Maley Alex Image 2 Crystal Palace Manager 1927

Description

Largs, Ayrshire born Alex Maley never played at senior level unlike his more famous brothers Tom and Willie Maley, but first went into football management with Clyde in 1909, where he stayed for three years before taking the reins at Clydebank in 1914. After seven years with The Bankies he became manager of Hibernian in 1921 and led them to successive Scottish Cup Finals in 1923 and 1924, although both were lost.

Maley became manager of Crystal Palace in November 1925, and oversaw 13th and 6th place finishes in Division Three (South) in 1926 and 1927 respectively. However, the next season started poorly and after a succession of defeats Maley resigned in October 1927, and returned to Scotland where he had a second spell as manager of Clydebank. He later served as a director of Hibernian.

His two older brothers Tom and Willie Maley were notable football figures. Tom played for Partick Thistle, Dundee Harp, Hibernian, Third Lanark and Celtic before becoming a football manager, most notably with Manchester City where he won the FA Cup in 1904. In 1906 he became manager of Bradford Park Avenue then later assisted Southport. Willie Maley is a legend of Glasgow Celtic football club, he was a Scottish international who played for them between 1888 and 1897, also playing for Manchester City, and he was later manager of Celtic between 1897 and 1940.

NB in the photograph he stands on the right with Crystal Palace trainer Joey Jones.