Alex Forbes
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Alexander Rooney Forbes[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 21 January 1925 | ||
| Place of birth | Dundee, Scotland | ||
| Date of death | 28 July 2014 (aged 89) | ||
| Place of death | Johannesburg, South Africa | ||
| Position(s) | Wing half | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Dundee North End | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1944–1948 | Sheffield United | 61 | (6) |
| 1948–1956 | Arsenal | 240 | (20) |
| 1956–1957 | Leyton Orient | 8 | (0) |
| 1957–1958 | Fulham | 4 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| 1947–1952 | Scotland[2] | 14 | (0) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Alexander Rooney Forbes (21 January 1925 – 28 July 2014) was a Scottish football player and manager.
Forbes was born in Dundee.[3] As a teenager he worked in the dockyards and played junior football for Dundee North End.[3] He signed for English professional club Sheffield United in 1944 and became a first team regular when competitive football resumed after the end of the Second World War.[3] Forbes suffered an injury during the 1947–48 season and lost his place in the Sheffield United first team, which prompted Forbes to ask for a transfer.[3]
Arsenal signed Forbes in March 1948 for a fee of £15,000.[3] The move was encouraged by Forbes' Scotland teammate Archie Macaulay, who subsequently lost his place in the Arsenal team to Forbes.[3] Arsenal won the English league championship in 1947–48 and the FA Cup in 1950.[3] Forbes played an important role in the latter victory, as Arsenal defeated Liverpool 2–0 in the final.[3] Arsenal reached another FA Cup final in 1952, but they lost 1–0 to Newcastle.[3] The club then won another league championship in 1952–53, finishing ahead of Preston on goal average.[3]
Forbes suffered from recurring knee injuries during the 1955–56 season.[3] Arsenal signed Dave Bowen to replace Forbes, who they allowed to leave at the end of the season.[3] Forbes played for Leyton Orient, Fulham and non-league club Gravesend and Northfleet before retiring as a player.[3]
Forbes played 14 times for Scotland from 1947 to 1952.[2] He also represented Scotland at ice hockey.[4]
Coaching career
Forbes returned to Arsenal as a youth team coach.[3] While taking an Arsenal team on a tour of South Africa in 1964, he was offered the opportunity to coach the Wanderers side.[3] Forbes decided to accept and emigrated soon afterwards.[3] Although Wanderers were an all-white club at the time, Forbes also coached black players in township and gold mine teams.[3] He became manager of Orlando Pirates in 1975.[5] His life in South Africa was not dull and saw him coach a few more teams after Pirates. The likes of Rangers, Highlands Park, Western Tigers and Swaraj all in his later years. He also coached football at Yeshiva College for many years.[3] Forbes briefly became coach of the Israeli club Maccabi Haifa and he also worked in Kuwait.[3] He only fully retired from football when he was aged 83, when he had already been diagnosed as suffering from prostate cancer.[3]