William Preston Young (4 August 1892 – 5 June 1965) was 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 played as a goalkeeper 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 ...

for

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 ...

. He was the first player to make 100 Football League appearances for Brentford.

Career

A goalkeeper, Young began his career with spells at Whitburn and

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

. Young transferred to

in 1920 and played in the club's first ever

match on 28 August 1920, which ended in a 3–0 defeat to fellow

Third Division In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

newcomers Exeter City. Young battled for the goalkeeper's jersey with

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er Jack Durston, but eventually made the position his own and made 94 consecutive appearances between September 1922 and October 1924. He left the club at the end of the 1924–25 season, after making 180 appearances for Brentford. Young was the club's record Football League appearance-maker until his total was overtaken by

Jack Lane John William Lane (29 May 1898 – June 1984) was an English professional footballer who played as an inside right. He is best remembered for his five years in the Football League with Brentford, for whom he made 234 appearances and was club cap ...

Career statistics

References

1892 births 1965 deaths People from Whitburn, Tyne and Wear Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside Footballers from Tyne and Wear English men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Brentford F.C. players English Football League players Gateshead A.F.C. players {{England-footy-goalkeeper-stub