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, rugb ...

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 bega ...

whose career lasted from 1884 to 1929.

Playing career

A native of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...

, 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 characterised by leaves with sharp prickles 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 ...

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

Cowlairs Cowlairs is an area in the Scottish city of Glasgow, part of the wider Springburn district of the city. It is situated north of the River Clyde, between central Springburn to the east and Possilpark to the west. Administratively, in the 21st cen ...

. In 1893, he joined Newton Heath, playing 19 league games and scoring once before joining

Luton Town Luton Town Football Club () is a professional association football club based in the town of Luton, Bedfordshire, England, that competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1885, it is nicknam ...

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, the league is the oldest such competition in Association football around the wor ...

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 an English professional association football, football club based in Leicester in the East Midlands of England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of English football league system, Eng ...

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

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough ha ...

. 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 football knockout competition. The Cup was won by Celtic when they beat St Mirren 5–1. Calendar First round Replays Second Replay Match played at Cathkin ...

, 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 Foo ...

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

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 ...

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 (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, with several killed and others wounded. The closest he came to silverware was in the

1919 Victory Cup The Victory Cup was a one-off Scottish football competition held in 1919 to celebrate the end of World War I. It is an unofficial competition in statistical terms, taking place at the end of the 1918–19 season just before official competitions su ...

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 Aames (born 1960), American actor, television director, and sc ...

. In May 1920, he was appointed manager of

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most d ...

. He guided Portsmouth from

Division Three South The Third Division South 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 North with clubs elected to the League or relegated from Division Two allocated to on ...

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 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 Association football defenders