William McPherson (22 November 1884 – 1961) was a Scottish

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as an inside forward. McPherson started his career at St Mirren before joining

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

in the

English 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 Engl ...

in 1906, scoring 11 goals in 32 appearances in his debut season. He played less frequently the following season in 1907–08 making 22 appearances. The season was to be his last at Liverpool and he would later play for Scottish clubs

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

and Heart of Midlothian. He did not win a major trophy with any of his clubs; he joined Liverpool when they were reigning English champions but they did not challenge for honours during his two-year spell. He appeared in the 1909 Scottish Cup Final for Rangers against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

, which went to a second replay only for the trophy to be withdrawn after rioting by spectators who believed the two matches had been drawn deliberately to boost revenues. He did claim a winner's medal in the minor

Glasgow Merchants Charity Cup The Glasgow Merchants' Charity Cup was a knockout football tournament open to teams from in and around Glasgow and later on in the tournament's history, teams from outwith Glasgow. Invitations were made and sent out by the Glasgow Charity Cup ...

a few weeks later. The ''Gers'' were

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km south ...

champions in 1910–11 but McPherson did not play for the club at all that season, being loaned to hometown non-league side

Beith Beith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) after its ''Court ...

in February 1911About William Macpherson
Play Up Liverpool before moving on to Hearts that summer; the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

club were third in the league and semi-finalists in the cup in both campaigns he played for them. He then decided to emigrate to New Zealand, sailing in October 1913. During his time at Liverpool, McPherson played in one

Home Scots v Anglo-Scots Home Scots v Anglo-Scots was an annual association football trial match organised by the Scottish Football Association between the 1890s and 1920s to examine the abilities of possible players for upcoming full British Home Championship internationa ...

international trial in 1907 and scored for his side,Football. International Trial Match.
The Glasgow Herald, 19 March 1907 but he never gained a full cap for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McPherson, Bill 1884 births 1961 deaths Scottish men's footballers Footballers from North Ayrshire Liverpool F.C. players Rangers F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football League players Date of death missing Beith F.C. players St Mirren F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Men's association football inside forwards Scottish emigrants to New Zealand Sportspeople from Beith