William John Aitken (2 February 1894 – 9 August 1973) was a Scottish football player and manager. A

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

, he was known for his trait of bouncing the ball on his head whilst running along the touchline, and was normally known as Willie or Billy. He began his career at

Kirkintilloch Kirkintilloch (; sco, Kirkintulloch; gd, Cair Cheann Tulaich) is a town and former barony burgh in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. It lies on the Forth and Clyde Canal and on the south side of Strathkelvin, about northeast of central Glasgow. ...

, before joining

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

via Queen's Park in 1918. He signed with

Port Vale Port Vale Football Club are a professional football club based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, which compete in . Vale are the only English Football League club not to be named after a place; their name being a reference to the valley of ...

in 1919, before he was sold on to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional Association football, football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football league system, English football. The club was ...

for £2,500 in May 1920. He spent four seasons at Tyneside, before joining

Preston North End Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syst ...

in 1924. He spent two years with the "Lambs", and after spells at

Chorley Chorley is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Chorley in Lancashire, England, north of Wigan, south west of Blackburn, north west of Bolton, south of Preston and north west of Manchester. The town's wealth came p ...

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 2 ...

, and Bideford Town, he was appointed as head coach at Italian club

Juventus Juventus Football Club (from la, iuventūs, 'youth'; ), colloquially known as Juve (), is a professional football club based in Turin, Piedmont, Italy, that competes in the Serie A, the top tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in ...

in 1928. He moved on to France the following year to play for

AS Cannes Association Sportive de Cannes Football (; commonly referred to as AS Cannes or simply Cannes) is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed 1902 as a sports club and currently plays in the Championnat National 3, ...

. He played in the 1932

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and professio ...

final victory, and was later appointed as club manager. He then spent 1934 to 1936 as player-manager at

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2018. Reims plays home matches at the Stade Aug ...

, and then took charge at

FC Antibes Football Club Antibes Juan-les-Pins is a French association football team based in Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes department of southeastern France, on the Côte d'Az ...

between 1936 and 1938. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he worked as a defence contractor at

Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

, and he coached across Europe and also worked for a wine and spirits distributor.

Career

Aitken played for amateur sides

and Queen's Park,Aitken, William John
QPFC.com before joining

for the 1918–19 season. He scored two goals in 21 league games as they finished second to

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply e ...

rivals

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 the

Scottish League Division One The Scottish Football League (SFL) was a league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4 km sout ...

. Aitken then left

Ibrox Park Ibrox Stadium is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium on the south side of the River Clyde in the Ibrox, Glasgow, Ibrox area of Glasgow, Scotland. The home of Rangers F.C., Rangers Football Club, Ibrox is the third largest List of foot ...

for England to play for

in the summer of 1919. He scored on his debut at inside-right in a 2–0 win at

Aston Villa Reserves The Aston Villa Under-21s, formerly known as Aston Villa Reserves and Aston Villa Under-23s, are the most senior youth development team of Aston Villa and compete in Premier League 2 (Division 2) of the Professional Development League, the Pre ...

in a Central League match on 20 August 1919. After Vale were elected to 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, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engla ...

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

in October 1919, the Vale were forced to pay £500 to Rangers for his and

Peter Pursell Peter Pursell (1 July 1894 – 14 August 1968) was a Scottish Association football, footballer. A Defender (association football), defender, he won one Cap (sport), cap for Scotland national football team, Scotland in 1914. He was the younger b ...

services. He scored nine goals in 44 games in 1919–20, and was in the cup winning sides of 1920. He was sold on to

for £2,500 in May 1920, which was considered a bargain at the time. He began playing as an inside-forward at

St James' Park St James' Park is a football stadium in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is the home of Premier League club Newcastle United F.C. With a seating capacity of 52,305 seats, it is the eighth largest football stadium in England. St James' Pa ...

