July 9, 1938
Alex Raisbeck returns to the West Country after an absence of nine years. Since leaving Bristol City, he has made quite a name for himself at Halifax and Chester, and Bath City should do very well under his guidance.
Alex will find there is very little money to spend at Bath, but, of course, being outside the league he will have the opportunity of picking star players without having to pay fee for them.
Ipswich gaining admittance to the Third Division plus the remarks which were made at the League meeting regarding giving clubs a chance to show whether they were worth League status has fire the imagination of such teams as Bath City, and hope again springs in the breasts of the sister city that League football will eventually be played at Twerton.
Alex Raisbeck had a wonderful career as a player, and his active interest in the game dates back to 1894, when he started with Larkhall Thistle. He was soon into Scottish League football, and inside two years was playing for Hibernians, the Edinburgh side.
In 1897 he got recognition by the Scottish League and played against the Irish League. This game was on the Cliftonville Club ground, and curiously enough 16 years later it was on the same ground he played his last international match.
A giant of a man, he was first choice for Scotland in the days when football was a game of giants.
His first visit to England was on loan when Stoke, threatened by relegation borrowed him for the last nine weeks of the season, and he helped them to stay up.
Later he returned to England at what was then a tremendous fee, Liverpool paying £350 for his signature, and it was while with Liverpool that he gained most of his renown. Finally he went back to Scotland and spent his last five seasons with Partick Thistle.
His first experience as a manager was with Hamilton Academical, and later he became a director of that club, but in December, 1921, he came west as secretary-manager of Bristol City. He spent eight years at Ashton Gate, and was succeeded by Joe Bradshaw, who in turn gave way to Bob Hewinson.
(Source: Cheltenham Chronicle: July 9, 1938)
"Play Up, Liverpool" 