William King Lyon (7 March 1912 – 5 December 1962) was a Scottish professional footballer, who played for Queens Park and

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 ...

Career

Lyon began his senior career aged 21 with Queens Park after a spell with

Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Kirkintilloch Rob Roy Football Club are a Scottish football club based in the town of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire. Nicknamed ''The Rabs'' or ''The Roy'', they were formed in 1878. They wear red and black strips and currently compete in t ...

. He moved to

in 1935. He was a

centre-half 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 ...

in the era where that position was changing to an increasingly defensive role, and his attributes in that aspect saw him establish himself in the team ahead of other contenders. He was made captain of Celtic soon after joining the club, and went on to win the

Scottish league championship The Scottish League Championship (currently the Tennents League Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic rugby union league system within Scotland. Operated by the Scottish Rugby Union, the championship was founded in 1973 as the fi ...

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – George V of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India, dies at his Sandringham Estate. The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King E ...

and 1938, the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1937 and the

Empire Exhibition Trophy The Empire Exhibition Trophy was a football competition held in 1938 in conjunction with the Empire Exhibition, Scotland 1938 in Glasgow. It was held to commemorate the Exhibition, then underway in Bellahouston Park, and the prize was a solid si ...

in 1938, as well as a

Glasgow Cup The Glasgow Cup is a football tournament open to teams from Glasgow, Scotland. Operated by the Glasgow Football Association, it was competed for annually by senior Glasgow clubs from 1887 until 1989. It is now (since the 2019–20 amended rul ...

and three Charity Cups. He was never selected for the full

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

international team (he was ineligible under rules of the time due to his English birthplace),Dad nae, Cood nae - Calum MacDonald and Willie Lyon
Scots Football Worldwide but was a member of a '' SFA Touring XI'' squad which visited Canada and the US in 1939. He had also played twice for the

Scottish League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

in 1938. Lyon served in the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642, although it was only placed on the E ...

during

World War II 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 opposing ...

, rising to the rank of major and sustaining a leg injury in 1944 which ended his football career. He was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

. His younger brother Tom was also a footballer; the pair were briefly teammates at Celtic when Tom joined as a guest player during the war.

References

External links

Profile and stats at ''AFC Heritage Trust''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyon, Willie 1912 births 1962 deaths Celtic F.C. players Scottish Football League players Queen's Park F.C. players Aberdeen F.C. wartime guest players Scottish Junior Football Association players Sportspeople from Clydebank Footballers from West Dunbartonshire Kirkintilloch Rob Roy F.C. players Clydebank Juniors F.C. players Men's association football central defenders British Army personnel of World War II Recipients of the Military Cross Scots Guards officers English footballers Scottish Football League representative players Anglo-Scots Footballers from Birkenhead Scotland men's wartime international footballers Scotland men's junior international footballers