William Semple Brown Wallace (born 23 June 1940) is a Scottish former football player and coach. He won the European Cup with Celtic in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

along with several domestic honours. His other clubs included Stenhousemuir,

Raith Rovers Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the Scottish Championship as a member of the Scottish Professional Football Leagu ...

, Heart of Midlothian and

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; also sco, Dumbairton; ) is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. In 2006, it had an estimated population of 19,990. Dumbarton was the ca ...

in the Scottish leagues, and

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

in English football. Wallace played 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 ...

seven times and was inducted into the national Hall of Fame in 2017 for his club achievements.

Club career

Early career

He started his senior playing career with Stenhousemuir as a teenager in 1958 (having played alongside Jim Storrie at Kilsyth Rangers),Storrie: James (Jim)
Leeds United F.C. History moving to

a year later. It was in Kirkcaldy that "Wispy", as Wallace was nicknamed, developed his reputation as a top-class goal poacher, his skills being rewarded with a first Scottish League cap.

Hearts

Wallace's form attracted attention from larger clubs, Heart of Midlothian eventually spending £15,000 to take him to

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

in April 1961. The increased pressure for success at Tynecastle initially curtailed his scoring exploits, for he was expected to replace no less a figure than Alex Young, the "Golden Vision", whom Hearts had sold to Everton a couple of months earlier. By season 1962–63, however, Wallace was fully settled into the tactics of manager Tommy Walker, and he would become Hearts' top scorer for the next four seasons through to 1965–66. In doing so, he helped Hearts win the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

and come within a goal of winning the 1964–65 Scottish Football League title, while gaining full international recognition for

. In 1966, however, his form plummeted and his goalscoring ceased and, amid rumours that he had been "tapped" up by another club, his departure from Tynecastle was widely anticipated. The surprise was that his destination wasn't boyhood favourites Rangers but their nemesis Celtic, for whom Jock Stein paid £30,000 to secure his services. He played a total of 248 matches for Hearts in all competitions, scoring 131 goals.

Celtic

Within six months of joining Celtic, Wallace was to attain Scottish footballing immortality, as one of the " Lisbon Lions", the famous team who won the European Cup in

. He was later part of the team that reached the 1970 European Cup Final but was defeated 2–1 by Feyenoord. He also won the league championship in each of the four seasons he was at the

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 popul ...

club, plus the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

, 1969 and 1971 and the League Cup in 1968 and 1968 during an era widely considered the greatest in the club's history. In total, he scored 140 goals for Celtic in 239 games.

Later career

After five fruitful years with Celtic, Wallace and team-mate John Hughes were sold to

in October 1971 for a combined fee of £30,000. Neither enjoyed great success in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

and Wallace was back in Scotland with

less than a year later. As his career wound down, he moved to Australia in March 1975 to play for

APIA Apia () is the capital and largest city of Samoa, as well as the nation's only city. It is located on the central north coast of Upolu, Samoa's second-largest island. Apia falls within the political district (''itūmālō'') of Tuamasaga. ...

, where he won two league titles before returning to Scotland in March 1977, first to Partick Thistle for a week, before becoming player-coach at Ross County for the rest of the 1976–77 season.

International career

In total, Wallace was

capped In sport, a cap is a player's appearance in a game at international level. The term dates from the practice in the United Kingdom of awarding a cap to every player in an international match of rugby football and association football. In the ea ...

seven times for

and four times for the

Scottish Football League XI The Scottish League XI was a representative side of the Scottish Football League. The team regularly played against the (English) Football League and other national league select teams between 1892 and 1980. For a long period the annual fixture be ...

. He was part of the Scotland team that defeated

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

in 1967.

Career after retirement

Retiring as a player in June 1977, he joined the coaching staff at Dundee. When this role ended he returned to APIA as a coach, eventually settling in Sydney and starting his own sports shop. In 2008, Tommy Burns, a former Celtic player and manager, died; Wallace helped organise a tribute match played on 31 May 2009 at Celtic Park, attended by over 35,000 people. The Celtic squad of the time defeated the 'Tommy Burns Select' team 11–4. In July of the same year, Wallace arranged a friendly match in Australia (where he had lived for the past 30 years) between Celtic and the local professional club

Brisbane Roar Brisbane Roar Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Brisbane, Queensland and has won the domestic title on three occasions, as well as holding the longest unbeaten record of 36 league matches without defeat. Brisba ...

; Celtic won 3–0.

Career statistics

International appearances

References

;Sources * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Willie 1940 births APIA Leichhardt FC players Association football inside forwards Celtic F.C. players Crystal Palace F.C. players Dumbarton F.C. players Dundee F.C. non-playing staff Expatriate soccer players in Australia Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Kilsyth Rangers F.C. players Living people Partick Thistle F.C. players Raith Rovers F.C. players Ross County F.C. players Scotland international footballers Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish Football League players Scottish Football League representative players Scottish footballers Sportspeople from Kirkintilloch Stenhousemuir F.C. players English Football League players Scottish Football Hall of Fame inductees UEFA Champions League winning players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Australia Highland Football League players Scottish Junior Football Association players Outfield association footballers who played in goal Scottish emigrants to Australia