Alan Combe

Alan Combe (born 3 April 1974) is a Scottish football coach and former player who is goalkeeping coach. He played as a goalkeeper for Cowdenbeath, St Mirren, Dundee United, Bradford City and Kilmarnock. He has previously worked as a goalkeeping coach for Alloa Athletic, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian, Cove Rangers and Dundee.

Alan Combe

Alan Combe in 2024
Personal information
Full name	Alan Combe[1]
Date of birth	(1974-04-03) 3 April 1974 (age 51)
Place of birth	Edinburgh, Scotland
Youth career
	Kelty Hearts
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1992–1993	Cowdenbeath	18	(0)
1993–1998	St Mirren	124	(0)
1998–2003	Dundee United	73	(0)
2002	→ Bradford City (loan)	16	(0)
2003–2004	Bradford City	21	(0)
2004–2011	Kilmarnock	149	(0)
2011	Clyde (trial)	1	(0)
2011	Hamilton Academical (trial)	1	(0)
2012	Greenock Morton	10	(0)
2012–2014	Heart of Midlothian	0	(0)
2014–2015	Hibernian	0	(0)
Total		413	(0)
International career
2005	Scotland B	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

Combe was born in Edinburgh. He was Kilmarnock's regular goalkeeper until he suffered a serious hip injury early in the 2009–10 season.^[2] He was released by Kilmarnock on 31 January 2011.^[3]

Combe playing for Kilmarnock

Combe joined Alloa Athletic in August 2011 as a goalkeeping coach.^[4] In November 2011, Combe played for Clyde against Annan Athletic and kept a clean sheet.^[5] He went on trial with Hamilton Academical in December 2011, making his debut on 27 December 2011.^[6]

In March 2012, Combe signed a deal with Greenock Morton^[7] that was due to run until the end of the 2012–13 season. He left Morton in September 2012 to Join Hearts, primarily as a goalkeeping coach.^[8] Combe retained his playing registration during spells with Hearts and Hibernian, but did not appear in a first team match for either club.

International career

Combe was named in the senior Scotland squad on a few occasions but was not capped. Combe did however appear for the Scotland B team in 2005, playing in the second half of a 2–0 victory against Poland B.

Coaching career

While playing for Morton, Combe worked as a goalkeeping coach at Alloa Athletic.^[9] Combe was released from his contract with Morton in 2012 to become a goalkeeping coach at Hearts, although he retained his playing registration in case of emergency.^[8][10] After being released by Hearts in 2014, in July Combe joined boyhood club Hibernian as a player-coach.^[11] He left Hibernian during the 2020 close season.^[12] Combe joined Cove Rangers as a goalkeeping coach in September 2020.^[13] In July 2021, Combe was announced as the new goalkeeping coach for Dundee, following the departure of Bobby Geddes.^[14] Combe remained in the post for 4 years under several different managers, before being relieved of his duties in May 2025.^[15]

Personal life

Combe is the great nephew of Bobby Combe, who played for Hibs and Scotland in the 1940s and 1950s.^[16]

Career statistics

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup[a]		League cup[b]		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Cowdenbeath	1992–93	Scottish First Division	18	0					18	0
St Mirren	1993–94	Scottish First Division	16	0					16	0
	1994–95		21	0					21	0
	1995–96		21	0					21	0
	1996–97		36	0			2	0	38	0
	1997–98		30	0	1	0	2	0	33	0
	Total		124	0	1	0	4	0	129	0
Dundee United	1998–99	Scottish Premier League	10	0	–		–		10	0
	1999–2000		35	0	4	0	4	0	43	0
	2000–01		23	0	–		3	0	26	0
	2002–03		5	0	–		1	0	6	0
	TOtal		73	0	4	0	8	0	85	0
Bradford City (loan)	2001–02	Football League First Division	16	0	–		–		16	0
Bradford City	2003–04	Football League First Division	21	0	1	0	–		22	0
Kilmarnock	2004–05	Scottish Premier League	32	0	3	0	2	0	37	0
	2005–06		32	0	1	0	2	0	35	0
	2006–07		11	0	0	0	2	0	13	0
	2007–08		37	0	1	0	2	0	40	0
	2008–09		34	0	2	0	3	0	39	0
	Total		146	0	7	0	11	0	164	0
Career total			398	0	13	0	23	0	434	0

Notes

1. Includes Scottish Cup, FA Cup
2. Includes Scottish League Cup, Football League Cup