Alan Roderick Rough is a Scottish former footballer, who played as a goalkeeper. Rough won 53 caps for Scotland and played in two FIFA World Cups. He also had a long club career, principally with Partick Thistle and Hibernian. Since retiring as a player, Rough had a spell as manager of junior club Glenafton Athletic and has worked in the media, particularly on radio phone-in shows.
After making his debut at the end of season 1969–70, Rough went on to play a total of 624 games for Partick Thistle in all competitions, which are all-time club record totals. He was a member of the Jags team that defeated Celtic 4–1 in the 1971 Scottish League Cup Final. Rough told The Scotsman in 2010: "I loved playing for Thistle, loved winning the League Cup with them, and maybe I stayed there too long but that was me. I never thought about 'career' and I never bothered about money. All of my business ventures – the pub in Maryhill, the sports shop in Musselburgh – failed. But I absolutely loved standing in the Wembley tunnel next to these English stars like Kevin Keegan and Emlyn Hughes when I was on 40 quid a week at Thistle, when the previous week at Firhill the crowd had been 2100, and we were about to walk on to the park and enjoy a famous win." Shortly after his testimonial game in 1982, Rough transferred to Hibernian for a £60,000 fee. He was eventually replaced by Andy Goram, who also took his place in the Scotland squad. After leaving Hibs in 1988, Rough played in the United States with Orlando Lions. He also had spells with Celtic, Hamilton Academical and Ayr United before leaving senior football.
International
Rough played in two FIFA World Cup tournaments for Scotland, in 1978 and 1982. He played 53 times for his country, keeping a clean sheet in 16 of those games. At the time of his retirement, Rough was Scotland's most capped goalkeeper, but this record has since been broken by Jim Leighton. Rough's penultimate cap was won in the tragic circumstances of the 1–1 draw with Wales at Ninian Park, Cardiff in 1985. Rough came on as a half-time substitute because Leighton had lost his contact lenses. The result, secured by a late Davie Cooperpenalty kick, meant that Scotland qualified for a play-off against Australia, but manager Jock Stein collapsed and died at the end of the match. Rough was selected for the finals squad by Alex Ferguson, but only played in one further international.
After playing
Coaching
Rough had a successful five-year spell as the manager of Junior club Glenafton Athletic after being appointed in 1990. He led the team to three Scottish Junior Cup finals in a row between 1991–92 to 1993–94, also reaching the semi-finals in 1990–91 and 1994–95. Glenafton lost 4–0 to Auchinleck Talbot in the 1992 final and 1–0 to Largs Thistle in the 1994 final, but did beat Tayport 1–0 in the 1993 final at Firhill Stadium, winning the trophy for the first time. The team also added the Ayrshire First Division title and the Ayrshire Cup to make it a treble in 1992–93, the most successful season in the club's history.
Rough married Margaret Barry, a Daily Mirror reporter, in 2009 after a seventeen-year engagement. Barry has two children from a previous relationship. Rough was previously married to Michelle, a former model and Tennent's girl. Michelle and Alan had one son, also named Alan.
