Ally Maxwell

{{Short description|Scottish football player and coach (born 1965)}}

{{Infobox football biography

| name = Ally Maxwell

| fullname = Alistair Espie Maxwell{{Hugman|13367|accessdate=16 March 2017}}

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1965|2|16|df=y}}

| birth_place = Hamilton, Scotland{{cite web|url=http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football/rangers-fc/ally-maxwell-4855/league-appearances_a16440/|title=Ally Maxwell|website=Sporting Heroes|access-date=27 October 2018}}

| currentclub = SC Del Sol Soccer Club (coach)

| height = 1.78 m{{Cite web |title=Ally Maxwell |url=https://www.motherwellnet.com/database/player-archive/m/ally-maxwell/ |access-date=2023-02-28 |website=motherWELLnet}}

| position = Goalkeeper

| youthyears1 = –1981

| youthclubs1 = Fir Park B.C.

| youthyears2 = 1981–1983

| youthclubs2 = Motherwell

| years1 = 1983–1991

| years2 = 1987–1988

| years3 = 1992

| years4 = 1992–1995

| years5 = 1995–1998

| years6 = 1998–2001

| clubs1 = Motherwell

| clubs2 = → Clydebank (loan)

| clubs3 = → Bolton Wanderers (loan)

| clubs4 = Rangers

| clubs5 = Dundee United

| clubs6 = Greenock Morton

| caps1 = 134

| caps2 = 1

| caps3 = 3

| caps4 = 53

| caps5 = 44

| caps6 = 65

| goals1 = 0

| goals2 = 0

| goals3 = 0

| goals4 = 0

| goals5 = 0

| goals6 = 0

| totalcaps = 300

| totalgoals = 0

| nationalyears1 = 1994

| nationalteam1 = Scotland B

| nationalcaps1 = 1

| nationalgoals1 = 0

| manageryears1 = 2001

| managerclubs1 = Greenock Morton

}}

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.

Club career

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. 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/1991/may/20/newsstory.sport|title=Well take the Cup to leave United high and dry again|author=Patrick Glenn |date=20 May 1991|access-date=5 November 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://thesefootballtimes.co/2016/12/21/motherwells-class-of-91-a-rare-moment-in-the-sun/|title=Motherwell's Class of '91: a rare moment in the sun|website=These Football Times|author=Will Sharp|date=21 December 2016|access-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181027143241/https://thesefootballtimes.co/2016/12/21/motherwells-class-of-91-a-rare-moment-in-the-sun/|archive-date=27 October 2018|url-status=dead}} 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.{{cite web|url=http://www.motherwellnet.com/database/player-archive/m/ally-maxwell/|title=Ally Maxwell|website=MotherwerWELLnet|access-date=27 October 2018}}

After a loan spell in England with Bolton Wanderers Maxwell moved to Rangers{{cite web|url=http://www.fitbastats.com/rangers/player.php?playerid=1337|title=Rangers player Ally Maxwell|website=FitbaStats|access-date=27 October 2018}} for a £300,000 fee, where he was initially backup to Andy Goram but played regularly when Goram was recovering from injury,{{cite web|title=Andy Goram|url=http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football/rangers-fc/andy-goram-4970/biography-of-rangers-career_a11484/|website=Sporting Heroes|access-date=31 October 2018}} picking up a Scottish League Cup winners' medal in 1993{{cite web|url=https://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/on-this-day-league-cup-1993/|title=On This Day: League Cup 1993|website=Rangers F.C.|date=24 October 2016|access-date=10 November 2017|archive-date=11 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171111041632/https://rangers.co.uk/news/headlines/on-this-day-league-cup-1993/|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-241093-league-cup-final-hibs-v-rangers-1-2-celtic-park-glasgow-the-28622790.html|title=24 October 1993 League Cup Final Hibs v Rangers (1-2) Celtic Park – Glasgow; The Rangers team celebrate with the League Cup trophy|publisher=Alamy|date=1993-10-24 |access-date=27 October 2018}} 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.{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-scottish-cup-golacs-day-of-glory-1437591.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160307022621/http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-scottish-cup-golacs-day-of-glory-1437591.html |archive-date=2016-03-07 |url-access=limited |url-status=live|title=Football / Scottish Cup: Golac's day of glory|work=The Independent|location=London|date=21 May 1994|access-date=27 October 2018}} 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.

Maxwell then moved to Dundee United in 1995 for £250,000 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.arabarchive.co.uk/player.php?id=260|title=Ally Maxwell|website=Arab Archive|access-date=27 October 2018

}} A move to Greenock Morton followed, where he played regularly for two seasons before becoming a coach and then manager at the club.{{cite web|url=http://www.fitbastats.com/morton/player.php?playerid=673|title=Morton player Ally Maxwell|website=FitbaStats|access-date=27 October 2018}}

On 1 November 2019, it was announced that Maxwell was to be inducted into the Motherwell F.C. Hall of Fame.{{cite web|title=Ally Maxwell inducted to Hall of Fame|url=https://www.motherwellfc.co.uk/2019/11/01/ally-maxwell-inducted-to-hall-of-fame/|work=motherwellfc.co.uk|date=November 2019 |access-date=1 November 2019}}

International career

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.{{cite web|url=http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_football.cfm?curpageid=528 |title=Scotland B Internationals |access-date=22 August 2008 |work=Scottish Football Association |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080914054343/http://www.scottishfa.co.uk/scottish_football.cfm?curpageid=528 |archive-date=14 September 2008 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web|url=http://www.fitbastats.com/scotlandb/player.php?playerid=85|title=Scotland B player Ally Maxwell|website=FitbaStats|access-date=27 October 2018}}

Coaching career

Maxwell was briefly a goalkeeping coach at Hamilton Academical, after managing Morton for half a season in 2001.{{cite web|url=http://www.fitbastats.com/morton/manager.php?id=91|title=Morton manager Ally Maxwell|website=FitbaStats|access-date=27 October 2018}}

A UEFA 'A' licensed professional coach, he now resides in the USA. He works as the goalkeeping coach at SC Del Sol in Arizona, where he has been since 2008.{{cite news|url=http://www.scdelsol.com/coaches/ally-maxwell/|title=Coaches – Ally Maxwell|publisher=SC Del Sol|access-date=9 August 2015}}