William Sam Douglas Harry Boyle (born 1 September 1995) is an English 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 plays as a

centre back 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 ...

for club

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

Early life and club career

Huddersfield Town

William Sam Douglas Harry Boyle was born on 1 September 1995 in

Garforth Garforth () is a town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It sits in the Garforth and Swillington ward of Leeds City Council and the Elmet and Rothwell parliamentary constituency. As of 2011, the popula ...

, West Yorkshire. He attended

Garforth Community College Garforth Academy (formerly known as Garforth Comprehensive School until September 1992 and Garforth Community College until November 2010) is a secondary school and sixth form for pupils aged 11–18 and is located on Lidgett Lane (B6137) ...

(now Garforth Academy) before joining

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. The ...

's academy at under-15 level from his local club Garforth Villa in October 2010. He was nearly ever-present for the under-18 team in the 2012–13 season. He made his first-team debut for Huddersfield as a late substitute in the 3–0 win against

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

on 24 February 2015. On 26 March 2015, he joined

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

(now

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

) club

Kidderminster Harriers Kidderminster Harriers Football Club is a professional association football club based in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. The team compete in the National League North, at the sixth tier of the English football league system. Formed in ...

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that d ...

for the rest of the 2014–15 season, and made two appearances for the club. On 5 August, he joined National League club

Macclesfield Town Macclesfield Town Football Club was an English professional association football, football club based in Macclesfield, Cheshire, that was liquidation, wound-up after a High Court of Justice, High Court ruling on 16 September 2020. Initially kno ...

on loan for two months. On 18 November 2015, Boyle joined

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

club

York City York City Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team compete in the National League, at the fifth tier of the English football league sys ...

on a youth loan until 3 January 2016. He made his debut on 21 November 2015 when starting York's 3–2 away to

Leyton Orient Leyton Orient Football Club is a professional football club based in Leyton, East London, England, who compete in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. They are the second oldest football club in London to play at a professio ...

, in which he struggled to cope with the physicality of opponent striker Ollie Palmer. He struck up a partnership at centre-back with

Dave Winfield David Mark Winfield (born October 3, 1951) is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) right fielder. He is the special assistant to the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Over his 22-year career, he playe ...

, and despite York wanting to extend his loan Boyle returned to Huddersfield in January 2016. Having made only one appearance as a late substitute after returning to Huddersfield, he rejoined York on loan until the end of the 2015–16 season on 26 February 2016. In June 2016, Boyle joined

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, known as the cinch Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL), the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish ...

club

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

on a six-month loan. He scored on his debut, as Kilmarnock beat

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 ...

2–1 in 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 ...

on 16 July 2016. The goal came after he had earlier conceded a penalty, which was saved by Kilmarnock goalkeeper Jamie MacDonald. Boyle returned to Huddersfield in January 2017, having made 14 appearances and scored 1 goal for Kilmarnock.

Cheltenham Town

Boyle signed for League Two club

Cheltenham Town Cheltenham Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. From the 2021–22 season, the club compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league syst ...

on 9 January 2017 on a one-and-a-half-year contract. He made his debut in a 3–0 home victory over

Accrington Stanley Accrington Stanley Football Club is a professional association football club based in Accrington, Lancashire, England. The club competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They have spent their complete history ...

on 14 January 2017. In April 2018, he signed a new contract to keep him at the club until June 2020. Boyle signed a new two-year contract at Cheltenham in May 2020. Following an impressive 2020–21 season, Boyle was named in the League Two Team of the Season and the

PFA Team of the Year The Professional Footballers' Association Team of the Year (often called the PFA Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 55 footballers across the top four tiers of men's English football; the Premie ...

for League Two.

Huddersfield Town return and Wrexham

On 6 June 2022, Boyle agreed to return to Championship club Huddersfield Town on a free transfer. He signed a two-year contract, effective from 1 July upon the expiration of his contract with Cheltenham. Boyle signed for newly promoted League Two club

on 13 July 2023 on a three-year contract. He made his debut on 12 August when starting Wrexham's 1–1 draw away to

AFC Wimbledon AFC Wimbledon is an English professional Association football, football club, based in London Borough of Merton, Merton, London, that plays in the EFL League Two, after being relegated from the EFL League One following the 2021–22 EFL Leagu ...

before scoring his first goal three days with a header in a 4–2 home win over

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

International career

Boyle's father is Scottish, and he attended a training camp for the Scotland national under-18 team in October 2012.

Career statistics

Honours

Cheltenham Town *

EFL League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Individual * EFL League Two Team of the Season: 2020–21 *

: 2020–21 League Two

References

External links

Profile
at the Wrexham A.F.C. website {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, Will 1995 births Living people People from Garforth Sportspeople from the City of Leeds Footballers from West Yorkshire English men's footballers Men's association football defenders Huddersfield Town A.F.C. players Kidderminster Harriers F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players York City F.C. players Kilmarnock F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players English Football League players National League (English football) players Scottish Professional Football League players English people of Scottish descent People educated at Garforth Academy