The Thistle Archive

The son of James Crawford (fisherman) and Christine Crawford (née Crawford).

Alex, an outside right, was several seasons at Clyde from the mid 1890s, broken by a spell with Bristol City in 1899-00. Whilst at Clyde he was capped for Glasgow against Sheffield in 1898 and won a second cap 3 years later as a Celt. He signed for Celtic in June 1901, where he found the going a little tougher and was said to lack "pluck"! Alex made his debut only a few days after signing in a 1-1 home league draw with Dundee on 17th August 1901. He was a regular for a brief time in September and October 1901, which saw him score twice, one a winning goal v Hibs in a 2-1 victory, another in a 2-0 win over Third Lanark a week later. After a loan spell at Morton, he returned to the Bhoys and was a member of the side which won the Ibrox Disaster Trophy in 1902. It is not certain and was argued if it was Alex Crawford or Willie Loney who took the corner that led to the goal that won the game for Celtic in extra-time. He got a medal (supplied by Bovril) for the match. He was only given a handful of games in the early part of season 1902-03, scoring a saving goal as Celtic drew 2-2 with St Mirren in Aug 1902. Alex played a total of 10 league games for Celtic and scored three goals. He was unfortunate in that Celtic just missed out on winning the league title, losing the title by just 2pts to Rangers (due to Celtic having drawn two more games), so missed out on a league title medal.

Alex left Parkhead in December 1902 to join Partick Thistle. By now he was running his own drapery business in town and the football was his form of relaxing. Thistle and Alex were good for each other and he enjoyed two succesful seasons as the Jags finished 8th and 6th in the leagues, the latter a new record-high for the club. Although not an automatic pick, Alex featured 15 times in all competitions in 1902-03 and 19 times the following season. He endeared himself to the Meadowside faithful in the springtime of 1903 with his first two goals being registered against both halves of the Old Firm, a 3-3 friendly draw with Rangers (14th March) being followed by a 3-0 Inter City league win over Celtic (25th April). Alex will have been pleased that all 4 of his goals in 1903-04 earned top flight points as the club reached for a record-high place.

In his personal life, Alex married Dora Anna Schmidt and they raised a family together. He was always entrepreneurial and latterly was the director of a sausage casings company. Sadly, he became a widower in later years and he himself was admitted early to a nursing home in Glasgow where he passed away from pnuemonia in the summer of 1937. His son, James, signed the register entry and the funeral took place at Craigton Cemetery on 12th June 1937.