William Joyce (born 8 April 1877) was a Scottish footballer who played as a centre-forward in the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

for

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pike's ...

and

Burton United Burton United Football Club was a football club based in Burton upon Trent in England. The club was established in 1901 by a merger of Burton Swifts and Burton Wanderers, and played their last competitive season in 1910. In 1924 they merged with ...

. He played in Thames Ironworks' final season before reforming as West Ham United, and also played for Morton, Tottenham Hotspur, Portsmouth and

Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lanarks ...

. Joyce started his career at Morton before moving to England and

in early 1895. He suffered a broken leg while with the club in 1896. Joyce played for Tottenham in 1898–99 (taking over from Tommy Meade who was dropped due to wage increase demands), scoring 26 goals in 38 games. He signed for Thames Ironworks for the 1899–1900 season (the club's last season before becoming West Ham United), along with Spurs colleagues Harry Bradshaw and

Kenny McKay Kenneth McKay (''circa'' 1876 – unknown) was a Scottish association footballer who played as a forward. Born in Wishaw, McKay started his footballing career with Hamilton Academical before moving south to play for Sheffield United. In the 18 ...

, and made 27 Southern League appearances for the club, scoring 8 goals. He also averaged a goal a game in seven FA Cup appearances that season. His three goals in a 5–1 test match victory, against

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

at White Hart Lane on 30 April 1900, assured a league place for the successor club the following season. Joyce went on to join Portsmouth as a replacement for Sandy Brown. At the time of the 1901 UK census he was living in the city with his wife, daughter and a boarder – fellow ''Pompey'' player

Tom Wilkie Thomas Wilkie (1876 – 8 January 1932) was a Scottish footballer who played as a defender for Liverpool in The Football League. Wilkie signed for Liverpool from Heart of Midlothian during the 1895–96 season, appearing in 20 of the 30 league ...

.1901 UK census
via Ancestry UK A year later, he moved to

and made 29 appearances over two seasons. He later returned to Morton and played for

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joyce, Bill 1877 births Year of death missing People from Prestonpans Footballers from East Lothian Scottish men's footballers Men's association football forwards Greenock Morton F.C. players Bolton Wanderers F.C. players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Thames Ironworks F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Burton United F.C. players Motherwell F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Southern Football League players