Alex "Big Ming" Menzies was a Scottish

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 professional footballer

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

, who played for Cowdenbeath

Cowdenbeath F.C.

Cowdenbeath Football Club are a professional Scottish football team based in the town of Cowdenbeath, Fife. They currently play in the Second Division of the Scottish Football League. The club plays its home games at Central Park in the centre of the town which has the unusual feature of a motor...

 and Stirling Albion

Stirling Albion F.C.

Stirling Albion F.C. are a Scottish football club currently playing in the Scottish Second Division. The club are nicknamed The Binos . They play at Doubletree Dunblane Stadium in Stirling, on the outskirts of the city near the River Forth...

 amongst others.

A former coal-miner, (Ferguson 2006) Menzies joined Cowdenbeath,his hometown club, in 1948. Menzies, a tough-tackling wing half

Midfielder

A midfielder is an association football position. Some midfielders play a more defensive role, while others blur the boundaries between midfielders and forwards. The number of midfielders a team uses during a match may vary, depending on the team's formation and each individual player's role...

 was a member of the side that took Rangers

Rangers F.C.

Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...

 to the brink of defeat over a two-legged Scottish League Cup

Scottish League Cup

The Scottish League Cup is a football competition open to all Scottish Football League and Scottish Premier League clubs. At present it is also known as the Scottish Communities League Cup owing to the sponsorship deal in place with the Scottish Government. In the past it has been sponsored by...

 tie in September 1949. The late Harry Ewing

Harry Ewing, Baron Ewing of Kirkford

Harry Ewing, Baron Ewing of Kirkford DL was a Labour politician in Scotland. He served as a Member of Parliament for 21 years, from a by-election in 1971 until the 1992 general election, when he became a life peer...

 said that "If you cut Ming in half, like a stick of Blackpool Rock he would have Cowdenbeath

Cowdenbeath

Cowdenbeath is a town and burgh in west Fife, Scotland. It is 5 miles north-east of Dunfermline and 18 miles north of the capital, Edinburgh. The town grew up around the extensive coalfields of the area and became a Police Burgh in 1890...

printed around his waist.". After his death in 1990, Ewing recommended Cowdenbeath's new stand be named "The Alex Menzies Stand", a suggestion that was adopted by the board.

Everyone in Cowdenbeath knew Big Ming. He belonged to the Desperate Dan school of Scottish footballing manhood - Ron Ferguson