Alan Roderick Rough (; born 25 November 1951) is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He 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.
Early life
Rough was born in Glasgow and was educated at Knightswood Secondary School.
Club career
After making his debut at the end of season 1969–70, Rough went on to play a total of 631 games for Partick Thistle in all competitions (409 in the league),
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 (Scotland XI vs Celtic), 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 (covering for the injured Pat Bonner), Hamilton Academical and Ayr United before leaving senior football.
He was won the SFWA Footballer of the Year and finished runner-up (separated by a single vote) for Scottish Football Personality of the Year in 1981.
International career
Rough was chosen for the Scotland under-18s for the UEFA under-18 Euros held on home soil in 1970. Rough came on as a half-time substitute because Leighton had lost his contact lenses. 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. From August 2006 to June 2009, the Irish sports broadcaster Setanta Sports simulcasted the show live twice a week on Setanta Sports 1.
He later co-presented a football show along with Peter Martin shown on STV2, STV. The Football Show was eventually moved to YouTube on the channel PLZ Soccer. Alan Rough continues to be a co-host on the show with Peter Martin on Mondays and Fridays covering Scottish football.
Director
Rough was appointed to the Partick Thistle board of directors in June 2018. He resigned from this position in July 2019 following a boardroom coup which saw chairman Jacqui Low ousted. Rough was re-appointed to the board later in 2019, when Low returned to the chairperson role after the purchase of club shares by her friend Colin Weir. Rough remained a non-executive director at the club until December 2022, when several board members were forced to resign due to fan discontent at the lack of movement on a promise of fan ownership that had been made by Weir before his death.
Involvement in 2026 World Cup Day of Dance
Rough took part in the launch of this on Tuesday 26th May, 2026 at Barclays Hampden. Pupils from Croftfoot Primary School also took part in the event,. The Herald<nowiki/>'s Donald Erskine reported that Rough was "put through his paces" and performed a dance called "The World Cup Wheech" devised by pupils from Penpont Primary School in Dumfries & Galloway, Rough was quoted as saying "“I’ve faced a few tricky footwork drills in my time, but learning the World Cup Wheech was a new challenge.". He also said "The World Cup is a special moment for the whole country, and it was fantastic to see schools using that excitement in such a positive way.".
Personal life
Rough married Margaret Barry,
Rough was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2022 Birthday Honours for services to association football and to charity in Scotland.
Career statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
|-
!National team!!Year!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="11"|Scotland
|1976||7||0
|-
|1977||9||0
|-
|1978||7||0
|-
|1979||7||0
|-
|1980||7||0
|-
|1981||7||0
|-
|1982||7||0
|-
|1983||colspan="2"|—
|-
|1984||colspan="2"|—
|-
|1985||1||0
|-
|1986||1||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total!!53!!0
|}
Honours
Player
Partick Thistle
- Scottish League Cup: 1971–72
- Scottish First Division: 1970–71, 1975–76 (second tier)
Scotland national team
- British Home Championship: 1975–76, 1976–77
- Rous Cup: 1985
Manager
Glenafton Athletic
- Scottish Junior Cup: 1992–93
- Scottish FA International Roll of Honour: 1982
- Partick Thistle Hall of Fame: Inducted, 2010
- Hibernian Hall of Fame: Inducted, 2012
- Scottish Football Hall of Fame: Inducted, 2013
- Glenafton Athletic Hall of Fame: Inducted, 2017
See also
- List of footballers in Scotland by number of league appearances (500+)