, and although he only scored ten goals in 110 league games in four seasons at the club, his unselfishness in attack and overall contribution to the team was greatly appreciated. Newcastle finished fifth in the First Division in 1920–21, with Aitken claiming three goals in 38 appearances. He was limited to 16 games as United finished seventh in 1921–22. They then finished fourth in 1922–23, with Aitken scoring four goals in 26 matches. He scored three goals in 30 appearances as Newcastle posted a ninth-place finish in 1923–24. He played alongside

Stan Seymour George Stanley Seymour (16 May 1895 – 24 December 1978) was a association football, footballer who played for Newcastle United F.C., Newcastle United then became manager, vice-chairman and director of the club. Born in Kelloe, Seymour is one ...

and Tommy McDonald. In 1924 Aitken signed for

for £1,000. He then joined

, and Bideford Town. He travelled to Italy, and impressed

chairman Edoardo Agnelli with his idea of exporting the playing system pioneered by

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 ...

manager

Herbert Chapman Herbert Chapman (19 January 1878 – 6 January 1934) was an English association football, football player and manager. Though he had an undistinguished playing career, he went on to become one of the most influential and successful manag ...

. However, not everyone was convinced by his new methods, and some "Juve" players were unwilling to put in the extra work required to make the system work. He nevertheless led the "Old Lady" to a third-place finish in 1929–30. Though he found little success at

Stadio di Corso Marsiglia The Stadio di Corso Marsiglia (officially Campo Juventus) was a multisports stadium located in Turin ( Italy). It was designed by architect Amedeo Lavini. The first Italian sportive stadium with artificial light and built in reinforced concrete ...

, his methods were built upon by future coaches at the club. He was unable to take to the field as player, as foreigners were not permitted to play in the Italian leagues. He eventually ended up playing and coaching football in France for

and

. At Cannes he was part of the team that reached the

final at the

Stade Olympique Yves-du-Manoir The Stade Yves-du-Manoir (officially Stade olympique Yves-du-Manoir, also known as the Stade olympique de Colombes, or simply Colombes to the locals) is a rugby, track and association football stadium in Colombes, near Paris, France. History ...

on 24 April 1932, which they won 1–0 over

RC Roubaix Racing Club de Roubaix was a French association football team that played in Roubaix, Nord. History The team was founded in 1895 and was very successful before the establishment of professionalism in France. In 1933, after losing twice in a ...

. They also finished as runners-up in the

Ligue de Football Professionnel The Ligue de Football Professionnel (, ''Professional Football League''), commonly known as the LFP, is a French governing body that runs the major professional football leagues in France. It was founded in 1944 and serves under the authority ...

in 1932–33. With Stade Reims, he won the

Championnat de France amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligu ...

league in 1935.

Later life

He returned to Britain during

, and worked as a defence contractor at

. He later coached in Belgium (

Royale Union Saint-Gilloise Royale Union Saint-Gilloise , abbreviated to Union SG or USG, unofficially simply called Union, is a Belgian football club (association football), football club originally located in the municipality of Saint-Gilles, Belgium, Saint-Gilles, in Bru ...

) and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

(

SK Brann Sportsklubben Brann (commonly known as Brann, and less often as SK Brann) is a Norwegian professional football club, founded 26 September 1908, from Bergen. Brann had been in the Eliteserien, Norway's Premier Division of Football, since 1987, bar ...

), and became a representative of a wine and spirits distributor in

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcast ...

Career statistics

Honours

AS Cannes *

: 1932 Stade Reims *

: 1935

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aitken, Willie 1894 births 1973 deaths People from Peterhead Footballers from Aberdeenshire Scottish footballers Association football forwards Kirkintilloch Rob Roy F.C. players Queen's Park F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Port Vale F.C. players Newcastle United F.C. players Preston North End F.C. players Chorley F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Bideford A.F.C. players Scottish expatriate footballers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate footballers in Italy Juventus F.C. players Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Scottish expatriate sportspeople in France Scottish expatriate sportspeople in Norway Expatriate footballers in France AS Cannes players Stade de Reims players FC Antibes players Scottish Football League players English Football League players Serie A players Ligue 1 players Association football player-managers Scottish football managers Scottish expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Italy Juventus F.C. managers Expatriate football managers in France AS Cannes managers Stade de Reims managers Expatriate football managers in Belgium Expatriate football managers in Norway SK Brann managers Serie A managers Ligue 1 managers