William Fagan (20 February 1917 – 29 February 1992) was a Scottish

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

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 ...

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

Football career

Celtic

Fagan started his professional career as a teenager at

, joining the club from Wellesley Juniors, the same route taken by his uncle

John McFarlane John McFarlane OBE (born 14 June 1947) is a British businessman. He served as Group Chairman of Barclays from 2015 to 2019. Early life He was born in Dumfries and attended Dumfries Academy. He was educated at the University of Edinburgh, Cr ...

16 years earlier.MacFarlane John Image 3 Glasgow Celtic 1922
Vintage Footballers He made his debut aged barely 18 in March 1935, and appeared five times for the ''Hoops'' as they won the

1935–36 Scottish Division One The 1935–36 Scottish Division One season was won by Celtic by five points over city rival Rangers. Airdrieonians and Ayr United finished 19th and 20th respectively and were relegated to the 1936–37 Scottish Division Two. League table ...

title; however, it was his six goals in as many matches at the start of the 1936–37 season which drew attention from other clubs.Celtic player Fagan, Willie
FitbaStats

Preston North End

He moved on to

where he would link up with several other Scottish players, including former Celtic players Hugh O'Donnell and Frank O'Donnell, and future managerial great

Bill Shankly William Shankly (2 September 1913 – 29 September 1981) was a Scottish football player and manager, who is best known for his time as manager of Liverpool. Shankly brought success to Liverpool, gaining promotion to the First Division and winnin ...

. They reached the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

final of 1937 but lost the game 3–1 to

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 ...

Liverpool

Liverpool manager

George Kay George Kay (21 September 1891 – 18 April 1954) was an English football player and manager of Luton Town, Southampton and Liverpool. The highlight of his playing career was when he captained West Ham United in the first FA Cup final to be play ...

then took Fagan to

where he made his debut, along with John Shafto, on 23 October 1937 in a 1–1 league draw with

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

. He scored his first Liverpool goal a week later on 30 October in a 3–2 league win over Sunderland at

Roker Park Roker Park was a football ground in Roker, Sunderland, England, which was the home of Sunderland A.F.C. from 1898 to 1997, before the club moved to the Stadium of Light. Its final capacity was around 22,500, with only a small part being seated; ...

. While playing for the ''Reds'', Fagan went straight into the line-up in his favoured inside-left position, although he did appear as a centre-forward; he ended his initial season at the club with nine goals in 36 matches. He followed this up by scoring 15 times, one behind top scorer

Berry Nieuwenhuys Berry Nieuwenhuys, (5 November 1911 – 12 June 1984) was a South African footballer who played predominantly for Liverpool, which he was contracted to from 1933 to 1947. He retired in 1947, returning to South Africa to be employed at the Transv ...

(who later invited Fagan to be best man at his wedding) and missing only just three matches of the 1938–39 campaign. The

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

interrupted Fagan's career for six years and it took away the majority of his best years. He played as a wartime guest for Celtic,

Aldershot Aldershot () is a town in Hampshire, England. It lies on heathland in the extreme northeast corner of the county, southwest of London. The area is administered by Rushmoor Borough Council. The town has a population of 37,131, while the Alders ...

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Millwall Millwall is a district on the western and southern side of the Isle of Dogs, in east London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies to the immediate south of Canary Wharf and Limehouse, north of Greenwich and Deptford, east ...

and

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 ...

. Fagan returned to

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan county, metropolitan and ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of List of ceremonial counties of England, 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Merse ...

upon the conclusion of the war and was appointed captain."Captains for Liverpool FC since 1892 lfchistory.net
/ref> He played 22 (18 league) matches, scoring seven goals (all in the league) as Liverpool won the first post-war First Division championship by the end of the 1946–47 season. Injuries caused his appearances during the 1947–48 and 1948–49 seasons to be very irregular, and he also lost the captaincy and appeare dto be on the verge of departing. He bounced back in the 1949–50 season as he helped the ''Reds'' to their very first

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

cup final on 29 April 1950. Fagan made 42 appearances in that campaign, seven in the FA Cup, scoring 11 goals, four of them in the cup run.

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

won the final 2–0 in front of a 100,000 crowd, the second time he had been on the losing side in a cup final. Fagan made just four appearances during the following campaign and three during the first half of the 1951–52 season. He was allowed to leave Liverpool in January 1952.

Later football career

Fagan joined Northern Irish club Belfast Distillery where he played for a short time. He then headed back to England where in took on a player/manager role at Weymouth.

International

He gained his only international recognition during World War Two when he appeared for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in 1945; however these are regarded as 'unofficial' internationals.

After playing

After hanging up his boots, Willie became a

Borstal A Borstal was a type of youth detention centre in the United Kingdom, several member states of the Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland. In India, such a detention centre is known as a Borstal school. Borstals were run by HM Prison Service ...

officer, an occupation he held until his retirement in 1982. Willie died in February 1992 in

Wellingborough Wellingborough ( ) is a large market and commuter town in the unitary authority area of North Northamptonshire in the ceremonial county of Northamptonshire, England, 65 miles from London and from Northampton on the north side of the River Nen ...

. He was 75 years old.

Honours

Football League First Division The Football League First Division was a division of the Football League in England from 1888 until 2004. It was the top division in the English football league system from the season 1888–89 until 1991–92, a century in which the First ...

(Level 1): 1947 *

: Runner-up 1937, 1950

References

External links

Player profile at LFChistory.net
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fagan, Willie 1917 births 1992 deaths Celtic F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Liverpool F.C. players Lisburn Distillery F.C. players Weymouth F.C. players Weymouth F.C. managers Scottish footballers Sportspeople from Musselburgh Scottish Football League players English Football League players Association football inside forwards Scottish football managers Scotland wartime international footballers Scottish Junior Football Association players FA Cup Final players Wellesley Juniors F.C. players Footballers from East Lothian