William Milne DCM, also known locally as 'Stir', (24 November 1895 – July 1975), 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, rugby lea ...

who played for

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 ...

, before becoming a long-standing member of the club's backroom staff. Born in

Buckie Buckie () is a burgh town (defined as such in List of burghs in Scotland, 1888) on the Moray Firth coast of Scotland. Counties of Scotland, Historically in Banffshire, Buckie was the largest town in the county until the administrative area was ...

Banffshire Banffshire (; ; ) is a historic county in Scotland. The county town is Banff, although the largest settlement is Buckie to the west. The historic county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975. Since 1996 the area has been spli ...

, Milne started his career at his hometown club, Buckie Thistle in the Scottish Highland Football League, although his career was interrupted early on by

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. During the war, Milne served with the

Seaforth Highlanders The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, the Duke of Albany's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, mainly associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The regiment existed from 1881 to 1961, and saw service ...

in France and won the

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military ...

in 1918. After hostilities ceased, Milne returned to Buckie, and to Buckie Thistle, where he made a name for himself as a tireless and enthusiastic wing half (what would today be approximately a

midfield In many sports, midfield is the part of a sports field that is near the line that is equally far from the end lines. That is, in American football it is the part of the field near the 50-yard line; in association football (soccer) and field hoc ...

position). In September 1921 he made the long journey south by train (Great North of Scotland Railway) from Buckie to join

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

side

. Milne made his debut for Arsenal away to

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club () is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It currently competes in , the third tier of the English football league system in the 2025–26 season following relegation. Founded in 1899 a ...

on 27 December 1921, but only played another four games that season. However, the following season he became an established regular in the Arsenal side, as a right half, and continued to play there for another four seasons. However, after the arrival of Alf Baker he was dropped; he was a bit-part player for the next few seasons, but in a match against

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional association football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. They compete in , the third tier of English football league system, English football. Huddersfield Town we ...

on 2 April 1927 he broke his leg and his playing career was effectively finished. In all he played 124 times for Arsenal, scoring three goals. Milne's tenaciousness and high levels of fitness led Arsenal 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 manage ...

to retain Milne's services, appointing him as assistant trainer to Tom Whittaker. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he was stationed as an ARP warden at

Highbury Highbury is an area of North London, England, in the London Borough of Islington. Highbury Manor Highbury was once owned by Ranulf, brother of Ilger, and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor hou ...

and was present the night the stadium was bombed with

incendiary device Incendiary weapons, incendiary devices, incendiary munitions, or incendiary bombs are weapons designed to start fires. They may destroy structures or sensitive equipment using fire, and sometimes operate as anti-personnel weapon, anti-personnel ...

s; Milne helped put out the resulting fire and saved the stadium from even more serious damage. Milne continued to hold the assistant trainer's position until Whittaker himself became Arsenal manager in 1947, upon which Milne became first-team trainer, and later club

physiotherapist Physical therapy (PT), also known as physiotherapy, is a healthcare profession, as well as the care provided by physical therapists who promote, maintain, or restore health through patient education, physical intervention, disease preventio ...

; he also served the England team in a similar capacity. He fully retired in 1960 and was succeeded by

Bertie Mee Bertram Mee (25 December 1918 – 21 October 2001) was an English footballer and manager. After his playing career was cut short by injury, he later became a manager and led Arsenal to their first Double win in 1971. Playing career Born in Hig ...

, who would later become Arsenal's

Double Double, The Double or Dubble may refer to: Mathematics and computing * Multiplication by 2 * Double precision, a floating-point representation of numbers that is typically 64 bits in length * A double number of the form x+yj, where j^2=+1 * A ...

-winning manager. He died in 1975, at the age of 79.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Milne, Billy 1895 births 1975 deaths Scottish men's footballers Men's association football wing halves Arsenal F.C. players Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal People from Buckie Seaforth Highlanders soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Buckie Thistle F.C. players Footballers from Moray Civil Defence Service personnel 20th-century Scottish sportsmen