Albion Rovers stalwart breaks 89-year-old club record amid astonishing appearance tally

Alan Reid reigns supreme at Rovers with a record number of appearances for the Coatbridge club

Alan Reid admits all he has ever wanted to do was play football – but he never imagined his love of the game would take him into the history books.

The 37-year-old broke an 89-year-old club record at Albion Rovers on Tuesday when he made his 494th appearance for the Coatbridge club in a 3-2 defeat at home to Broxburn Athletic.

That surpassed the previous record appearance holder, Murdy Walls, who had held the accolade since 1936 and racked up his haul in a 15-year spell.

Club captain ‘Reidy’ is now in his third stint at Cliftonhill - one as a youth and two as a senior player - and he has been blown away to learn that he will go down in Rovers folklore, with a number of outings that seems unlikely to ever be broken, given the journeyman nature of football in the modern era.

The defender made his debut as a youth player, landing an outing in a 4-2 defeat at Stenhousemuir in 2006, aged just 17.

It would be two years later before his next Rovers appearance, as his second spell kicked off with a 0-0 draw against Raith Rovers in the League Cup.

This stage of his career would provide halcyon days for Rovers, as during a 12-year spell he picked up a league title, promotions, Scottish Cup shocks and enjoyed a memorable clash with Rangers in which they took the Glasgow giants to a Scottish Cup replay in 2014.

His third and current spell has come with the club at its lowest ebb, locked in the Lowland League for the past two seasons and now struggling financially to compete.

But he is determined to continue to help a club close to his heart and has the big milestone of 500 well in his sights, as he sets a new club record with every passing game.

“I didn’t really know too much about the record until towards the end of last season, when one of the fans said to me that I was close to breaking it,” Reid revealed. "I was four off it then and now that’s me broke it, so I am delighted.

“I know I’m not getting any younger so at the end of last season - when I was getting wee niggling injuries - I wanted to try and get through to another season. It has been good and the next target is obviously 500 now.

“Since I was a wee boy I’ve always just wanted to play football, but you don’t expect things like this.

“I have got an affinity with the club, playing there that long, and the fans have been great with me. I just want to keep playing until my body tells me not to, which might be sooner than I think.

“I just love the game, especially now being able to pass stuff on to the younger ones.

“There have been ups and downs, but my times there have been mostly ups. I wasn’t there when the club got relegated to the Lowland League, so most of my memories are good ones.

“There’s so many highlights and they coincided with the club’s most successful period.

“The first proper game I remember is the play-off final at Annan [a 4-3 aggregate win that took Rovers up to what was then the Second Division] and that is always one the fans bring up.

“I went on to League Two and we then stayed in League One under Paul Martin, which was a really great achievement. We stayed up two years in a row and then had the Rangers and Celtic games.

“Taking Rangers to a Scottish Cup relay was a huge highlight. That was the same season we beat Motherwell as well, so I’ve had some great experiences.”

Reid’s days at Rovers have seen him encounter eight different managers: Jim Chapman, John McCormack, Paul Martin, Todd Lumsden, James Ward, Darren Young, Brian Kerr and now Sandy Clark.

Reid, who works as a medical undewriter when not involved a Rovers, added: “There’s been a lot of managers, probably eight or nine. I’ve been fortunate that any time a new manager came in, they liked me so I’ve always managed to stay in the team.

“I’ve actually had three spells at Rovers. I was there as a young boy. I was 16 at the time and had just been released by Hibs.

“I played under Jimmy Lindsay’s youth team, played there for a year, went to Hamilton for a while and came back to Rovers about the age of 17/18, 20 years ago.

“My first senior spell at Rovers was long and when I left I thought that was me done. I went away to Stenny, Caledonian Braves and Cambuslang Rangers.

“I knew Sandy previously [from when he assisted Darren Young at Rovers] and when I left Cambuslang I just asked if I could come in and train with them. I wasn’t looking for any handouts or anything, but I came in and did well and he wanted to sign me.

“I’ve been really enjoying it since I came back.”

A commemorative cake marked appearance 400 at Rovers and Reid said: “I got a signed top for 450 appearances, so we’ll see what the club does for 500.

“I think they might wait for that before anything else happens [marking the record].”