William Ian Lawther (20 October 1939 – 25 April 2010) was a

Northern Irish Northern Irish people is a demonym for all people born in Northern Ireland or people who are entitled to reside in Northern Ireland without any restriction on their period of residence. Most Northern Irish people either identify as Northern ...

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 for

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

and five other clubs 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 ...

. He also played four internationals for

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

Club career

Lawther started his footballing career in his native Northern Ireland with

Crusaders The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

before moving to England, with Sunderland in 1958. A fine header of the ball, with an excellent instinct for finding space, he made his debut for Sunderland on 31 August 1959 against

Aston Villa Aston Villa Football Club is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Park ...

in a 3–0 at

Villa Park Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations ...

. Between 1959 and 1961, he scored 41 goals in only 75 league appearances for Sunderland, a remarkable rate which, given the overall calibre of the players around him, has gone largely unrecognised. The arrival of

Brian Clough Brian Howard Clough ( ; 21 March 1935 – 20 September 2004) was an English football player and manager, primarily known for his successes as a manager with Derby County and Nottingham Forest. He is one of four managers to have won the Englis ...

saw him squeezed out of contention, consequently a marvellous opportunity to combine his considerable abilities with Clough's was very unwisely overlooked. He then signed for

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

for £18,000 in 1961 making 59 appearances, and scoring 21 goals in his time there. He then moved to

Scunthorpe United Scunthorpe United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England. The side currently competes in the National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. The tea ...

in 1963 for £12,000 and scored 22 goals for the Lincolnshire-based club in 60 league appearances. Following this, he joined

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

for £17,000 in November 1964 and went on to make 152 appearances, scoring 44 goals for the club.

Halifax Town FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season. ...

was his next club as he signed for £3,000 in 1968, and he played for two seasons scoring 23 goals in 101 league appearances. The club he served longest was

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club are a professional association football, football club in Stockport, England, who compete in EFL League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton Norris Rovers, they wer ...

, but he was far less productive at his time there than with other clubs, scoring 29 goals in 164 appearances.Football League Career Stats at Neil Brown
/ref> He finished up his playing career in

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Bangor) are an inactive Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. They started the 2021–22 season in the Cymru North the second level of the Welsh football league system, but ...

before retiring.

International career

He won his first international cap for

on 6 April 1960 against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

in a 3–2 defeat. He won three further caps for his country, making a total of four appearances without scoring a goal.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawther, Ian 1939 births 2010 deaths Association footballers from Northern Ireland Association football forwards English Football League players Crusaders F.C. players Sunderland A.F.C. players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Scunthorpe United F.C. players Brentford F.C. players Halifax Town A.F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Bangor City F.C. players Northern Ireland international footballers