William Orr (20 June 1873 – 26 February 1946) was a Scottish football player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

Playing career

Orr began his career at Airdrieonians before moving to Preston North End in 1894. It was at

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 ...

though where he made his name. He made his debut in a 4–1 victory over Hibernian in 1897 and helped lead Celtic to the Scottish Football League title in his first season there, followed by a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1900 As of March 1 ( O.S. February 17), when the Julian calendar acknowledged a leap day and the Gregorian calendar did not, the Julian calendar fell one day further behind, bringing the difference to 13 days until February 28 ( O.S. February 15), 2 ...

. A strong, assured left back, Orr's influence as a leader shone after he became Celtic captain in 1902 and he led the club to three further league championships and two more Scottish Cups, including a double in

1906–07 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

.(Celtic player) Orr, William
FitbaStats He scored one of his team's three goals in the 1907 Scottish Cup Final;Football. Association Game In Scotland. Scottish Cup–FInal Tie
The Glasgow Herald, 22 April 1907 however, a new younger signing, Jimmy Weir, then took over as first-choice at left back. Orr made three appearances for

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 ...

between 1900 and 1904. Although his usual playing position at Celtic was in defence, he had been a half-back early in his career, and it was in this role that he received all his international

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Managerial career

Orr began his career as manager where he also began his playing career, at Airdrieonians in 1921. His leadership qualities showing again, Airdrie surprised many by finishing runners-up in Scotland in his second season, the club's highest-ever league finish and a placement he would achieve for each of the following four seasons, narrowly missing out on the title each time. He also led Airdrie to the club's only ever major honour, the Scottish Cup in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

.The Cup Final , Airdrieonians' First Success
The Glasgow Herald, 21 April 1924 His success at Airdrie, prompted the interest of English side

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, 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 lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

to replace the outgoing

Peter Hodge Peter Hodge (18 June 1871 – 18 August 1934) was a Scottish football manager who managed Raith Rovers, Stoke City, Manchester City and spent most of his career with Leicester City (over two spells). He gained promotion while in charge of all f ...

. Orr continued Hodge's passing style and in only the club's third ever season in the top flight finished in a respectable 7th position, to that point the club's highest ever finish. The side only continued to improve under Orr and the following season in 1927–28 the club finished third in the league and the following season again, they finished runners-up, losing the title to

Sheffield Wednesday Sheffield Wednesday Football Club is a professional association football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1867 as an offshoot ...

by a single point. Leicester began to decline after the loss of inspirational captain Johnny Duncan, who was deemed to have terminated his own contract after breaking the club rules in taking over the licence of a local

public house A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and wa ...

.'The 125 Year Official History of Leicester City DVD (2009) and in January 1932 he resigned on the back of six straight league defeats. Orr soon took the hot seat at Falkirk, but was banned for life in 1935 by the Scottish Football Association for a bribery scandal. Although the ban was lifted in 1937, Orr never returned to football.

Honours

As a player

;Celtic *

Division One 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 ...

: 1897–98,

1904–05 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

1905–06 Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20 * one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film Music ...

1904 Events January * January 7 – The distress signal ''CQD'' is established, only to be replaced 2 years later by ''SOS''. * January 8 – The Blackstone Library is dedicated, marking the beginning of the Chicago Public Library syst ...

1907 Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco ...

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 ...

: 1904, 1905, 1906 *

British League Cup The British League Cup was a football competition that was set up in April 1902 to raise money for the disaster at Ibrox Stadium, in which 25 people were killed and 517 injured at an international match between Scotland and England at the start of ...

: 1902

As a manager

;Airdrieonians *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China holds ...

* Scottish Football League Runners-up: 1922–23, 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26 ;Leicester City * Football League First Division Runners-up: 1928–29

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orr, William Scottish football managers Scottish footballers Association football defenders Association football wing halves Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) managers Leicester City F.C. managers 1873 births 1946 deaths Sportspeople from Shotts Footballers from North Lanarkshire Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players Preston North End F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Scotland international footballers Falkirk F.C. managers Scottish Football League managers English Football League managers