Introduction
Alexander "Alec" Cleland (born 10 December 1970) is a Scottish former professional footballer.
Cleland player as a defender for Scottish sides Rangers and Dundee United and English team Everton. Although never capped at senior level for Scotland, he did make regular appearances for the youth sides. After retiring from football, he moved into coaching, having three spells as caretaker boss at Livingston and a brief tenure as interim manager at St Johnstone.
Playing career
Cleland started his career with Dundee United, for whom he made 159 appearances, lifting the Scottish Cup in 1994. He signed for Rangers in a joint deal with Gary Bollan in 1995 and established himself in the right-back slot at Ibrox. After over 100 appearances for the Glasgow club, he joined Premier League side Everton along with manager Walter Smith in 1998; however, his time in England was blighted with constant injury problems, and he only made 44 appearances before retiring in 2002.
Coaching career
Cleland was assistant manager to Steve Morrison at East Stirlingshire before joining Partick Thistle in January 2004. On 21 June 2004, Cleland was appointed as youth coach at Livingston, taking over from Paul Hegarty who left to join Dunfermline Athletic.
Whilst at Livi he served as caretaker-manager role on two occasions, firstly after the dismissal of Allan Preston in November 2004. Cleland led the side to a 3–1 win away to Kilmarnock on 27 November, ended a seven-game losing run. Then following the sacking of John Robertson in April 2007 which ultimately led to him leaving the club a month later when he failed to become permanent manager.
After leaving Livingston, Cleland coached part-time at Rangers in their Academy before being appointed youth coach at Inverness Caledonian Thistle in January 2008. Following their relegation, Cleland was released as a coach by Inverness Caledonian Thistle to cut costs but shortly afterwards took up a similar position at St Johnstone. He served as their caretaker manager in October 2011, after Derek McInnes and Tony Docherty left for Bristol City.
Career statistics
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Scotland | League | Scottish Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1987–88 | Dundee United | Scottish Premier Division | 1 | 0 | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | |||
| 1988–89 | 9 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |||
| 1989–90 | 15 | 0 | – | – | 2 | 1 | 17 | 1 | ||||
| 1990–91 | 21 | 2 | – | 4 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 29 | 3 | |||
| 1991–92 | 32 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 34 | 4 | |||
| 1992–93 | 24 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 28 | 0 | |||
| 1993–94 | 31 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 41 | 1 | ||
| 1994–95 | 18 | 1 | – | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 21 | 1 | |||
| Rangers | 10 | 0 | N/A | – | N/A | 10 | 0 | |||||
| 1995–96 | 25 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 37 | 4 | ||
| 1996–97 | 32 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 45 | 0 | ||
| 1997–98 | 29 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 41 | 3 | ||
| 1998–99 | Everton | Premier League | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 22 | 0 | |
| 1999–00 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 12 | 0 | |||
| 2000–01 | 5 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | ||||
| 2001–02 | 3 | 0 | – | – | – | 3 | 0 | |||||
| Career total | 281 | 12 | 24 | 3 | 31 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 359 | 17 | ||
Honours
- Dundee United
- Scottish Cup: 1
-
- 1993–94
- Rangers
- Scottish Premier Division: 2
-
- 1995–96, 1996–97
- Scottish Cup: 1
-
- 1995–96
- Scottish League Cup: 1
-
- 1996–97