Maxwell was to be inducted into the Motherwell F.C. Hall of Fame.[14]

International career

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Although present in several Scotland squads, Maxwell never received a cap. He did, however, play in the first half of a Scotland B international against Wales at Wrexham in 1994.[15][16]

Coaching career

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Maxwell was briefly a goalkeeping coach at Hamilton Academical, after managing Morton for half a season in 2001.[17]

A UEFA 'A' licensed professional coach, he now resides in the USA. He currently works as the goalkeeping coach at SC Del Sol in Arizona, where he has been since 2008.[18]

Honours

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Motherwell

Rangers[2][7]

References

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  1. ^ "Ally Maxwell". Barry Hugman's Footballers. Retrieved 16 March 2017.
  2. ^ a b c d "Ally Maxwell". Sporting Heroes. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  3. ^ "Ally Maxwell". motherWELLnet. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
  4. ^ Patrick Glenn (20 May 1991). "Well take the Cup to leave United high and dry again". Retrieved 5 November 2018.
  5. ^ Will Sharp (21 December 2016). "Motherwell's Class of '91: a rare moment in the sun". These Football Times. Archived from the original on 27 October 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  6. ^ "Ally Maxwell". MotherwerWELLnet. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  7. ^ a b c "Rangers player Ally Maxwell". FitbaStats. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  8. ^ "Andy Goram". Sporting Heroes. Retrieved 31 October 2018.
  9. ^ "On This Day: League Cup 1993". Rangers F.C. 24 October 2016. Archived from the original on 11 November 2017. Retrieved 10 November 2017.
  10. ^ "24 October 1993 League Cup Final Hibs v Rangers (1-2) Celtic Park – Glasgow; The Rangers team celebrate with the League Cup trophy". Alamy. 24 October 1993. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  11. ^ "Football / Scottish Cup: Golac's day of glory". The Independent. London. 21 May 1994. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Ally Maxwell". Arab Archive. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  13. ^ "Morton player Ally Maxwell". FitbaStats. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  14. ^ "Ally Maxwell inducted to Hall of Fame". motherwellfc.co.uk. November 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
  15. ^ "Scotland B Internationals". Scottish Football Association. Archived from the original on 14 September 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2008.
  16. ^ "Scotland B player Ally Maxwell". FitbaStats. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  17. ^ "Morton manager Ally Maxwell". FitbaStats. Retrieved 27 October 2018.
  18. ^ "Coaches – Ally Maxwell". SC Del Sol. Retrieved 9 August 2015.
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