| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexander Mathie | ||
| Date of birth | 20 December 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | Bathgate, Scotland | ||
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
| Playing position | Forward | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1987–1991 | Celtic | 11 | (0) |
| 1991–1993 | Greenock Morton | 74 | (31) |
| 1993 | → Port Vale (loan) | 3 | (0) |
| 1993–1995 | Newcastle United | 25 | (4) |
| 1995–1998 | Ipswich Town | 109 | (38) |
| 1998–2000 | Dundee United | 38 | (5) |
| 1999 | → Preston North End (loan) | 12 | (2) |
| 2000–2003 | York City | 52 | (3) |
| 2003 | Spennymoor | ||
| 2003 | Pickering Town | 2 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | West Auckland Town | ||
| 2004–2007 | Pickering Town | ||
| Total | 230 | (94) | |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2003 | Spennymoor United | ||
| 2003–2004 | West Auckland Town | ||
| 2004–2007 | Pickering Town | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Alexander (Alex) Mathie (born 20 December 1968 in Bathgate) is a Scottish former footballer who made over 200 appearances as a striker for a number of British clubs. His most recent position was as player-manager of NCEL Premier Division side Pickering Town, resigning from the club in January 2007.
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Mathie began his career with Celtic, making eleven appearances before leaving for Greenock Morton in 1991 in a £100,000 deal. At Morton he had a short loan spell with Port Vale of the English Second Division, he made three appearances in April 1993, all of them as a substitute.[1]
At the end of the 1992–93 season, Mathie won a move to Newcastle United, in a deal worth just under £300k. After scoring on his debut in a 4–2 win over Sheffield Wednesday, he played just 25 times in two seasons and moved to Ipswich Town in February 1995 for £500,000. In 1998 he scored a hat-trick against rivals Norwich City, becoming an Ipswich legend in the process.[2]
His regular scoring in over 100 appearances saw his valuation rise and in October 1998 Dundee United handed Ipswich around £700k for his services. He replaced the outgoing Robbie Winters, who had moved on to Aberdeen for around the same fee (plus Billy Dodds) a few weeks previously. With just two goals in the 1998–99 season, Gary McSwegan played a fraction of Mathie's games and yet scored twice as many. Dodds had scored seventeen goals in as many appearances as Mathie.
He was loaned out to Preston North End in the Second Division for the early part of the 1999–2000 season, scoring four goals in eighteen games. Returning to Dundee United in December 1999, following the sale of Dodds to Rangers for £1.3 million, he scored his first goal and only at Tannadice Park on 30 January 2000, in a 4–1 defeat of Airdrieonians. As United's #9 he hit the net four times in seventeen games that season, though this still left him 5th in the club's scoring charts.
He played four games of the 2000–01 season; a 2–1 defeat to Celtic,[3] 3–0 loss at Hibernian,[4] 1–1 draw with Motherwell[5] and 2–1 defeat by St. Johnstone.[6] Leaving the SPL in September 2000 after being released by Dundee United,[7] he joined York City on a free transfer in the English Third Division.[8]
He made 52 league appearances for York, half of them as a substitute, before leaving professional football at the end of the 2002–03 season for player-manager spells in lower league English football.
In 2003 he spent time as Spennymoor United player-manager, before moving on to West Auckland Town. In 2004 he became player-manager of Pickering Town before resigning in January 2007.
On 29 July 2008, Mathie began working for BBC Radio Suffolk to provide match commentary and analysis for former side Ipswich, joining former players such as Bryan Hamilton and John Wark.[9] Six weeks later, Mathie was due to participate in a legends match for Ipswich against Norwich City in aid of the Canaries' Historical Trust.[10]
Now working for Royal Mail, Mathie is a delivery office manager in York. He will play in the 2011 York postmen's charity match, raising money for the William Rhodes foundation, set up in aid of the son of his former York team-mate Ben Rhodes.[11]