William John McCartney (1866 – 18 January 1933) 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 lea ...

and

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

whose career lasted from 1884 to 1929.

Playing career

A native of

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, McCartney began as a full back with Cartvale at the age of 18, later playing for

Thistle Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterized by leaves with sharp spikes on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. T ...

. In 1887 he joined Rangers, staying for two years. before joining Cowlairs. In 1893, he joined

Newton Heath Newton Heath is an area of Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester city centre and with a population of 9,883. Historically part of Lancashire, Newton was formerly a farming area, but adopted the factory system following the Industrial ...

, playing 19 league games and scoring once before joining

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club from Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The club currently competes in EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Nicknamed "The Hatters", L ...

in 1894. He helped Luton gain election to the

Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional association football, football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in Association football around the world, the w ...

and played in Luton's first-ever league match on 4 September 1897, a 1–1 draw away to

Leicester Fosse Leicester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in the city of Leicester, East Midlands, England. The club compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English f ...

. He played 27 times that season, leaving at the end of it to join

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

. He scored 3 times in 63 league games for Barnsley before retiring in April 1901 to become Barnsley's secretary-manager.

Managerial career

He left Barnsley in mid-1904 and returned to Scotland to manage St Mirren. He guided the ''Buddies'' to the

1908 Scottish Cup Final The 1907–08 Scottish Cup was the 35th season of Scotland's most prestigious Association football, football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Celtic F.C., Celtic when they beat St Mirren F.C., St Mirren 5–1. Calendar First round R ...

, losing 5–1 to

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 Foot ...

. In 1910 he left St Mirren to take over as manager of Heart of Midlothian. His spell in

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

encompassed the club's rise to the top of the Scottish League with a group of exciting young players he brought in, and the decimation of that team after they enlisted together to fight in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, with several killed and others wounded. The closest he came to silverware was in the 1919 Victory Cup where Hearts were defeated in the final by his old club St Mirren. McCartney resigned from his position in October 1919, and was succeeded as Hearts manager by his son

Willie Willy or Willie is a masculine, male given name, often a diminutive form of William or Wilhelm, and occasionally a nickname. It may refer to: People Given name or nickname * Willie Allen (basketball) (born 1949), American basketball player and ...

. In May 1920, he was appointed manager of

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

. He guided Portsmouth from Division Three South to the First Division, but resigned due to ill health in May 1927 before he could manage Pompey in the top flight. In September 1927 he returned to management with

, but with his health declining further, he resigned in December 1929 and retired from football. McCartney authored two booklets documenting Scottish footballers in the Great War and those from Hearts who perished. He died in Edinburgh at the age of 66.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCartney, John Footballers from Glasgow Scottish men's footballers Rangers F.C. players Manchester United F.C. players Luton Town F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Scottish football managers Barnsley F.C. managers St Mirren F.C. managers Heart of Midlothian F.C. managers Portsmouth F.C. managers Luton Town F.C. managers 1866 births 1933 deaths Date of birth missing Cowlairs F.C. players Scottish Football League managers Thistle F.C. players Men's association football defenders