William Cook (20 January 1909 – 11 December 1992) was a Northern Irish professional football player and manager. He was capped 15 times for

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Career

Cook began his football career in Scotland with Junior side Port Glasgow Athletic Juniors. He signed for

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 February 1930, and made his debut within the week in a 4–0 win over

Ayr United Ayr United Football Club are a football club in Ayr, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Championship, the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League. Formed in 1910 by the merger of Ayr Parkhouse and Ayr F.C., their nickname i ...

. He established himself in the side, and at the end of the following season won a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Motherwell Motherwell ( sco, Mitherwall, gd, Tobar na Màthar) is a town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Historically in the parish of Dalziel and part of Lana ...

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

after a replay. Cook usually played at right-back, but could also play as a left-back when the need arose. In December 1932, Cook was transferred to Everton for £3,000. It was a surprise move at the time and he is considered one of the first high-profile players to leave Celtic mid season for another club. Cook stated that the reasons for the move were financial. He enjoyed immediate success at

Goodison Park Goodison Park is a football stadium in the Walton area of Liverpool, England. It has been the home stadium of Premier League club Everton F.C. since its completion in 1892. Located in a residential area 2 miles (3 km) north of Liverpo ...

, helping Everton win the

1933 FA Cup Final The 1933 FA Cup Final was a football match between Everton and Manchester City on 29 April 1933 at Wembley Stadium in London. The deciding match of English football's primary cup competition, the Football Association Challenge Cup (better know ...

with a 3–0 win over

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

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 ...

. On his death in December 1992, almost 60 years later, he was the last surviving player from that team. A League championship win followed in

1939 This year also marks the start of the Second World War, the largest and deadliest conflict in human history. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. January * January 1 ** Third Reich *** Jews are forbidde ...

, but the outbreak of

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 ...

prevented Everton from building further on this success. In his time at Everton, Cook made 250 appearances and scored six goals. During the war years, Cook guested for several clubs throughout Britain. Following the end of the war, he had brief spells at

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the county ...

and Ellesmere Port Town before joining

Rhyl Rhyl (; cy, Y Rhyl, ) is a seaside town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The town lies within the historic boundaries of Flintshire, on the north-east coast of Wales at the mouth of the River Clwyd ( Welsh: ''Afon Clwyd''). To the west ...

as player-manager in October 1946. Cook became coach at Norwegian club

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 ...

in 1947, before returning to the UK to briefly coach

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

. The next few years saw Cook travelling extensively; rejoining SK Brann for a couple of years, moving to South America to coach the

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

national side, before returning home in 1954 as manager of

Portadown Portadown () is a town in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. The town sits on the River Bann in the north of the county, about southwest of Belfast. It is in the Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council area and had a population of a ...

. Then after a spell as Youth team manager of Northern Ireland he went abroad again, spending a year as manager of the

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

national side. He returned to the UK again in 1956, with spells as manager at

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas, Lancashire, River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the nor ...

and

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

before becoming trainer-coach at

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

in 1958.

References

External links

BiographyTheCelticWiki Profile
Association footballers from Northern Ireland Pre-1950 IFA men's international footballers Association football managers from Northern Ireland Expatriate association football managers from Northern Ireland People from Coleraine, County Londonderry Everton F.C. players Celtic F.C. players Wrexham A.F.C. players Rhyl F.C. players SK Brann managers Expatriate football managers in Iraq Expatriate football managers in Peru Iraq national football team managers Peru national football team managers Portadown F.C. managers Wigan Athletic F.C. managers 1909 births 1992 deaths Ellesmere Port Town F.C. players English Football League representative players Port Glasgow Athletic Juniors F.C. players British expatriate sportspeople in Iraq British expatriate sportspeople in Peru Men's association football defenders Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players English Football League players {{NorthernIreland-sport-bio-stub FA Cup final players Sportspeople from County Londonderry