William Murdoch Hamilton (16 February 1938 – 22 October 1976) 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

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, Heart of Midlothian, Hibernian and

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 ...

, and gained one cap 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 ...

. He became known for his off field lifestyle which overshadowed his playing ability. His one-time manager

Jock Stein John "Jock" Stein (5 October 1922 – 10 September 1985) was a Scottish football player and manager. He was the first manager of a British side to win the European Cup, with Celtic in 1967. Stein also guided Celtic to nine successive Scottish ...

later described him as comparable to

Kenny Dalglish Sir Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former association football, football player and manager (association football), manager. During his career, he made 338 appearances for Celtic F.C., Celtic and 515 for Liverpoo ...

in footballing talent.

Career

Following spells in English football with

and

, Hamilton joined Hearts in June 1962 and was then signed for Hibernian by Jock Stein. Despite having handed in a transfer request shortly before Stein's arrival, Stein was able to get some astonishing performances out of Hamilton during his time at

Easter Road Easter Road is a football stadium located in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland, which is the home ground of Scottish Premiership club Hibernian (Hibs). The stadium currently has an all-seated capacity of , which makes it the fifth-larges ...

. Stein would sometimes put up Hamilton in his own house on the eve of a big match to make sure he did not go out

drinking Drinking is the act of ingesting water or other liquids into the body through the mouth, proboscis, or elsewhere. Humans drink by swallowing, completed by peristalsis in the esophagus. The physiological processes of drinking vary widely among o ...

. Hibernian's results had dramatically picked up during Stein's reign, partly attributable to the performances of Hamilton. However, Stein left Hibernian after less than a year to become manager of

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 emigrated to Canada in 1975 where he worked as a bricklayer. He died of a heart attack in 1976.

References

;Sources * MacPherson, Archie. ''Jock Stein: The Definitive Biography''. Highdown, 2005.

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, Willie 1938 births 1976 deaths Scottish footballers Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scotland international footballers Aston Villa F.C. players Hamilton Academical F.C. players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Hibernian F.C. players Middlesbrough F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Sheffield United F.C. players Association football forwards Scottish Football League representative players Scottish expatriate footballers Expatriate soccer players in South Africa Scottish expatriate sportspeople in South Africa Scottish emigrants to Canada Footballers from North Lanarkshire