William Sowden (8 December 1930 – 13 November 2010) was an English professional

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 ...

who played as a centre forward in

the Football League The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from ...

for

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

, Chesterfield and

Stockport County Stockport County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Formed in 1883 as Heaton ...

and in

non-League football Non-League football describes association football, football leagues played outside the top leagues of a country. Usually, it describes leagues which are not fully professional. The term is primarily used for football in England, where it is ...

for

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

and

Altrincham Altrincham ( , locally ) is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, south of the River Mersey. It is southwest of Manchester, southwest of Sale, Greater Manchester, Sale and east of Warrington. At the 2021 United Kingdom ce ...

Career

Born in

Gorton Gorton is an area of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England. It is to the southeast of Manchester city centre. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw. A ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Sowden started his career with junior side Greenwood Victoria before joining

as an eighteen-year-old in April 1949, despite being a

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

supporter. He made his professional debut for City in August 1952 in the

Manchester derby The Manchester derby refers to association football, football matches between Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and Manchester United F.C., Manchester United, first contested in 1881. City play at the City of Manchester Stadium in Bradford, ...

. In his next appearance for the club he scored twice against

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

. He scored the first Manchester City goal under floodlights at

Maine Road Maine Road was a football stadium in Moss Side, Manchester, England, that was home to Manchester City from 1923 to 2003. It hosted FA Cup semi-finals, the Charity Shield, a League Cup final and England matches. Maine Road's highest attenda ...

when he scored a hat-trick against Heart of Midlothian in a friendly in October 1953. He rose to local fame for being one of the first City players to own a car, and he would often offer lifts to supporters attending Maine Road. In November 1954, he transferred to

Football League Third Division North The Third Division North of the Football League was a tier in the English football league system from 1921 to 1958. It ran in parallel with the Third Division South with clubs elected to the League or relegated from a higher division allocated t ...

side Chesterfield for a fee of £1,500. In his first season for the club he finished as second-highest scorer behind George Smith, scoring 14 goals in 24 matches. In the 1955–56 season he played in all but one game and scored 32 goals, which remains a post-war record haul in a season by a Chesterfield player. His place in the side was less secure during the 1956–57 season, however, he still managed to score 13 goals in 28 matches. He lost his place in February 1957 when the club signed Gwyn Lewis, and his final goal for the club came against his boyhood side Manchester United in a reserve match. In the summer of 1957 he transferred to

in exchange for Ivor Seemley. He had an impressive record in his only season for the club scoring 8 goals in 16 matches in all competitions. In the summer of 1958 he dropped into non-league football with

Cheshire County League The Cheshire County League was a football league founded in the north west of England in 1919, drawing its teams largely from Cheshire, surrounding English counties and North Wales. Initially the league was dominated by the reserve teams of Fo ...

side

. He made his debut for the Silkmen in August 1958 at home to

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the High Peak, Derbyshire, Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, in the East Midlands region of England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.Alston, Cumbria also claims this, but lacks a regu ...

. He was top scorer in his first season with the club scoring 19 times. He scored three hat-tricks during his time at the

Moss Rose Moss Rose, known as The Leasing.com Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is a football stadium in Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, which is the home ground of Macclesfield F.C., and the former home of Macclesfield Town F.C., a club wound up in Se ...

, playing his last match for the club in November 1960. In total he made 89 appearances for Macclesfield in all competitions scoring 51 goals, before transferring to divisional rivals

in 1961. He made his debut for the club in April 1961, in a 7–0 defeat to

Bangor City Bangor City Football Club () was a Welsh football club from the City of Bangor, Gwynedd. Founded in 1876, Bangor City have been founder members of the North Wales Coast League, the Welsh National League, the North Wales Combination, the W ...

. He played in all of the last eight matches of the 1960–61 season for the struggling side, as Altrincham lost every match, before retiring from the game.

Personal life

After retiring from full-time football Sowden ran the family's bakery business in

Heaton Chapel Heaton Chapel is an area in the northern part of Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, it borders the Manchester districts of Levenshulme to the north, the Stockport districts of H ...

, where he worked until his retirement. He died on 13 November 2010 in

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a ceremonial county in North West England. It borders Lancashire to the north, Derbyshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Cheshire to the south, and Merseyside to the west. Its largest settlement is the city of Manchester. ...

at the age of 79, after suffering from dementia in his later life.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sowden, Billy 1930 births 2010 deaths Sportspeople from Gorton English men's footballers Men's association football forwards Manchester City F.C. players Chesterfield F.C. players Stockport County F.C. players Macclesfield Town F.C. players Altrincham F.C. players English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen