Willie Naughton

Willie Naughton
Personal information
Full name William A. Naughton
Date of birth (1870-07-16)16 July 1870
Place of birth Garnkirk, Scotland
Date of death 23 April 1906(1906-04-23) (aged 35)
Place of death Bothwell, Lanarkshire, Scotland
Playing position Outside-right
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1887–1889 Carfin Shamrock
1888Hibernian (loan)
1889 → Uddingston (loan)
1889 Celtic
1889 Carfin Shamrock
1889–1890 Glasgow Hibernian
1890 Wishaw Thistle
1890–1895 Stoke 91 (24)
1895–1898 Southampton 36 (15)
1898 Carfin Rovers
Total 127 (39)

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.


William A. "Willie" Naughton (16 July 1870 – 23 April 1906)[1] was a Scottish professional footballer, who played as an outside-forward for various clubs in Scotland and England in the 1880s and 1890s, including Celtic, Stoke and Southampton. Throughout his career he was known as "Chippy".[2][3]

Football career

Naughton was born in Garnkirk, north-east of Glasgow and in his teenage years played for a variety of clubs across Scotland, including Hibernian in Edinburgh and Celtic in Glasgow.

In July 1890, he moved to England to join Stoke of the Football League, for whom he made over one hundred appearances, generally at inside-right.[4] In 1891, he was suspended for receiving payments from his club while registered as an amateur.[2]

On 26 April 1893, he was part of the Stoke team which visited the County Ground to play a friendly match against Southampton St Mary's. Even with the future founder of football in Brazil, Charles Miller[5] playing at outside-left, the "Saints" were "outplayed fairly and squarely on every point",[6] losing 8–0. Despite the result, it was reported that the spectators "thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition" and looked forward to witnessing "more matches of a similar character" in future.[6] Also playing for Stoke were Charles Baker, Lachie Thomson and Alf Littlehales, all of whom were to move to Southampton within two years.

Naughton moved to the south coast in April 1895 to join Southampton, prior to the start of their second season in the Southern League. Naughton made his debut at inside-right for the opening match of the season, a 1–0 defeat at champions Millwall, retaining his place for the remainder of the season, missing only one league match.[7]

Naughton missed the first three matches of the 1896–97 season, returning on 24 October at outside-right. On 7 November, he scored a hat-trick in an 8–3 victory over New Brompton. He continued at outside-right for the rest of the season, scoring a total of six league goals.[8] Described as an "inveterate practical joker",[2] Naughton's elusive wing play and pin-point centres to forwards Jack Farrell and Bob Buchanan, helped the "Saints" to claim the Southern League title for the first of six occasions over the next eight years.

In the FA Cup, Naughton played in every match until the Saints reached the Second Round proper, where they met Newton Heath. The first match, at the County Ground on 13 February 1897 ended 1–1. As a result of an injury, Naughton was unavailable for the replay four days later, when he was replaced by James Spellacy, making his only first-team appearance for the Saints. Naughton was badly missed and Newton Heath ran out 3–1 winners.[8]

For the next season, Southampton signed Jimmy Yates who replaced Naughton at outside-left. Naughton only made three further appearances before returning to Scotland at the end of the season.[9]

Later life

Naughton played local football in Scotland until about 1899. In 1904, he was declared "of no fixed abode" and was admitted to Kirklands Asylum in Bothwell, where he died on 23 April 1906, aged 35.[1]

Career statistics

Club Season League FA Cup Test Match Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Stoke 1890–91 Football Alliance 620062
1891–92 Football League 16310173
1892–93 First Division 24610256
1893–94 First Division 2810102910
1894–95 First Division 1730010183
Total 912430109524
Southampton 1895–96 Southern League 178432111
1896–97 Southern League 16660226
1897–98 Southern League 311041
Total 36151134718
Career total 127391431014242

Honours

Stoke
Southampton

References

  1. 1 2 Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan; Bull, David (2013). All the Saints: A Complete Players' Who's Who of Southampton FC. Southampton: Hagiology Publishing. p. 186. ISBN 978-0-9926-8640-6.
  2. 1 2 3 Holley, Duncan; Chalk, Gary (1992). The Alphabet of the Saints. ACL & Polar Publishing. p. 252. ISBN 0-9514862-3-3.
  3. Joyce, Michael (2004). Football League Players' Records 1888 to 1939. Nottingham: Tony Brown. p. 194. ISBN 1-899468-67-6.
  4. Matthews, Tony: "The Encyclopedia of Stoke City " (Lion Press, 1994, ISBN 1-85983-100-1)
  5. Hamilton, Aidan (1998). An Entirely Different Game, The British Influence on Brazilian Football. Mainstream Publishing. ISBN 1-84018-041-2.
  6. 1 2 Bull, David; Brunskell, Bob (2000). Match of the Millennium. Hagiology Publishing. pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-9534474-1-3.
  7. Chalk, Gary; Holley, Duncan (1987). Saints – A complete record. Breedon Books. pp. 18–19. ISBN 0-907969-22-4.
  8. 1 2 Saints – A complete record. pp. 20–21.
  9. Saints – A complete record. pp. 22–23.
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