William Lees (1873 – after 1905), also known as Don, Donald, Access individual season statistics via Season Stats dropdown menu. or Walter Lees, was a Scottish professional

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 scored 74 goals from 260 appearances 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 ...

playing for Lincoln City,

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the sout ...

and

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

. He also played in the

Scottish League The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional association football, football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers F.C., Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, wh ...

for

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 ...

. He played either as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

or as a

centre half In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Football career

Lees was born in

Cronberry Cronberry is a small hamlet situated north-east of Cumnock and one mile north-east of Lugar, in East Ayrshire, Scotland. History Cronberry has a Women's Rural Institute which meets in the old school. Diane and Holly Fallon were murdered at Cr ...

, then in

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Re ...

, in 1873. He joined

in 1892, and made his debut on 1 October 1892 against

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

in the

. Lees moved to England to play for Lincoln City, and was ever-present and the club's leading scorer with 17 goals in the

1893–94 Football League The 1893– 94 season was the sixth season of The Football League. Final league tables The tables below are reproduced here in the exact form that they can be found at thRec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundationwebsite and in ''Rothmans Book of Foo ...

season, a total which includes a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against Rotherham Town in an 8–2 win which remains (as of 2010) the club's record Football League away win. He rejoined Celtic in May 1894, but accusations that the club had offered illegal inducements to attract him back resulted in

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

preventing Celtic from playing

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

es in England. The consequent financial loss meant Celtic allowed Lees to return to Lincoln in October 1894, by which time he had scored three goals from the first three Scottish League games of the 1894–95 season. He remained with Lincoln for the rest of the season, then went on to play in the Football League for

, a club in financial difficulties with low morale, where he missed a month of the season when suspended by the club for misconduct. He then moved on to

, playing nearly 200 Football League games for the club over six seasons, and also played for Southern League club

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

, before moving into

non-League football Non-League football describes football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is specifically used to de ...

in the

area.

Notes

:A. : Barnsley appearances are for Football League matches only, not Midland or Yorkshire Leagues.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lees, Don 1873 births Year of death missing Footballers from East Ayrshire Scottish footballers Association football forwards Celtic F.C. players Lincoln City F.C. players Darwen F.C. players Denaby United F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Watford F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players