King, Alexander

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Fullname: Alexander King
aka: Alex King, Alick King, Alec King
Born: 18 June 1871
Died: 11 Dec 1957
Birthplace: Dykehead, North Lanarkshire
Signed: 6 May 1896 (from Hearts)
Left: 5 Sep 1900 (to Dykehead)
Position: Inside Left
Debut: Hibernian 3-1 Celtic, League, 15 Aug 1896
Internationals: Scotland / Scottish League
International Caps: 6 / 4
International Goals: 1

Biog

The versatile Alex King joined Celtic in May 1896 and his adaptability was to prove to be a valuable asset to the Bhoys.

A Scotland international King had come to the attention of the Celtic directors when he scored a hat-trick for Hearts in September 1895. So his capture was to be a real boone for the development of the club.

A coalminer by trade in Shotts (Lanarkshire), King was snapped up by the Parkhead club who deployed the inside-left in a whole host of positions including goalkeeper (whenever the main goalkeeper was out for some reason).

He was quite a steal, as he had made his name in part by scoring a goal in the 3-1 Scottish Cup final victory for Hearts against Hibs (the only Scottish Cup final yet played outside of Glasgow, this one in Edinburgh). This time Celtic wanted success for him in Glasgow. Notably, before he had joined Hearts he had trials with Dykehead and Rangers, for whom he played in a Glasgow Charity Cup final.

His debut came in a 3-1 league defeat at Hibs on 15th August 1896, and then he scored in the next match a 7-2 league win over Clyde. He made a fast name for himself scoring a double for the first team in a 6-0 win over Abercorn in only his fourth league game, and so was to prove himself to be a solid and athletic performer for the next few seasons.

He was a near ever present in the first team, and helped Celtic win the league title in 1897/98 and the Scottish Cup in 1899.

Alex King played 62 times for Celtic in the league & Scottish Cup before a loss of form and confidence saw Celtic try to push his effort by cutting his wages. Not surprisingly it didn’t work so he was sold to his local side Dykehead in September 1900. He had been out the side more than in it for most of the last season at Celtic, mostly deputising for Willie Orr it seems. So his departure was not as big a surprise as could have been.

As a Celt, he was capped four times for Scotland, and six times in all, plus four times for the Scottish League select side.

He spent the remainder of his long life in the Shotts area, playing for Dykehead as well as turning out for St Bernards and Airdrie, hanging up his playing boots in 1905.

Interestingly, Alex King had a younger brother, John King, who similarly went on to become a footballer with various club including Shotts Utd, Partick Thistle, Newcastle, Dykehead Third Lanark, Motherwell, Hibs and Clydebank. It’s worth noting that there was a great deal of confusion in the press as to the relationship between John & Alex, probably stemming from the age difference between the two, Alex King being the elder brother by 17 years.

The Scottish Referee sports newspaper stated on 21st March 1913:

“[John] King suffers from ‘youngness’ still, and lacks the sagacity of his old Finalist Uncle, A. King of Hearts and Celts”.

This was a reference to John King who was a Partick Thistle player of the time and had just appeared in an Anglos -v- Scots selectors match.

Alex King passed away in 1957.

Playing Career

Honours with Celtic

Scottish League

• 1897-98

Scottish Cup

• 1899

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