William Kirkwood (born 1 September 1958) is a Scottish coach and former

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 ...

. He began as a forward before moving to midfield. He began his career with

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

, where he made 399 appearances in two spells between 1975 and 1987. He won three major domestic trophies with the club, the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...

and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and the Premier Division title in

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. He also featured for United in many European runs including to the

1983–84 European Cup The 1983–84 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won for a fourth time by Liverpool in a penalty shootout in the final against Roma. The game had finished 1–1. Phil Neal had scored for Liverpool and Roberto Pruzzo for Roma ...

semi final and the

1987 UEFA Cup Final The 1987 UEFA Cup Final was a football tie played on 6 and 20 May 1987 between IFK Göteborg of Sweden and Dundee United of Scotland. Göteborg won 2–1 on aggregate, their second UEFA Cup triumph, following victory in 1982. It was Dundee Unit ...

. He also played for Hibernian,

Dunfermline Athletic Dunfermline Athletic Football Club is a Scottish football club based in the city of Dunfermline, Fife. Founded in 1885, the club currently play in Scottish League One after being relegated from the 2021–22 Scottish Championship. Dunfermline ...

and

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. Since retiring as a player he has coach and managed at numerous clubs. He is currently a Rangers youth

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and a Senior manager at Rangers Academy.

Early life

Kirkwood was educated at

Penicuik High School Penicuik ( ; sco, Penicuik; gd, Peighinn na Cuthaig) is a town and former burgh in Midlothian, Scotland, lying on the west bank of the River North Esk. It lies on the A701 midway between Edinburgh and Peebles, east of the Pentland Hills. N ...

Playing career

Kirkwood made his name with

making 399 first team appearances. He was initially signed provisionally in May 1975 from Cornbank Boys Club and he started his career at United as an attacker. In 1977–78, he made the breakthrough into the first team and for the next eight years he was a regular in the line up. In his first two seasons, he was club top scorer. He won three domestic trophies with United in two

s ( 1979–80 and 1980–81) although in the latter match, he remained on the bench. He and United were Scottish league champions in 1982–83. The club reached the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

semi-final in 1983–84 and the final of the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

in 1986–87. He also collected four domestic cup runners-up medals. He did not play for United in the 1987 Scottish Cup Final defeat to St Mirren."The forgotten story of ... Dundee United's glory years under Jim McLean " The Guardian
/ref> His time at Dundee United was punctuated by spending the early part of the 1986–87 season with Hibernian returning to United in January 1987. In 1987, after appearing in the Uefa Cup Final, he left United for

Dunfermline Dunfermline (; sco, Dunfaurlin, gd, Dùn Phàrlain) is a city, parish and former Royal Burgh, in Fife, Scotland, on high ground from the northern shore of the Firth of Forth. The city currently has an estimated population of 58,508. Accord ...

before finishing his playing days with

Coaching

After

Ivan Golac Ivan Golac ( sr-cyr, Иван Голац, ; born 15 June 1950) is a Yugoslav former professional football player and manager. A Yugoslav international right-back, he is best known as a player and manager of FK Partizan, of Belgrade. In the Unit ...

was sacked in 1995, Kirkwood was appointed

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

of Dundee United. Kirkwood could not prevent the Terrors from being relegated to the First Division. In the following season, Kirkwood guided United to a play-off victory and promotion back to the Premier Division. He was then sacked six games into the 1996-97 season and replaced by

Tommy McLean Thomas McLean Jr. (born 2 June 1947 in Larkhall) is a Scottish former professional football player and manager. McLean played for Kilmarnock, Rangers and Scotland as a midfielder. He managed Morton, Motherwell, Hearts, Raith Rovers and Dundee ...

, who would lead United to third place. In January 1997, Kirkwood was appointed by

Instant-Dict FC Double Flower Football Association () is a Hong Kong football club which plays in the Hong Kong Second Division. The club was very successful in 1990s in the then top-tier First Division under the name Instant-Dict (). Major events * 1981–8 ...

, a Hong Kong First Division football team as a manager. Seven months later, he resigned and joined

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Kingston upon Hull, Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving ...

Mark Hateley Mark Wayne Hateley (born 7 November 1961) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. He started his career with Coventry City F.C. in the First Division of English football. A spell followed at English Second Divisi ...

's assistant. Kirkwood had a short caretaker manager role with

St Johnstone St Johnstone Football Club is a professional association football club in Perth, Scotland which is a member of the Scottish Premiership for the 2022–23 season. The club's name is derived from St John's Toun ''aka'' Saint Johnstoun – an old ...

in 2001, after

Sandy Clark Alexander "Sandy" Clark (born 28 October 1956) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently manager of Lowland League side East Stirlingshire. Career Clark played for several clubs in his playing career inclu ...

was sacked. He has also held the assistant manager position at Dundee, Dunfermline and St Johnstone, and coaching roles with

Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American custom ...

and Rangers.

Honours

Player

Dundee United *

** Runner-up (1): 1986–87 *

Scottish Premier Division The Scottish Football League Premier Division was, from 1975 until 1998, the top division of the Scottish Football League and the entire Scottish football league system. It lay above the Scottish Football League First, Second and (from 1994) Th ...

** Winner (1): 1982–83 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1980– 81, 1984– 85, 1986–87 *

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

** Winner (2): 1979– 80, 1980–81 ** Runner-up (2): 1981–82, 1984–85 *

Forfarshire Cup The Forfarshire Cup is a football competition in Scotland competed for by teams in the Forfarshire Football Association from Angus, Dundee and Perth. The name of the competition is often baffling to some, as "Forfarshire" is an archaic and anglic ...

**Winners (3): 1975–76, 1976–77, 1979–80

Manager

Dundee United *

Scottish First Division The Scottish Football League First Division was the second tier in the Scottish football league system between 1975 and 2013. History The First Division was introduced in 1975–76 to replace the old Scottish Football League Division Two, as t ...

**Play-offs: 1995–96 *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,1995–96 Rangers Youth *

Scottish Youth Cup The Scottish Youth Cup (also known as the SFA Youth Cup) is an annual Scottish football competition run by the Scottish Football Association for under-18 teams,

**Winners (2): 2006–07, 2007–08 **Runners-up (3): 2008–09, 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

* City of Glasgow Cup **Winners: 2011–12, 2012–13 **Runners-up: 2007–08, 2014–15, 2016–17

Individual

* DUFC Hall of Fame: 2012 inductee

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kirkwood, Billy 1958 births Living people People educated at Penicuik High School Dundee F.C. players Dundee United F.C. managers Dundee United F.C. players Dunfermline Athletic F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Footballers from Edinburgh Rangers F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Football League players Scottish expatriate football managers Scottish football managers Scottish footballers St Johnstone F.C. managers St Johnstone F.C. non-playing staff Dundee F.C. non-playing staff Dunfermline Athletic F.C. non-playing staff Livingston F.C. non-playing staff Scottish Football League managers Association football forwards Association football midfielders Sportspeople from Midlothian