William David Young (born 25 November 1951) is a Scottish former
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 ...
. Playing as a defender, he featured for
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
,
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
,
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 ...
,
Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
,
Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
,
Brighton & Hove Albion
Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club (), commonly referred to simply as Brighton, is an English professional football club based in the city of Brighton and Hove. They compete in the Premier League, the top tier of the English football league ...
and
Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
throughout his career.
Club career
A large, physically intimidating
centre back
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 ...
from
Heriot
Heriot, from Old English ''heregeat'' ("war-gear"), was originally a death-duty in late Anglo-Saxon England, which required that at death, a nobleman provided to his king a given set of military equipment, often including horses, swords, shields ...
near
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, Young attended
Ross High School in
Tranent
Tranent is a town in East Lothian (formerly Haddingtonshire), in the south-east of Scotland. The town lies 6 miles from the boundary of Edinburgh, and 9.1 miles from the city centre. It lies beside the A1 road, the A1 runs through the parish ...
. Nicknamed "Big Willie", he first played professionally for
Aberdeen
Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...
, all in all making 187 appearances for the ''Dons'' between 1970 and 1975.
[1975 , All Change in Scottish Football]
Aberdeen FC, 19 March 2020 He was signed by
Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...
in September 1975, and while playing under
Terry Neill
William John Terence Neill (8 May 1942 – 28 July 2022) was a Northern Irish football player and manager. A centre-back, he captained and later managed Arsenal, guiding the club to a European final in 1980 and three consecutive FA Cup final ...
made 64 appearances for Spurs in two seasons. In March 1977, Young once again signed for manager Neill so as to link up at
Highbury
Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington
in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads.
The manor house was situ ...
with Spurs' arch-rivals
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 ...
.
Young immediately became a regular in the Arsenal first team, and played in all of the ''Gunners trio of
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 ...
finals;
[ after losing to ]Ipswich Town
Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system.
The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn profession ...
in 1978, Young was on the winning side the following year, with a 3–2 defeat of Manchester United
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
. Young was a runner up in the 1980 FA Cup Final, where he made an infamous tackle on West Ham United's Paul Allen and also a runner up in the 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup Final
The 1980 European Cup Winners' Cup Final was a football match contested on 14 May 1980 between Valencia of Spain and Arsenal of England. The final was held at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium. Valencia won the match 5–4 on penalties. It wa ...
.
Young continued to be Arsenal's first choice centre back until the 1981–82 season, when he lost his place to Chris Whyte
Christopher Anderson Whyte (born 2 September 1961) is an English former footballer who played as a central defender and made nearly 400 appearances in the Football League and Premier League. He had lengthy spells with Arsenal, West Bromwich Al ...
. Having played 237 times and scoring 19 goals for Arsenal, the 30-year-old Young then joined Nottingham Forest
Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...
in December 1981 for £50,000, and played 59 times over two seasons there.
In 1983, he joined Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...
, but with injuries dogging him, he failed to secure a regular place in the side. He then had short spells at Brighton and Hove
Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages.
Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...
, followed by Darlington
Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town.
In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
before his retirement from the game in November 1984.
International career
He was capped 5 times, scoring one goal for Scotland's U23s. Young never played a full international 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 ...
having been banned for life after an incident in a Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
nightclub in 1975.
Personal life
As a player at Aberdeen, Young worked on oil rigs during the summer to top up his earnings. He is married to Lynda; they have three children. After retiring from football he spent 19 years running a pub
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 was ...
called Bramcote Manor near Nottingham
Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east ...
, and then bought kennel
A kennel is a structure or shelter for dogs. Used in the plural, ''the kennels'', the term means any building, collection of buildings or a property in which dogs are housed, maintained, and (though not in all cases) bred. A kennel can be made o ...
s in Bottesford, Leicestershire
Bottesford is a village and civil parish in Leicestershire, England. It lies in the Vale of Belvoir and forms part of the Borough of Melton, as its largest village, on the borders of Leicestershire with Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.
Locati ...
.
Honours
;Arsenal
*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 ...
: winner 1978–79
**Runner-up 1977–78, 1979–80
*European Cup Winners' Cup
The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tournam ...
: Runner up 1979–80
References
External links
Career information at ex-canaries.co.uk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Young, Willie
1951 births
Living people
Footballers from Edinburgh
Association football central defenders
Scottish footballers
Sportspeople from the Scottish Borders
Arsenal F.C. players
Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. players
Darlington F.C. players
Norwich City F.C. players
Nottingham Forest F.C. players
Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players
Scottish Football League players
English Football League players
Scotland under-23 international footballers
FA Cup Final players
People educated at Ross High School, Tranent