William McCandless (20 December 1893 – 18 July 1955) was an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

international football player and manager. As a player McCandless normally played at left-back, most notably at

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 ...

where he won six

Scottish Football League 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 so ...

titles with the side. Following his retirement from playing he went into management, enjoying most success with Welsh sides Newport County,

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

and Swansea Town, taking all three sides to the

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 ...

title.

Club career

McCandless was born in Craigs near Ballymena, and grew up in

Ahoghill Ahoghill ( or ; ) is a large village and civil parish in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, four miles from Ballymena. It is located in the Mid and East Antrim Borough Council area. It had a population of 3,417 people at the 2011 Census. In earl ...

County Antrim County Antrim (named after the town of Antrim, ) is one of six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the north-east shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has a population o ...

, the son of John McCandless, a grocer, and Matilda (''née'' Eyre), a dressmaker. He started his career with non-league sides Ligoniel and Barn before joining Linfield in 1914. He stayed with the Blues for six years, helping them to

Irish Cup The Irish Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly referred to as the Irish Cup (currently known as the Samuel Gelston's Whiskey Irish Cup for sponsorship purposes) is the primary football knock-out cup competition in Northern Ireland. I ...

success in 1916 and 1919 before his performance in a 2–0 defeat to

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 ...

while playing for Ireland prompted a number of British sides to show interest in signing him. Eventually joining

in 1920 for £2,500, a record fee for an Irish player at the time, he went on to add six

titles to his honours collection while playing at Ibrox where he formed a formidable full back pairing with another Irishman,

Bert Manderson Bert Manderson (9 May 1893 – 27 April 1946) was an Irish footballer who played as a right-back for Rangers and Ireland. Playing career Manderson made his Rangers debut in a 1–1 draw with Aberdeen on 27 March 1915. He had joined Rangers fr ...

. In 1930, by then a veteran, McCandless was given the opportunity to move into football management by Ballymena, where he was appointed player-manager. He returned to Scotland in 1933 to take charge of Dundee before moving to Newport County in 1937, where he helped them to promotion to Division 2 in 1939 despite using just 13 players throughout the season. Following the end of the war the majority of his title winning team moved to different clubs and, after falling out with the board over the future of the team, he resigned. A month later he was appointed

manager in 1946 and took the side to the

title in his first year finishing nine points clear of second place

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus ...

but, after only a few months of the following season, he left to join local rivals Swansea Town."The post-war recovery"
cardiffcityfc.co.uk. Retrieved 9 September 2013 At the club he completed a unique treble, having taken three Welsh sides to the Division Three South title. He died suddenly on 18 July 1955 at his home in Swansea, while still the club's manager.

International career

McCandless won his first

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 ...

cap on 25 October 1919 in the first post-war international, a 1–1 draw with

. He went on to win a total of 9 caps for Ireland, making his final appearance on 2 February 1929 in a 2–2 draw with

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Honours

Player

;Linfield Swifts *

Steel And Sons Cup The Steel & Sons Cup (also referred to as the Steel Cup) is an intermediate football competition in Northern Ireland run by the North East Ulster Football Association (also known as the County Antrim & District Football Association). The comp ...

: 1915/16 ;Linfield *

: 1916, 1919 *

County Antrim Shield The County Antrim & District Football Association Senior Shield (more commonly known as the County Antrim Shield) is a football competition in Northern Ireland. The competition is open to senior teams who are members of the North East Ulster Fo ...

: 1917 ;Rangers *

Scottish League 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 ...

: 1921, 1923, 1924, 1925, 1927, 1928

Manager

;Newport County *

Football League Third Division 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 o ...

: 1938–39 ;Cardiff City *Football League Third Division South: 1946–47 ;Swansea Town *Football League Third Division South: 1948–49

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCandless, Billy 1893 births 1955 deaths Association footballers from Northern Ireland Linfield F.C. players Rangers F.C. players Ballymena F.C. players NIFL Premiership players Irish League representative players Pre-1950 IFA international footballers Football managers from Northern Ireland Ballymena F.C. managers Dundee F.C. managers Newport County A.F.C. managers Cardiff City F.C. managers Swansea City A.F.C. managers Sportspeople from County Antrim Scottish Football League managers Association football fullbacks Ireland (IFA) wartime international footballers