OTD: ALEX RAE BORN
Born on this day in 1969 in Glasgow is former midfielder Alex Rae. The combative player was a fan favourite on Wearside after signing for Peter Reid’s side.
Rae began his career as a youngster at Rangers but was rejected by manager Graeme Souness. He ended up signing for Falkirk, where he made over 80 appearances in two years. The midfielder crossed the border to England in 1990, signing for Millwall for £100,000 (just under £260,000 today). Despite playing as a midfielder, Rae is Millwall’s ninth-top scorer with 71 goals in total and was even their top goalscorer for three seasons in a row. He played for The Lions for six years, until Premier League outfit Sunderland came calling.
Alex made his debut as a late substitute in a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle United, replacing Steve Agnew. His first start came in a 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough, in which Rae also scored his first Sunderland goal. It was a penalty which quickly cancelled out Emerson’s opener. Despite the team’s struggles in the 1996/97 season (we were relegated from the top flight), Rae wasn’t able to fully break into the side and had to wait until next season to get his chance. He immediately became a fan favourite due to his tough-tackling style of play, leaving everything on the pitch. Even though he had recurring injury trouble, Rae was integral whenever he played and helped the Lads reach the play-off final in 1998. We famously lost against Charlton Athletic in the most heart-breaking fashion. Missing out on penalties after a 4-4 draw, widely considered the best play-off final of all time. Rae did at least score his penalty though.
The following season, Rae’s off the pitch struggles began to spiral. He suffered more injuries and took some time away from football to address his alcohol addiction. Upon arriving back at Sunderland, Alex expressed his gratitude at the number of good wishes from Sunderland fans. Unfortunately, another big ligament injury kept him out of action again and he was never really able to work his way back into Peter Reid’s team. He joined Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2001 for £1.2 million.
At his new club, Wolves fans quickly realised why Rae was so popular on Wearside. In the 2002/03 season, he was given their Player of the Season award and helped guide the club to the Premier League via the play-offs. The following season, he was even their top scorer with eight goals, his best ever return in a season. Rae returned to Scotland in 2004, signing for Rangers. They won the league in his first season, but he only featured 12 times the following year before being released. After this, he spent two years with Dundee (whilst also being player-manager_ before making a few appearances for Milton Keynes Dons (whilst working as their assistant manager) and retired in 2010.
He then had a year as the assistant at Notts County and a year doing the same at Blackpool. Rae then moved to Belgium to assist at KRC Genk and he was then given a role as manager of St Mirren. He was sacked after 32 games in charge, winnigng 13, drawing six and losing 13. A few years out of the game followed but in 2022 he became the assistant manager at Reading, then he worked at Rangers as a first-team coach following the sacking of future Sunderland manager Michael Beale and he now works as an assistant at Partick Thistle.
